A practical exercise for starters: install Linux on your PC. Read the installation manual for your distribution and/or the Installation HOWTO and do it.
Read the docs! | |
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Most errors stem from not reading the information provided during the install. Reading the installation messages carefully is the first step on the road to success. |
Things you must know BEFORE starting a Linux installation:
Will this distribution run on my hardware?
Check with http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/index.html when in doubt about your hardware compatibility.
What kind of keyboard do I have (number of keys, layout)? What kind of mouse (serial/parallel)? How many MB of RAM?
Will I install a basic workstation or a server, or will I need to select specific packages myself?
Will I install from my hard disk, from a CD-ROM, or using the network? Should I adapt the BIOS for any of this? Does the installation method require a boot disk?
Will Linux be the only system on this computer, or will it be a dual boot installation? Should I make a large partition in order to install virtual systems later on, or is this a virtual installation itself?
Is this computer in a network? What is its hostname, IP address? Are there any gateway servers or other important networked machines my box should communicate with?
Linux expects to be networked | |
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Not using the network or configuring it incorrectly may result in slow startup. |
Is this computer a gateway/router/firewall?
Partitioning: let the installation program do it for you this time, we will discuss partitions in detail in Chapter 3. There is system-specific documentation available if you want to know everything about it.
Will this machine start up in text mode or in graphical mode?
Think of a good password for the administrator of this machine (root). Create a non-root user account.
Do I need a rescue disk? (recommended)
Which languages do I want?
The full checklist can be found at http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/Installation-HOWTO/index.html.
In the following chapters we will find out if the installation has been successful.