Installing Red-Hat

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July 16th, 2002, 07:05 PM
ac1dsp3ctrum

Installing Red-Hat

Ok, Let me start off by saying that this tutorial will be on installing Red-Hat Linux, If you need

help instaling any other Distros try these websites below :)
SuSE - http://www.suse.de/en/support/inst_support/index.html
Mandrake - http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/doc...html/p468.html
Debian - http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual
Slackware - http://www.slackware.com/install/
Yellow Dog - http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/support/installation/
Caldera - http://www.caldera.com/support/docs/openlinux/

Ok, On to the tutorial.....

Getting Linux
Go here and get RedHat Linux 7.3. The files are

ISOs so you need to get a burning program like nero and burn the ISOs

to a CD... The first 3 discs are install discs, the other 2 are RPM CDs and are optional.

Installing Linux
Once you got the CDs pop them into your computer and restart it.... Your computer should boot from CD

into a menu, It will give you a few choices..... If your reading this tutorial you are probably a

newbie so just press enter to go on to installation. Next you should see a screen that asks you what

language you want to install linux in.... Choose your language and continue, then you will have to

choose your keyboard.... The default one will more-than-likely work for you so just click next... Same

thing with the mouse... Next will be a screen asking if you want to install A workstation, Server,

Laptop or a Custom install. If you have never used Linux before choose Workstation, that will have all

the featueres and a graphical XWindows system.... When you click next it will ask you how you want to

partition your hard drive to use RedHat, again, if you had no experiencer with Linux, Choose Have the

Installer Automatically partition for you and click next.... With automatic partitioning you have 3

options
1) Remove all previous Linux (ext2) partitions and install over them,
2) Remove all partitions on this system (Including Windows) and,
3) Use existing free space

If you know you dont need Windows anymore choose the second option, If you will be using Windows again

choose the third. If you have more than one hard drive3 make sure that the correct one it highlighted

in the pull-down menu.

Next is the bootloader setup.... If you chose to use all of your hard drive space for Linux then

choose GRUB as a bootloader on your Master Boot Record..... If you dont want to instyall a bootloader

click that option and click next (you will have an option to create startup disks later in the setup

process)

Now you have to setup your ethernet adapter (If you have one, if you dont, go on to the next step) If

you have DSL choose to use DHCP and activate on boot, If you have cable just choose DHCP. Now the

firewall.... If you will be hosting or providing services such as DHCP, http server, SMTP, SSH, etc

choose them in the menu, otherwise just click on medium and continue (Cable and DSL users dont forget

to make eth0 a trusted device)

The next 2 windows are language and time zone configuration, choose your time zone and language and

continue....

Now you have to set up the root account and a normal account.... The root account is the master

account in Linux so it has to have a pretty strong password and only be used when you need to make

system-wide changes. Always use alpha-numeric passwords with special characters.
For example zephyr is not a good password becayuse it is in the dictionary and it only contains

letters.

CiZA-2em
DrO7e!iq
pod-e#9s
JifRU9o!
@9u*ro8#

These are good passwords, they are mroe than 6 characters long, contain letters, numbers, and speciakl

characters. To generate some good passwords go to http://www.winguides.com/security/password.php
Also create a user account for yourself for regualr use.....

On the next screen you will be asked to configure your authentication type..... On the default tab, on

top click on use MD5 passwords and use shadow passwords, that way yopur passwords will be encrypted

and more secure... If you use Keroberos, LDAP, SMB, or NIS configure those as needed.

Next, The package selection... If you have enough hard drive space choose ALL at the bottom of the

screen, if not, just choose the items selected by default.

Next, RedHat setup will rpobe your video card, if the one selected by default is not your4 video card

try looking for you card there, if it is not there, go back to the default one.

AHHHH! Linux is installing, This will take about 2 hours, so sit back and relax.....

Now, If you didnt install a bootloader or want to be on the safe side, grab an empty floopy and label

it linux boot disk, this floppy will ghelp you boot your linux in case your bootloader goes haywire ;)

Next choose your monitor (if it is not there go to the selected one), In the next screen you will have

a chance to configure X (Linux's GUI) I reccomend 1024x768 resolution 16bit color depth and KDE as

your GUI, IMO KDE is easier to use and more user frinedly. Choose graphical login from the radio

buttons and go on.

