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<H1></H1>



<UL>

	<LI><A HREF="#Heading1">- 3 -</A>

	<UL>

		<LI><A HREF="#Heading2">Installing Linux</A>

		<UL>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading3">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading4">Types of Installation</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading5">TIP</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading6">NOTE</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading7">NOTE</A>

			<UL>

				<LI><A HREF="#Heading8">Floppy-Less Installation of Slackware</A>

				<LI><A HREF="#Heading9">Floppy-Based Installation of Slackware</A>

			</UL>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading10">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading11">TIP</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading12">Making the Root and Boot Disks Without VIEW.EXE</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading13">Creating Boot and Root Floppies on a UNIX System</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading14">Preparing the Hard Disk</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading15">CAUTION</A>

			<UL>

				<LI><A HREF="#Heading16">Setting Aside Space for a Swap Partition</A>

				<LI><A HREF="#Heading17">Resizing MS-DOS Partitions</A>

			</UL>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading18">NOTE</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading19">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading20">TIP</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading21">Booting the System for Installation</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading22">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading23">Using Linux fdisk</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading24">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading25">NOTE</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading26">A Sample Run</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading27">WARNING</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading28">Installing Linux Files</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading29">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading30">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading31">Creating the File System</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading32">Dont Run As Root</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading33">Changing Your Hostname If Youre on a Network</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading34">Multiple Login Sessions with Virtual Consoles</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading35">TIP</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading36">Powering Down</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading37">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading38">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading39">A Final Word About Installing Linux</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading40">Summary</A>

		</UL>

	</UL>

</UL>



<P>

<HR SIZE="4">



<H2 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading1<FONT COLOR="#000077">- 3 -</FONT></H2>

<H2 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading2<FONT COLOR="#000077">Installing Linux</FONT></H2>

<P><I>by Kamran Husain</I></P>



<P>IN THIS CHAPTER</P>



<UL>

	<LI>Types of Installation 

	<P>

	<LI>Making the Root and Boot Disks Without VIEW.EXE

	<P>

	<LI>Creating Boot and Root Floppies on a UNIX System

	<P>

	<LI>Preparing the Hard Disk 

	<P>

	<LI>Booting the System for Installation 

	<P>

	<LI>Using Linux fdisk 

	<P>

	<LI>A Sample Run 

	<P>

	<LI>Installing Linux Files

	<P>

	<LI>Creating the File System 

	<P>

	<LI>Don't Run As Root 

	<P>

	<LI>Changing Your Hostname If You're on a Network 

	<P>

	<LI>Multiple Login Sessions with Virtual Consoles 

	<P>

	<LI>Powering Down 

	<P>

	<LI>A Final Word About Installing Linux 

</UL>



<P><BR>

This chapter deals with installing Slackware 96 on your PC. We will work with the

Slackware release on the CD-ROM at the back of the book for the installation for

this book. Depending on the type of PC you have, the installation process can be

very easy (simple IDE disks, no network) or very hard (multiple drives, operating

systems, and so on). In either case, be prepared to spend some time during the installation

process.



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	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading3<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>CAUTION:</B> </FONT>Read this entire

	chapter to the end before you start the installation process. If you have not already

	read Chapter 1, &quot;Introduction to Linux,&quot; and Chapter 2, &quot;Types of

	Linux,&quot; now would be a good time to skim through them. It is important enough

	for me to reiterate: You must read this entire chapter all the way to the end before

	you start the Linux installation. Reading all the way through will let you know what

	to expect. It is not possible to backtrack during a Linux installation; you must

	start all over if you make a mistake. So spend the time now to read about what you

	are getting yourself into.

