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5.1
Unit Objectives
After completing this unit, you should be able to: Prepare a system for installation Install Linux from CD-ROM
Partitioning Theory
Partitioning is necessary on Intel-based computers. Maximum of four primary partitions. One primary partition can be an extended partition. An extended partition can hold an unlimited amount of logical partitions (but the OS might pose a limit anyway).
master boot record partition table Windows
hda: The first sector of the disk contains the MBR and Partition Table. hda1: First primary partition holds a Windows filesystem. hda2: Second primary partition is an extended partition and holds three logical partitions. hda5: First logical partition holds a Linux filesystem that will be mounted as /.
Linux /
Linux /home
hda6: Second logical partition holds a Linux filesystem that will be mounted as /home. hda7: Third logical partition holds a Linux swap space.
Linux swap
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Partitioning Tools
PartitionMagic
Commercial program from PowerQuest Runs under MS-DOS and Windows Can create/,resize/,move/, and delete partitions
GNU parted
Can create/,resize/,move/, and delete partitions. QTParted is a graphical frontend for parted.
fdisk
Virtually every PC OS (Windows, OS/2, Linux) comes with a tool fdisk to create partitions for that OS.
PartitionMagic
Installing Linux
Boot system from bootable media.
All modern PCs can boot from CD-ROM directly. Must be enabled in BIOS Otherwise, boot from floppy.
Installation Steps
All installation programs need to perform essentially the same steps:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Choose language, keyboard type, mouse type. Create partitions. Set up a boot loader. Configure network. Configure users and authentication. Select package groups. Configure X. Install Packages. Register.
Install Class
Some distributions have installation classes for typical users:
Workstation Laptop
Server
...
Disk Partitioning
Linux installation requires you to create Linux partitions. At a minimum, create:
/ 1.5 GB min. swap 512 - 4000 MB
Recommended:
/usr/local
/var
/tmp
/opt
/home
Should generally be configured in the MBR, unless another boot loader is used. Common Boot Loaders:
LILO: Linux Loader GRUB: GRand Unified Boot Loader
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Configure Network
Most distributions configure your network adapter as part of the installation process.
Ethernet Token Ring
Most distributions allow you to add user accounts during installation, too:
Create a user account for every individual user that is going to use the system.
Hint: You should enable shadow passwords and MD5 encryption if available for additional security.
Configure X
X (X Window System) is the graphical user interface of Linux. It needs to be configured for your system.
Graphical adapter Monitor
Usually straightforward
Installing Packages
Installing packages might take 5 minutes to several hours
Most distributions provide a progress bar or total time indication or both Some distributions provide some entertainment while installing.
While installation is going on, various virtual terminals provide information on the progress.
Switch between VTs using Ctrl-Alt-F1, Ctrl-Alt-F2, and so forth.
Post-Install Configuration
After installation has finished, your system reboots to activate the newly installed kernel.
SUSE performs the reboot during installation.
For almost all Linux distributions, this is the only reboot that is ever required.
Checkpoint
1. True or False? Linux can coexist with Windows on the same hard disk.
Unit Summary
Having completed this unit, you should be able to: Prepare a system for installation Install Linux from CD-ROM