THATS IT! You now have Linux installed on your system... Just restart your computer and login to your

brand new OS :D
July 16th, 2002, 08:31 PM
CorporateHaXor

Excellent tutorial ac1dsp3ctrum, great work. I am sure this will help lots of people wanting to break free of windows. :)
July 16th, 2002, 08:41 PM
khakisrule

Yea, nice idea for a tutorial. I was thinking of an original idea. And GNOME is the default red hat manager right? People have to pick KDE. And one more thing, for those of you without computer who can boot from cd, i.e. poor bastards such as myself, though my new comp is on the way, you need to write a boot disk to load the cd-rom. Yoy can probably find an online site that will let you download rawrite.exe and an image to do that. Good idea for a tutorial, maybe people won't have to rely on a book for installing red hat. I'm gonna write a tutorial on partitioning for linux installation. Thanks for the idea acid.
July 16th, 2002, 09:11 PM
ac1dsp3ctrum

To make a boot disk:

Insert CD 1 into the drive under Windows open a DOS prompt and do the following:

cd \path\dosutils
rawrite
\path\images\boot.img
A

(I included rawwrite)
July 16th, 2002, 09:32 PM
JCHostingAdmin

Awesome tutorial man. I need to go to the debian site cause Im having problem's installing debian.
July 16th, 2002, 09:55 PM
phuckintwizted

just a few points i encountered while installing red hat ...... make sure you have a linux compatible modem or that you have the proper modem drivers or your outa luck gettin online, if your using 56k...(i actually had to replace my modem) make sure the boot loader you select is the one you want to use or you have to fdisk to replace it. grub loader can be pass protected to add aditionial security to your kernel, not so with lilo....i found that setup passwords for root and user arent that important as you can change them at anytime...ive found that setting the firewall to high security causes no problems for me, setting up a workstation... but the main thing ive discovered is that mandrake is a heck of a lot easier to install and use for newbies than red hat lol one more thing ,red hat can be a processor hog so if your on a slow processor choose the lowest eye candy setting while installing then use the control panel to adjust the settings to an optimal point.

http://www.undisker.com is where to get undisker a cool program for workin with iso files without the need to burn
July 16th, 2002, 10:22 PM
khakisrule

Quote:

make sure you have a linux compatible modem or that you have the proper modem drivers or your outa luck gettin online

There was a winmodem linux guide published a long time ago, there is therefore no point in posting anything like that here.

Quote:

grub loader can be pass protected to add aditionial security to your kernel, not so with lilo

Most linux users don't need that kind of protection as many red hat users are new to linux and will move on to greater things when they learn more. A sysadmin might, but a sysadmin would have gone to university and would know all about that.

Quote:

ive found that setting the firewall to high security causes no problems for me

Count yourself lucky, I had to use an old ip chains firewall script and modify it to let me browse the web. Maybe my installation of linux screwed up.

Quote:

but the main thing ive discovered is that mandrake is a heck of a lot easier to install and use for newbies than red hat lol one more thing

A matter of preference. Red hat has a nice install GUI and is extremely easy to install, as long as you know a couple of things about your system. But you need to know about your system for any linux distro installation.

Quote:

http://www.undisker.com is where to get undisker a cool program for workin with iso files without the need to burn

Why not get the original? Isobuster is easy to use, fast and easy to setup. All you gotta do is extract and run.
July 16th, 2002, 11:02 PM
CXGJarrod

Thanks for the help. I have been interested in installing Linux for a while and now will be able to do it.
July 17th, 2002, 12:47 AM
sharkyt2t

just a few points i encountered while installing red hat ...... make sure you have a linux compatible modem or that you have the prope modem drivers or your outa luck gettin online, if your using 56k...

The best way to avoid compatibuility problems is to get an external modem vs internal modem card it's
guaranteed to work on any Linux box :)

Sharky
July 17th, 2002, 12:54 AM
preacherman481

Hi Ac1d,
When I've tried installing Redhat 7.3, I've chosen the 3 button PS/2 mouse option (And I'm sure
this is the right option for my mouse). However, this doesn't seem to work. I can't use the middle
scroll button on my mouse. Do you know how to fix this? Does yours work? (My scroll button
works fine under Mandrake 8.2).
July 17th, 2002, 01:10 AM
rcgreen

I think the driver for scroll mouse is imps2
rather than ps2.
I had to manually edit the xf86Config file.
I found the information by entering "scroll mouse" and
"linux" into Google (Advanced Search)
:cool:
July 17th, 2002, 04:40 AM
Manic

Nice tutorial, I'll remember that when I (one day) download it.
July 18th, 2002, 01:41 AM
cachinga

