If your PC can’t boot from a CD-ROM, you must create a boot floppy disk. Creating a boot floppy requires some special measures; you can’t simply copy files onto a disk and then boot from it. To create a Red Hat Linux installation boot floppy by using a PC that runs Microsoft Windows, perform the following steps:

Figure 3-1. Using rawrite to make a boot diskette

To start the installation process, insert Disc 1 of Red Hat Linux (see http://examples.oreilly.com/redhat2)into your system’s CD-ROM drive. If your system cannot boot from a CD-ROM, insert the boot floppy you created and reboot your PC.

When the system reboots, you should see a welcome screen featuring a boot: prompt and a series of messages explaining various installation options, as shown in Figure 3-2. This prompt lets you enter special parameters to work around a variety of installation problems. Generally, it’s not necessary to do so. Simply press Enter or wait about a minute and the installation program will start.

Figure 3-2. The installation welcome screen

For perhaps a minute, you’ll see text flashing by as the system boots. Then, you’ll see the Red Hat Linux splash screen, soon followed by the System Installer screen. Click Next to proceed.

Like other modern Linux distributions, Red Hat Linux includes a graphical installation program that simplifies the installation and initial configuration of Linux. Figure 3-3 shows a typical screen displayed by the installation program. You won’t see this particular screen until later in the installation process. The screen includes the following elements:

Figure 3-3. A typical installation screen

A console is a combination of a keyboard and a display device, such as a video monitor. A console provides a basic user interface adequate to communicate with a computer: you can type characters on the keyboard and view text on the display device.

Although a home computer system seldom has more than one console, Linux systems provide several virtual consoles. By pressing a special combination of keys, you can control which console your system’s keyboard and monitor are connected to.

Table 3-1 describes the virtual consoles used by the installation program. The main installation dialog appears in virtual console number 7. If you like, you can use the indicated keystrokes to view a different virtual console.

The contents of virtual consoles 1 through 5 can be useful in monitoring and troubleshooting; generally you will not need to switch from one virtual console to another. Nevertheless, you may find it interesting to view the contents of the virtual consoles during the installation procedure.

Figure 3-4 shows the Language Selection screen, which asks you to specify what language should be used during the installation process. Click the desired language and then click Next. The Keyboard Configuration screen appears.

Figure 3-4. The Language Selection screen

The Keyboard Configuration screen, shown in Figure 3-5, lets you specify the type of keyboard attached to your system. The preselected choices are appropriate for most U.S. users. If you prefer another keyboard configuration, click the desired model or layout. If you like, you can type text in the box labeled Test Your Selection Here to see if it appears appropriately. Then, click Next to proceed. The Mouse Configuration screen appears.

Figure 3-5. The Keyboard Configuration screen

The Mouse Configuration screen, shown in Figure 3-6, lets you specify the type of mouse attached to your system. The installation program generally determines the type of mouse automatically. If you prefer a different mouse configuration, click the desired mouse type.

Figure 3-6. The Mouse Configuration screen

Many graphical Linux programs are designed to use a three-button mouse. If your mouse has only two buttons, you should generally enable the Emulate 3 Buttons checkbox. Click Next to proceed. The Welcome screen appears. Click Next to proceed to the Install Type screen.

The Installation Type screen, shown in Figure 3-7, lets you choose whether to perform any of four types of fresh installations or an upgrade of your existing Red Hat system. The Install options—Workstation, Server, Laptop, and Custom—were described in Chapter 2. As explained, the appropriate choice for most users is Custom. Therefore, click the radio button next to Custom and click Next to proceed.

Figure 3-7. The Installation Type screen

In the next phase of installation, you use Red Hat’s Disk Druid program to establish Linux partitions on your hard disk drive. Figure 3-8, the Disk Partitioning Setup screen, appears. Disk Druid can usually create the necessary partitions automatically, so you can generally click Automatically Partition and click Next to proceed.

Figure 3-8. The Disk Partitioning Setup screen

You may prefer to create Linux partitions by using Disk Druid manually. If so, follow the instructions in the next section; otherwise, skip ahead to Section 3.2.10 section.

Use Disk Druid

You use Disk Druid to add, edit, and delete Linux partitions. Figure 3-9 shows the Disk Setup screen. The top part of the screen contains a list box that describes each existing partition. The bottom part of the screen contains a list box that describes each disk drive. The middle part of the screen contains buttons that control the operation of Disk Druid.