<HR>



</DL>



<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading4<FONT COLOR="#000077">Types of Installation</FONT></H3>

<P>Two methods of installing Linux are covered in this chapter: using VIEW.EXE and

using RAWRITE.EXE. The VIEW.EXE procedure can further offer two choices: a floppy-based

installation and floppy-less installation. All methods are easy to use; the choice

is up to you. You need a DOS, UNIX, or Windows system to be able to initially read

the contents of the Slackware CD-ROM for the installation process.</P>

<P>The tools required for VIEW.EXE installation processes are two blank DOS-formatted

floppy disks. The VIEW.EXE program can be found on commercial Slackware sets available

from Walnut Creek. (Visit their Web site at <TT>http://www.cdrom.com</TT>.) The information

provided about the VIEW.EXE program also applies to the RAWRITE method.</P>

<P>If you are installing Linux on a system with which you will want to boot into

Linux or MS-DOS using some sort of boot loader, you should consider using the floppy-less

installation procedure. If you are installing on a system that will not have MS-DOS,

consider using the floppy-based installation process. In most cases, though, users

will want to install Linux on the same computer that runs their MS-DOS software.



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	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading5<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>TIP: </B></FONT>As you start to install

	Linux on your machine, set aside some time when you will not be distracted. You will

	be making some major decisions on disk space, partitioning, and so on, and it will

	probably be a good idea to have some time to think. In other words, walk the dog

	before you start.

<HR>



</DL>



<P>The basic tool for navigating the installation process is the VIEW.EXE program

in the root directory for the commercial Slackware 96 CD-ROM from Walnut Creek. You

can use the arrow keys to move around the selections presented on-screen and use

the Enter key to select items on a screen. When you select a directory, the VIEW

program switches to a directory. When you select a file, the VIEW program either

runs the program or displays its contents. The Escape (Esc) key backs up directory

trees or menu selections.



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</DL>





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<HR>

<A NAME="Heading6<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>NOTE:</B> </FONT>The VIEW.EXE program

	does not run correctly under Windows 95. Don't run the VIEW.EXE program from within

	an MS-DOS window. If you are in Windows 95, reboot the machine in MS-DOS mode before

	proceeding with the Linux installation. During the boot process in Windows 95, you

	can press the F8 key to halt the boot process and use the menu to select the boot

	method. Choose the command-line interface method of booting into Windows 95 for this

	installation process.

<HR>



</DL>





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	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading7<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>NOTE:</B> </FONT>You don't need to

	be running MS-DOS to install Slackware. Running MS-DOS makes it easier, however,

	to create the boot and root floppies. If you are not running MS-DOS on your system,

	you can use someone else's MS-DOS system to create the floppies and then install.

<HR>



</DL>



<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading8<FONT COLOR="#000077">Floppy-Less Installation

of Slackware</FONT></H4>

<P>Floppy-less installation of Slackware is not recommended. Run the VIEW.EXE program

in MS-DOS, and select the <TT>kernels</TT> directory. From the list presented in

the menu, select the kernel that best fits your type of machine. It's probably better

to select the kernel with the closest and fewest features just to be sure you will

be able to boot correctly.</P>

<P>After you have selected the kernel, you have two choices: either install Linux

onto a Linux-only partition or use an existing MS-DOS partition for installing Linux

files. The MS-DOS installation option lets you share a directory tree on a Linux

system with an MS-DOS system file tree. The advantage is that the files in the Linux

directory tree are accessible from within MS-DOS, and vice versa. The disadvantage

is that the performance of such a file system is very slow.</P>

<P>When you have selected either root system (Linux or MS-DOS), the VIEW.EXE program

attempts to load Linux. If the load completes successfully, you are presented with

a login prompt. It's really that simple. However, should anything go wrong, other

than the obvious <TT>disk</TT> <TT>full</TT> message, you should use floppies to

install Linux instead of trying to debug the procedure.

<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading9<FONT COLOR="#000077">Floppy-Based Installation

of Slackware</FONT></H4>

<P>For this installation procedure, you need two blank formatted floppy disks. One

disk will be used as a boot disk and the other as a root disk. (If you have only

4MB of RAM, you might require a third blank formatted disk. Keep one on hand just

in case you are asked to insert a RAMDISK during the installation process.)</P>

<P>Start the VIEW.EXE program. Switch to the <TT>bootdsks.144</TT> directory if you

have a 1.44MB floppy drive in A. Switch to the <TT>bootdisk.12</TT> directory if

you have a 1.2MB floppy drive in A. In the boot disk directories, you can choose

either the <TT>ide.bat</TT> or the <TT>scsi.bat</TT> directory. Choose the path that

describes your system: <TT>ide.bat</TT> if you have IDE drives and <TT>scsi.bat</TT>

if you have a SCSI system.



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