Hey preacherman,
What kind of mouse do you have? I had the same problem when recently installing RH 7.3 but it worked on mandrake 7.2. I went to logitech's site and but no drivers avail for linux. Even though I know this isn't in line with the original thread, I'd also really like to hear if anyone found a fix for this --besides of course going back to mandrake.

cachinga
July 18th, 2002, 01:52 AM
str34m3r

I use the "Microsoft Intellimouse (PS/2)" option, and it works great for my Logitech mouse with a scroll wheel. You might want to see if that fixes your problem.
July 18th, 2002, 02:16 AM
preacherman481

Quote:

Originally posted here by cachinga
Hey preacherman,
What kind of mouse do you have? I had the same problem when recently installing RH 7.3 but it worked on mandrake 7.2. I went to logitech's site and but no drivers avail for linux. Even though I know this isn't in line with the original thread, I'd also really like to hear if anyone found a fix for this --besides of course going back to mandrake.

cachinga

It's the mouse that came with my HP Pavilion 7955. It's a ps/2. The scroll button works great with Mandrake, not at all
with RedHat 7.3. But, I think I'm going to stick with Mandrake anyway.
July 18th, 2002, 02:23 AM
cachinga

Can't say I blame you, I really dig mandrake. I'll try the intellimouse option tonight.
July 18th, 2002, 03:05 AM
uid(zer0)

Why all (most) peoples recommends KDE ? :confused:
KDE more user friendly? No way. Peoples let the newbie decide what to use. Every user should decide himself.

I don't like KDE very much coz it's evolution is veeery slow now. Look how fast is evolving Gnome desktop environment now. Gnome2 (a very friendly GUI) differ's from Gnome 1.4 a lot more than KDE 2.2 from 3.0. And Gnome community is wider.

Gnome2 instalation: Install Gnome in RH 7.3, download and compile your Gnome2 and you'll be able to use gtk+ 1.2 and gtk+ 2 apps. Of course you'll have to install it manualy, edit some files in terminal coz there is no rpm's now. But why then you're in Linux if you affraid to compile it manualy. After compilation you (newbie) will learn a lot. You'll see it's gui looks pretty cool (to me ;D ). Of course it needs some tweaking. Live and learn how to do it yourself.

Sometimes you must lose the battle to win the war. (I wanted to say: sometimes U must lose the click 'n' go install to get the kickass gui ;p).

After all it's not important what you use. It's important just to enjoy Linux (or other unix'es). ;)

Sorry for bad grammar...
July 18th, 2002, 03:23 AM
politroyx

Nice tute ac1dsp3ctrum.
I'm planning to buy another HD next week and install LINUX. This will be my first time to install LINUX my self. Thanks for the tute man.
July 18th, 2002, 04:20 AM
Sudo

Quote:

Originally posted here by phuckintwizted
grub loader can be pass protected to add aditionial security to your kernel, not so with lilo

Where have you been? Lilo can be configured to use a password, however local security is not much of an issue for most people.

Quote:

i found that setup passwords for root and user arent that important as you can change them at anytime...

Yah right! Having your box on the internet at anytime without passwords set on the accounts is just plain stupid. Unless, you have chosen not to run any services. But, it is still not a wise idea.

Quote:

one more thing ,red hat can be a processor hog so if your on a slow processor choose the lowest eye candy setting while installing then use the control panel to adjust the settings to an optimal point.

This can be said for any distro out there, including Mandrake. This is due to a number of things, including the number of services that get installed and enabled by default. KDE itself needs a lot of resources, therefore running it on slower hardware can cause problems.

Quote:

http://www.undisker.com is where to get undisker a cool program for workin with iso files without the need to burn

No thanks, Ill stick to using the loopback device.

Personally, I don't care for Redhat nor Mandrake. I like to know exactly what is on my machine and how it is configured, and I do this by installing and configuring everything from scratch. This is why I like Slackware, Debian and Gentoo. I discovered Gentoo several months ago, and ever since I installed it, I would never consider using anything else. It uses BSD's portage tree, which is simillar to Debian's "apt-get", except everything is downloaded as source and automatically compiled without any user intervention. The great thing about it is that I can optimize all of my software for the i686 instruction set, which increases performance significantly. If you haven't already tried out Gentoo Linux, I highly recommend that you do. The install is nothing like any other distro out there, so it can be a little intimidating. However, everything you need to know to install it is in a file located on the install CD.

--Sudo