Figure 3-9. The Disk Setup screen

Adding a partition

Whereas Windows associates drive letters, such as D:, with filesystems, Linux associates directories—known as mount points—with filesystems. At a minimum, you should establish the following three Linux partitions on your system’s hard drive:

• A Linux native partition to hold the Linux kernel. This partition, which has the mount point /boot, should be at least 50 MB in size. However, there’s no advantage to making it larger than 50 MB.

• A Linux native partition to hold the Red Hat Linux operating system. This partition, known as the root partition, has the mount point /. It should be as large as you can afford.

• A Linux swap partition to provide a work area used by Red Hat Linux to efficiently manage your system’s RAM memory. This partition, which has no mount point, should have a size two times the amount of your PC’s installed RAM. However, the swap partition should not be smaller than 190 MB or larger than 2000 MB. This partition is not mounted by Linux and therefore has no associated mount point.

To add a partition, click New, and the dialog box shown in Figure 3-10 appears.

Figure 3-10. The untitled dialog box used to create a partition

Save your changes

When you’re done, the Disk Setup window should look similar to the one shown in Figure 3-11. If you had existing MS-DOS or other partitions, these would be shown as well. To save your changes and proceed with the installation, click Next.

Figure 3-11. The Disk Setup screen at completion of partitioning

Next, the installation program presents the Boot Loader Configuration screen, shown in Figure 3-12. GRUB, the Grand Unified Bootloader, is a special program used to start Linux—or another operating system—when you boot your system. This screen lets you choose an alternative boot loader (LILO) or omit installation of a boot loader altogether. You can also specify the location where GRUB will be installed.

Figure 3-12. The Boot Loader Configuration screen

Most Linux users install GRUB on the Master Boot Record (MBR) of their PC’s primary hard drive. However, doing so poses some risk. For example, if your PC boots using System Commander, the OS/2 Boot Manager, or the Windows NT/2000 loader, installing GRUB on the MBR will prevent you from booting any operating system other than Linux until you specially configure GRUB. Moreover, some antivirus applications detect changes to the MBR and roll them back. The bottom line is that, for a few Red Hat Linux users, GRUB can present some headaches.

You can easily avoid GRUB in either of two ways. First, you can boot Linux by using the boot floppy prepared near the end of the installation procedure. Linux won’t boot as quickly as it might, but you won’t face the prospect of disabling your other operating system if you’re running a dual-boot system. If booting from a floppy seems antediluvian, you can use loadlin, an MS-DOS program that can start Linux. Appendix C explains how to use loadlin to boot Linux.

If you’re running Windows NT/2000 or using special boot software, specify that GRUB should be installed on the first sector of the Linux boot partition (/boot) rather than on the MBR. Then you can boot from a Linux boot floppy or configure your special boot software to start GRUB, which will boot Linux. If you’re not running Windows NT/2000 or using special boot software, specify that GRUB should be installed on the MBR.

The Force Use of LBA32 checkbox is disabled by default. Some SCSI drives require this option. Most non-SCSI drives can boot—and will boot faster—if this option is disabled.

You can also specify kernel parameters. Generally, no special kernel options are needed. However, if you discover that a kernel option is required (for example, to access a CD-ROM drive with a proprietary interface), you can specify it here. At boot time, GRUB will pass to the kernel any options you specified.

The Boot Loader Configuration screen also lets you select the operating systems that GRUB will be able to boot. When it boots your PC, GRUB displays a screen that lets you select from among the configured operating systems.

The installation program preselects Linux as the default operating system. To specify a different default operating system, highlight the corresponding partition and click Default.

If you like, you can change the label associated with an operating system by highlighting the corresponding partition and typing the desired label in the text box labeled Boot Label. When you’ve completely specified the desired boot loader configuration, click Next to proceed.

The GRUB Password screen appears. If you want to prevent unauthorized persons from using your Linux system, you can use the GRUB Password screen to prevent someone from passing information to the Linux kernel that overrides security checks; however, this level of protection is rarely necessary. If you decide to create a GRUB password, check the Use a GRUB Password? box and enter a password in the space provided; then click Next to proceed.

