Installing Vector Linux 5
Installing Vector Linux 5
Written in Emacs
Installing Vector 5
Installing OSs with gore series
Intro :
I wrote a tutorial a while back for Installing Vector Linux, and though it wasn't very popular, Vector has become that way. A lot of people are very dedicated Vector users now and with this new release from Vector where the installation has been changed a bit, and my OS paper becoming huge I decided I should probably write one that has updated information.
Vector Linux is based on Slackware Linux. Slackware is older than all other Linux distros EXCEPT SUSE.
So what kind of machine can Vector run on?
Vector can run on just about any machine you'll have lying sround EXCEPT 486s. Vector was made to run on Pentium minimum machines. And it does it very well, it's a fast distro and only has ONE CD for installation which is kind of nice you won't have to change CDs during installation.
I've been using Vector here and there since 4.X and I do like it. It gets my gore stamp of approval.
The machine I'm installing on is my laptop and it's going to dual boot with XP. If you need to only install Vector don't worry, you just won't do the Windows part.
Starting the installation :
Start off with a Vector Linux CD-ROM. You can download it for free here:
http://www.vectorlinux.com/
I'm going to do this installation on the Standard version. They have a SOHO version for people interested in using it for a "Small Office / Home Office" setting, and it's geared towards that area, and it needs more processing power and RAM.
ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/dist...linux-5.0/iso/
That link is where I downloaded my copy at.
ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/dist...VL-5.1-std.iso
I posted that link in case you're lazy.
Anyway, on with the show:
Burn the installation ISO to CD and pop it in your machine, and reboot.
When you see the computer boot up, it's going to show the Vector screen which has changed from the last installation.
For people using SCSI:
As soon as you see the Vector start up screen, hit F1 on your keyboard as that takes you to the Kernel selection screen.
From here, you can type which Kernel you want to use.
If you need SCSI support, type scsi here. The Adaptec Kernel is here too if you need it. You can skip this step of course and just hit Enter to use the normal Kernel but for the SCSI using people, I'm doing this extra step.
So if you do NOT need SCSI support, just hit ENTER.
After a short time, you'll look at a blue and black and red screen saying Welcome to Vector Linux. At this point, hit Enter.
You'll now be looking at a screen right out of the Free BSD installation.
Press the DOWN arrow key one time and hit Enter to find the Media.
It says it found a CD-ROM in one of your drives, and you can pretty much hit Enter here unless it isn't the right drive for some reason.
After you have hit ENTER the you see the partition screen. Before it confuses you, press the DOWN arrow key TWO times to highlight "FDISK" and hit Enter.
You'll see the HDs in your computer, and unless you have more than one, you'll only see one drive, so hit Enter.
After you've hit Enter, you'll be looking at the CFDISK screen. This is one of the best Partition tools ever. It uses almost no RAM and it's efficient.
Now, I'm dual booting this with Windows XP, so my laptop says this:
Name Flags Part type FS type Label Size (MB)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
hdc1 Primary NTFS [^A] 10766.90
hdc5 Logical Linux Swap 1061.07
hdc6 Logical Linux 18177.87
Now as you can see I already have Partitions for Linux on here and you probably don't. So I'm going to delete them so I can walk you through creating them.
Use the UP DOWN LEFT And RIGHT arrow keys to Naviate commands. Up and Down navigate Partitions.
After deleting all Partitions except the NTFS Windows XP partition, I have that and free space.
Hit the RIGHT arrow key to highlight New and hit Enter. This is going to be the Swap Partition, and I'm making mine 1024 MBs. It asks you for what type you want, Just hit Enter for "Primary" as it's already selected anyway and that's what you'll need.
After that type in how many MBs you want the partition to be, A good rule is "Twice your RAM". So if you have 512 MBs RAM, 1024 works well. After you type it in hit the ENTER key, and then hit it Again to put it at the beginning of the partition space.
After you've done that, hit the Right Arrow key 6 times, to highliught TYPE and hit Enter.
Then Hit ENTER again and then AGAIN.
You've now created the Swap partition.
Now hit the DOWN arrow key once to highlight the free space, then hit the RIGHT arrow key to select New, and Hit Enter.
Then hit Enter again to select Primary. Then hit Enter to have it use the rest of the HD (Remember it's not touching your Windows partition it's just using the rest of the drive.)
Now you're looking at the partitions you've made. Hit Enter to make the last one we made Bootable.
Hit the Up arrow key twice to highlight the NTFS or FAT Partition you have for Windows, and Hit Enter again to make it Bootable.
Hit the RIGHT arrow key 8 times to highlight "Write" and hit Enter. It's going to ask you yes or no, type yes and hit Enter.
It's wrotes the partition table and then you can hit the RIGHT arrow key 5 times to highlight "Quit" and Hit Enter.
This next screen you come to is quite confusing for newbies. But at least it's funny.
Hit Enter and you're machine reboots to Add the new partitions to the disk.
LEAVE THE CD IN THE DRIVE.
