Linux Installation Tutorial
===========================

[01] Introduction
[02] Distributions
[03] Dual-boot Or Clean install?
[04] Resizing A Windows FAT32 Partition
[05] Using FDISK to start over
[06] Partition Recommendations
[07] Installation options
[08] X Setup
[09] Boot Loaders
[10] Restarting & Booting Into Linux
[11] Check that Windows still works
[12] Configure Linux



[01] Introduction
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This is written for Mandrake users because Mandrake is by far the easiest to install and use if you are a newcomer to Linux. It also has automatic install options which allow for the most common components - thus helping new users get used to Linux in an easy way!

[02] Distributions
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Although this is written with Mandrake [7 or later] in mind, the majority of this should also apply to RedHat, SuSE etc. as well... Particularly the partition info!

[03] Dual-boot Or Clean Install?
--------------------------------
This is entirely up to you, and will most likely depend on your computer. If you have a big enough hard drive, a dual-boot with Windows is a good way of getting used to linux but still having Windows to fall back on if you decide Linux is too complicated!

A clean install will be better for Linux, as it has total control of the computer, but if you don't want to sacrifice a whole computer to Linux just yet, dualbooting is the way forward.

[04] Resizing A Windows FAT32 Partition
---------------------------------------
If you got for dual-booting, there are two ways of setting this up, you can resize your Windows partition and not lose any data, or follow the instructions in part 5 and cleanly install the whole lot, windows and linux, for a healthier system.
(1) Defragment the Windows drive
(2) Use Partition Magic to resize the windows partition to about half your hard drive
(3) Leave the rest of the space as empty space. Do not create DOS extended partitions in it

[05] using FDISK to start over
------------------------------
If you want to reinstall Windows, then put linux on as well, to achieve a generally healthier system (Its good to reinstall Windows from time to time to clear all the junk that accumulates), exit to MS-DOS [not a command prompt window, restart in DOS mode] and use FDISK to delete your existing partition, and then create a primary DOS partition which is half the size of your hard drive, and leave the rest of the space empty... again, Do Not Create An Extended DOS Partition, otherwise Windows will ***** up when you install Linux.

[06] Partition recommendations
------------------------------
This is information for future reference when you get to the right part of the Linux setup

Windows Partition [No Label Needed] - Half the hard drive
Linux Boot Partition [Label: /boot] - 10 to 20 MB
Linux Swap Space [No Label Needed] - 2x physical RAM size
Linux Root [Label: /] - All remaining space

[07] Installation Options
-------------------------
When you install mandrake, choose Automatic from the install options you get after settinh your keyboard, mouse and language... it will still ask you which partitions you want to install on, but will create automatically partitions sized and positioned correctly for your system. For a custom install, refer to Part 6 to get partition size and positioning info.

[08] X Setup
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Mandrake will automatically detect your graphics card, monitor and will allow you to choose the correct screen resolution, colour depth and refresh rate from a list.

[09] Boot Loaders
-----------------
Mandrake 7 and later have 2 options for the boot loader, LILO and Grub. LILO uses a command line format, you type linux and press enter to boot to linux, type dos and press enter to boot to MS-DOS (Windows), and leave it for 5 seconds to boot the default option. You can select the default boot option from the Mandrake installer, or later on from KLilo in KDE.

Grub uses a menu-based format, and you navigate using the arrow keys, pressing enter when you have the correct OS selected. Grub also usually puts up options for safe-mode linux (which is the same as normal linux in the case of mandrake... it doesnt let you into single user mode unless you go to the command line from grub) and also there is usually a floppy entry to let you boot from a floppy disk.

The boot loaders do not like NTFS partitions. trying to boot to NT, 2000 or XP, running on NTFS, will kill Windows... I have tried it!

[10] Restarting & Booting Into Linux
------------------------------------
If you selected Linux as your default boot option, just let the computer restart... if you selected dos/windows as your default, you will need to type

linux

and press enter, at the LILO prompt, or select it from the Grub bootloader menu.

[11] Check that Windows still works
-----------------------------------
Once you have booted into Linux, log in with the username root, and the password you assigned to root during the installation, then log out of KDE again, and click Shutdown | Restart.

This time, boot into Windows from the boot loader, and make sure that you can still use Windows and that no data has been lost.

[12] Configure Linux
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If you did an automated install, Linux should work pretty well immediately, you may want to configure things such as Apache, Networking, Internet connectivity, Firewalls etc. I will attempt to write another tutorial about configuring such aspects of Linux in the near future, depending on the response to this article...