After you’ve configured the boot loader, the installation program probes for a network card. If it finds one, the installation program presents the Network Configuration screen, shown in Figure 3-13. If your computer is attached to a local area network (LAN), you can use the Network Configuration screen to configure networking. If your computer is not attached to a LAN, click Next.

Figure 3-13. The Network Configuration screen

If your computer is part of a LAN, your networking situation falls into one of two categories: you connect to the Internet via a dialup connection or you’re on a LAN with a permanent connection to the Internet via a gateway. The Red Hat Linux network configuration procedure isn’t so different from that of Windows, which has a Control Panel that lets you identify and configure your network hardware. Windows has a separate utility, Dial-up Networking, for making actual modem connections. In Linux, you configure networking much the same way.

First you need to specify what kind of network connections you’ll be making (Ethernet and/or modem) and provide some basic information about the type of network you’re connecting to. Later, after you’ve set up your Linux system, you’ll use a separate program to actually make a dialup modem connection.

If your computer connects to a DHCP server, Red Hat Linux can automatically determine its network configuration when your PC boots. To specify automatic network configuration, simply enable the Configure Using DHCP checkbox.

You should generally enable the Activate on Boot checkbox. Doing so specifies that your computer’s network card should be activated when the system boots.

If no DHCP server is available or if you prefer to manually enter the network configuration, disable the Configuring Using DHCP checkbox and fill in the network configuration text boxes, using the information you recorded in Table 2-1 of Chapter 2:

When you’ve entered the desired network configuration, click Next to proceed. The Firewall Configuration screen, shown in Figure 3-14, appears. This screen lets you specify protection against threats originating across the network. Chapter 12 explains the firewall capabilities of Red Hat Linux in more detail. If you are not concerned about network security, you should select the Medium security option; otherwise, you should select High security. Make your choice and click Next to proceed.

Figure 3-14. The Firewall Configuration screen

After installation, you can use the lokkit or gnome-lokkit program to change your firewall settings, as explained in Chapter 12.

Next, the installation program presents the Additional Language Support screen, shown in Figure 3-15. You earlier selected the language used during the installation procedure; however, this screen has a different function. It doesn’t select the language in which system messages will appear during system operation; it merely lets you install support—including X fonts and spelling dictionaries—for one or more languages that you will use in working with your installed Red Hat Linux system. As the screen explains, multiple languages consume significant disk space, so select a single language unless you have extra room on your drive and intend to use other languages on your system. After you’ve made your choice or choices, click Next to proceed.

Figure 3-15. The Additional Language Support screen

After you bypass or complete the Network Configuration screen, the installation program presents the Time Zone Selection screen, shown in Figure 3-16.

Figure 3-16. The Time Zone Selection screen

Select a time zone by clicking on the map or by clicking an entry in the list box that appears below the map. By default, the map shows North America. Click the list box labeled View to choose a different region.

If you want to set your system’s clock to UTC (Universal Coordinated Time), enable the System Clock Uses UTC checkbox. However, you should not enable this checkbox if your PC is set up to boot an operating system, such as Microsoft Windows 9x, that does not support setting the system clock to UTC.

After making your selections, click Next to proceed.

The user who administers a Linux system is known as the root user, or simply root. To protect your system against mischief and misadventure, you should protect the root user’s login with a password. To enable you to do so, the installation program presents the Account Configuration screen, shown in Figure 3-17.

Figure 3-17. The Account Configuration screen

Simply choose a password for the root user and type it twice: in the text field labeled Root Password and the nearby text field labeled Confirm.

You should create at least one additional user account during system installation. You can use this account when not performing system administration, thereby avoiding unnecessary use of the root account, which might lead to a breach of system security or integrity. To create an additional user account, click the Add button. The Add a New User dialog box appears, prompting you to enter a user name, the user’s full name, and a password for the new user. You need to enter the password twice to confirm that it has been entered correctly. You can establish additional user accounts during system installation if you like, but it’s generally easier to establish them after system installation is complete.

Once you’ve specified the password for the root account and have set up an additional user account, click Next to proceed. The installation program shows the Authentication Configuration screen, shown in Figure 3-18.

Figure 3-18. The Authentication Configuration screen

Generally, the default options are appropriate: both Enable MD5 Passwords and Enable Shadow Passwords should be selected. MD5 lets you use passwords longer than eight characters; specifying shadow passwords hides encrypted passwords from ordinary users. Only in special circumstances would it be necessary or appropriate to disable either option.