Now you're somewhat starting over again but this time you do it different. Hit Enter unless you had to select SCSI, but when you have the Kernel you need like you did at the beginning (Not sure why they don't change this installation so you don't have to do it wice but for now this is how it is).
After you've hit Enter at the Kernel selection, you see it boot up again.
When you see that screen again saying to press Enter, press Enter.
Press the DOWN arrow key once and Hit Enter.
It checks again to make sure you have the CD-ROM in.
You now press Enter.
You remember this screen don't you? You saw it 5 minutes ago.
Well this time you have the partitions ready to roll, so press the DOWN arrow key 3 times and hit Enter.
Press the DOWN arrow key Two times, and Hit Enter to select SWAP. Press Enter here.
Now you're at the Root partition screen.
Press the DOWN arrow key ONE time and press Enter (If you followed my partition scheme above this is the only one showing up anyway.)
Now you're ready to select the File System for Linux to use.
You can select whatever you want here. If you're not sure, Just press Enter as REISERFS is selected by default, and is a very good File System.
Why does Linux have so many File Systems? Here is a small run down:
Ext2
Ext2 is the oldschool file system. It's very stable but doesn't journal so if it crashes for some reason you can have problems.
Ext3
This is the journaling version of Ext2, meaning if the system crashes it can start up quciker without much loss. This is assuming the power goes out and the system isn't properly turned off.
ReiserFS
Same as the above system but much faster and better.
After you've read over what File System you want to use, press Enter to grab it.
You've pressed Enter and now you see a screen showing you packages. Just press ENTER here.
Now you're going to add additional packages.
UP and DOWN arrow keys highlight packages, and SPACEBAR to tell it you want them.
After you have packages selected, Press ENTER.
You're now at a confirm screen, just press ENTER.
As the screen says, I'm leaving to go smoke.
Now the install is finished. It took 4 minutes to install everything on my laptop. And now you have to select where you want to put the loader for Linux.
A brief run down is in order here because some people may not be sure. If you're using Partition Magic or the boot loader it comes with, you're probably not going to want to put this on the MBR as this overwrites the Partition Magic boot loader and any other boot loader you may be using.
If you had only Windows on your system, you have TWO choices:
MBR
or
Floppy.
If you choose floppy it's going to ask for a floppy and Linux won't boot without.
I'm choosing MBR so I just hit Enter.
Now you're at the screen showing which OSs you have on your system.
My screen looks like this:
[X] windows Windows
[X] linux Linux
[X] linux-tui Linux Text Mode
[X] linux gui Linux Graphic mode
[X] 2.6.12 Linux 2.6.12
[X] sata-2.4.29 Linux sata-2.4.29
Just Hit Enter here.
Now you can choose how you want it to look at boot up.
If you're installing on crap hardware or old hardware, hit ENTER to select the safe choice. If you have decent hardware, Press the DOWN arrow key 3 times to select the 1024X768 option.
Press ENTER.
Now is something "technical".... Not really but it could confuse newbs.
This is where you can tell the Kernel something at boot. If you have an IDE-CD-Writer drive, (Which you probably do if your machine has a burner) you can use it by typeing this:
hdc=ide-scsi
Just type that on this screen and hit Enter if you want to use your burner.
If you don't, press Enter either way.
Now you're at a configuration screen so press ENTER.
Press ENTER again.
Now you select your time zone. And since I'm living down in Southeast Michigan, I scroll down at Detroit WAY down the list.
Hit ENTER.
Configuring your mouse:
Does your mouse have a wheel? My laptop's pad does NOT, but i have a USB Mouse that has one.
When you have the mouse you want, press ENTER.
The modem configuration is next and I don't have one, so I skipped it.
The next one is for Network Hostname. Unless you're on a Network, you can pretty much put whatever you want here. The default is fine also.
Press Enter.
Now you select how to get an IP. I have a Router that assigns IP addresses for me and it uses DHCP, so I just press ENTER here.
Now the ALSA screen comes up. Press ENTER.
It finds your sound card if you have one, and you press ENTER.
Now ALSA is configured and yo can later on, turn the sound up, for now PRess the Enter key.
Now X is going to probe for hardware.
This part I'm NOT walking you through, I have no clue what hardware you have on your system and it's almost damn near impossible to guess what you're going to have.
When you get passed this, you come to the part to configure other things on your system.
Do NOT mess with these unless you're sure of what you're going to do.
Press ENTER.
Now you configure users and passwords.
Now you set a root password. Press ENTER.
Type a Root password and hit Enter. It asks for it again so type it again and hit ENTER.
Now Hit ENTER again to add a user account for yourself.
HEre I type gore and hit ENTER.
Then hit ENTER again as Gore is fine for a name.
Hit ENTER again at the next screen. And then at the next screen you can safely hit ENTER again.
Now, hit ENTER again. Now type another password for the user account you're making. Hit ENTER and type the password again, then hit ENTER again, and then hit ENTER again.
You're done. Remove the CD-ROM and press ENTER.
