The install process for Linux really depends on the Linux distribution you selected. In most cases, you will be installing from CD images that you burned to a CD-Rom or from a DVD-ROM. This type of installation is covered in this article. Some Linux distributions allow you to install from the network but this is not covered here.
Booting From Your CD-Rom
In order to get the setup process rolling, you need to be able to boot from your CD-Rom drive. By default, most computers are not configured to boot from your CD-Rom. You can test if yours works by inserting the first install disk (almost certainly disk #1) into your CD-Rom drive and rebooting your computer. If your computer is off, you will need to turn it on, insert the CD-Rom and then reboot.
If your computer tries to boot up by reading the hard drive, then your computer needs to be configured to boot from the CD-Rom. Otherwise, you can skip this step and go on to the next section.
The way you configure your computer to boot from the CD-Rom drive is to enter your BIOS setup. BIOS is an acronym meaning "Built-In Operating System" and it is program code that is stored on a special chip on your motherboard. When your computer is booting up, the first thing you will usually see is a text screen indicating the configuration of your computer (CPU, memory and drives.) Anothing thing you should see on these screen is a message that looks like:
Press F2 to Enter (BIOS) Setup
Sometimes the key to press is F2 and sometimes it is DELETE. You only have a couple of seconds to hit this key when your computer is booting up. Don't worry if you mess hitting this key the first time you see the message. After you read which key you need to press, simply reboot the computer and hit the key as soon as the message appears on the screen.
What you will see when you enter the BIOS setup is usually a text-only screen containing lots of choices (like a menu) for configuring your computer. Every motherboard manufacturer usually has their own BIOS software so there is no standard way of configuring boot options. Nevertheless, try to find the boot configuration in the BIOS. You should look for something that looks like Boot Loader Configuration.
You should be able to change the devices that your computer can "boot up" from and also the order of devices (when multiple devices may be configured.) Make sure that you place your CD-Rom drive at the top of the list. After you install Linux, you can change these configurations back to their original settings so you might want to make a note of this before you make any changes.
Now that you are done making these changes, you will need to Save and Exit the BIOS configuration. This is usually done by hitting the ESC key. Instructions on how to Save and Exit may appear at the bottom of your display. Or you may have to use the ESC key to "go back" to the "main menu" where the "Save and Exit" option appears. You are now ready to begin running the setup process.
Running Setup
First, you will want to install your Linux boot disk into your CD-Rom drive. Did you download all of the necessary install disks and validate their MD5 checksums already? This is covered in Burning CDs?. The first disk to insert is almost certainly Disk #1.
Next you will need to reboot your computer to boot from the CD-Rom. When the computer boots up, you should see a message that looks something like:
Welcome to Fedora Core 3
At least, you should see something that is identifiable as the Linux system you are trying to install. If the operating system from your hard drive starts to load, one of two problems have occurred. Either your BIOS wasn't configured to boot from a CD-Rom, or your CD-Rom drive was unable to read the disk or recognized the disk as being bootable.
If your system doesn't recognize the disk, maybe you didn't use a permanent media such as CD-R or DVD-R. These tend to be the most reliable forms of media when creating your own Linux disks.
Formatting Your Hard Drive
Before you format your hard drive, be absolutely sure that you won't need any of the data on your existing hard drive. When you format your entire drive, you are required to wipe (or completely erase) any data that is already there. If you have partitioned your hard drive (BEFORE running setup,) then you can preserve existing data on your hard drive.
Nearly all Linux distributions allow you to create a separate partition to install Linux to. You can even make your computer "dual boot" meaning that you can boot from multiple operating systems at startup. Each operating system should be installed into a separate partition. More informatino about creating a dual boot configuration will be covered later.
One of the first steps in installing Linux is to choose a Linux-compatible filesystem to format your drive with. Linux supports many different types of filesystems but the most widely supported are ext2 and ext3. ext3 is usually an excellent choice since it is a journaling filesystem which means that any sudden power failure will not harm your filesystem, even if your system is in the middle of writing a file or modifying the directory tree.
The format process usually consists of the following steps:
- Select and Delete (Remove) All Existing Partitions
- Allow Linux to Automatically Partition Your Drive
- Confirm the Format Parameters
- Wait for Linux to Partition and Format Your Drive
The process of formatting your drive may take a few minutes, so this is a good opportunity to go get a snack and take a break!
Primary Role
Some Linux distributions like to simplify the installation process by asking you to identify the primary role of the computer you are installing to. This largely eliminates the need to select from the myriad of individual software packages (covered in the next section.) Typical computer roles are:
- Workstation
- Server
In the Microsoft Window world, this would be similar to the different operating systems "Windows Server 2003" or "Windows XP". Even though their operating sytems have very different names, they are still based on the same kernel and sub-systems. The only difference is the array of software packages available to you (and in some cases, the features in the software will often change.) Linux will change the software packages (almost never the features) and you can install any type of operating system from the same set of install disks.
Selecting Packages to Install
Another common task in Linux setup is to install the software packages you want to be installed on your system. Linux has a vast array of software available for it and it can be overwhelming when dealing with so many choices. If you feel the least bit overwhelmed, we suggest you choose the "Primary Role" route for selecting all your packages (as described in the previous section.)
Depending on the Linux distribution you choose, it will usually help you to select packages when running the setup process. You don't need to worry about package dependencies. In many cases, you won't even have to worry about the actual name of the software - the Linux setup will often generalize packages and group related packages together. This way, if you want a mail server, you will just see "Mail Server". Selecting this option might install a variety of packages inculding "bind", "sendmail" and "fetchmail".
You don't need to worry about getting the perfect package selection during setup. Just like with Windows, you can always go back after you have finished installing and run your package management tool to add, update or remove packages that are installed on your system.