Unless your PC is part of a network that uses NIS, LDAP, Kerberos 5, or SMB, you don’t need to specify options associated with these tabs. Otherwise, consult your network administrator to determine the appropriate settings. Click Next to proceed; the Package Group Selection screen appears.

To install an application under Red Hat Linux, you generally install a package that contains all the files needed by the application. If you like, you can specify the individual packages you want to install; however, the large number of available packages makes it tedious to specify them one at a time. Instead, the installation program lets you specify package groups you want (or need) to install. A package group is simply a group of related packages.

The Package Group Selection screen, shown in Figure 3-19, lets you specify which packages should be installed. Simply enable the checkbox associated with each desired package group. The installation program has preselected several package groups for you.

Figure 3-19. The Package Group Selection screen

Generally, you should select the following package groups, some of which may have been preselected for you:

In addition, you can choose from among the following package groups, according to your interests and the characteristics of your system:

The Package Group Selection screen also shows the approximate size of the selected package groups in its lower-right corner.

If you don’t know which components to select, don’t worry; you can install additional components after setting up your Red Hat Linux system. If, on the other hand, you want to be able to select individual packages as well as components, enable the Select Individual Packages checkbox. When you’re satisfied with your choices, click Next to proceed. If you checked the Select Individual Packages checkbox, the Individual Package Selection screen appears. Select any desired packages. Then, click Next to proceed.

If you requested installation of individual packages, the Unresolved Dependencies screen may appear. You should generally accept the preselected option, “Install packages to satisfy dependencies.” Click Next to proceed.

Next, the installation program displays the Graphical Interface (X) Configuration screen, shown in Figure 3-20, which helps you configure X, the Linux graphical user interface. If the installation program was able to determine the type of video card associated with your computer, it will highlight the appropriate item in the X Configuration list box. If you prefer to specify a different video card, click the desired item.

Figure 3-20. The Graphical Interface (X) Configuration screen

If your video card is not listed, you may be able to use the Generic SVGA compatible entry. This will yield a basic, working X configuration. Later, you can follow the instructions given in Appendix D to achieve a better configuration.

You should specify the amount of video memory installed on your video card. Specifying a value that is too large will probably prevent X from starting. If you followed the procedure given in Chapter 2, you should have learned the amount of video memory installed on your card; otherwise, consult your video card’s documentation to determine the proper value. If you can’t locate the information, select a conservatively low value; choosing a value that’s too low will prevent you from using high-resolution video modes but won’t damage your monitor.

When the installation program is ready to begin installing packages, it presents the About to Install screen, shown in Figure 3-21. Up to this point, the installation program has made no changes to your system’s hard drive. This is your last chance to terminate the installation procedure before any data is written. To abort the installation procedure, press Ctrl-Alt-Delete or press your system’s hardware reset button.

Figure 3-21. The About to Install screen

The installation program now formats any partitions you earlier specified for formatting. Depending on the size of your system’s hard drive, this step may take several minutes to complete. When formatting is done, the Installing Packages screen, shown in Figure 3-22, appears, and the installation program begins installing packages. This screen displays the name of each package as it is installed and presents a progress bar that shows the status of the installation process. When all the packages have been installed, you’re ready to create a boot diskette. Click Next to proceed.

Figure 3-22. The Installing Packages screen

The installation program next gives you the opportunity to create a boot floppy, by presenting the Boot Disk Creation screen, shown in Figure 3-23. This floppy is not the same as the one you may have created and used to start the installation procedure. You should take the opportunity to create the boot floppy, because it may enable you to boot your Linux system even if the boot loader fails to install properly or the system boot information is damaged. You must create a boot floppy if Windows NT/2000 is installed on your system; in that case, you won’t be able to boot your system without the boot floppy.

To create a boot floppy, click Next. The installation program will prompt you to insert a blank floppy in your system’s floppy drive. Insert the diskette and click OK. The installation program may take several minutes to create the boot floppy.

Figure 3-23. The Boot Disk Creation screen

Earlier in the installation, you specified the make and model of your system’s video card. The next two screens guide you in completing the video configuration.

Identifying your system’s monitor

The installation program next presents the Monitor Configuration screen, shown in Figure 3-24. The Monitor Configuration screen includes a list of supported video monitors. If the installation program was able to determine the type of monitor associated with your PC, it highlights the appropriate item in the Monitor Configuration list box. If you prefer to specify a different monitor, click the desired item.

Figure 3-24. The Monitor Configuration screen

Note

Don’t select a monitor that has an identifier merely similar to that of your monitor. Similarly identified models often have quite different characteristics. Failing to select the appropriate monitor may result in permanent damage to your monitor, particularly if your monitor is an older, fixed-frequency model. If your monitor displays a scrambled image, turn it off promptly and recheck your configuration.

If you can’t find your monitor listed, don’t despair: you can select the Unprobed Monitor entry or a monitor type from the Generic hierarchy. If you do so, the installation program suggests horizontal and vertical sync (also known as vertical refresh) rates or ranges. You should compare these with the characteristics of your monitor, which you can generally obtain from the owner’s manual or from the manufacturer’s web site; adjust the rates of ranges if necessary. If you fail to find information describing your monitor, you can try some conservative values that are unlikely to damage all but the oldest of monitors. Low values are safer than high values. For example, try setting the horizontal sync range to 50-70 kHz and the vertical sync rate to 60 Hz.

Once you’ve selected your monitor or specified its sync rates, click Next to proceed. The Custom Graphics Configuration screen appears.

Selecting custom graphics options

The Customize Graphics Configuration screen, shown in Figure 3-25, lets you specify several X-related options. You can choose the color depth, which determines the number of colors your system will display. You can also choose the screen resolution, which determines the number of pixels your system will display. Larger resolutions result in greater detail; however, your system’s video adapter and monitor may not operate with all possible settings. Moreover, specifying a high resolution consumes additional system resources, such as RAM. You can click the Test Setting button to see that a given setting works and what it looks like. When testing a setting, a small, untitled dialog box appears asking whether you can read its text; if so, click Yes to accept the current setting or No to reject it and try another setting.

When X Fails

Sometimes, the installation program can’t configure X to work properly. Generally, this is due to video hardware that’s not compatible with X. If you find yourself in this situation, you can skip the configuration of X by using the dialog box that appears when the X configuration fails. The installation will then proceed, but X will not be configured. You can try to achieve a working X configuration after Linux has been installed by following these steps.

First, read the following chapters:

• Chapter 4

• Chapter 7

• Appendix D

Then, perform the following steps:

1. Reboot your system. Since X hasn’t been configured, you will enter Linux in text mode (runlevel 3), so you won’t see a graphical interface.

2. Log in as root and enter the password.

3. Next, you need to configure X on your system, which will allow you to boot into Graphical mode (runlevel 5) rather than Text mode (runlevel 3). To do this, you will use the Xconfigurator command to attempt to configure X on your system; type Xconfigurator at the command line and press Enter to start the process.

From here, follow the steps detailed in Section D.2 of Appendix D.

Figure 3-25. The Customize Graphics Configuration screen

If, as suggested, you installed either the GNOME or KDE desktop, use the proper radio button to select the desired default desktop. You shouldn’t select a default desktop other than one you specified for installation. For example, if you selected to install only GNOME, don’t select KDE as your default desktop, because it won’t be available. If you’re uncertain about which desktop environment to choose, select GNOME. Also check the Graphical radio button, which specifies that your Linux system will start in graphical mode. Selecting Graphical mode will start X when you boot Linux, allowing you to use one of the desktop environments (GNOME or KDE), as well as your mouse. If you’re not familiar with the Linux command line, you should select graphical mode as your login type. When you’ve completed the X configuration, click Next to proceed.

The installation program then presents its final screen, shown in Figure 3-26, which explains that Red Hat Linux has been successfully installed. If you installed GRUB on your system’s MBR, follow the instruction to remove the installation media before rebooting your system. However, if you installed GRUB on the first sector of the Linux boot partition, you must boot from a Linux boot floppy until you configure your boot manager to boot Linux.

Try booting your system from its hard drive or a Linux boot floppy, as appropriate. If your system successfully boots Linux, you’re ready to log in to your Red Hat Linux system.

Figure 3-26. The Congratulations screen informs you that you’ve successfully completed installing Red Hat Linux