Installing Linux
  • For the long time Windows Newbie, where do I start?
    • Which Linux distro is for you? - Help with or choose a distribution
    • Which Linux desktop is for you? - Help with or choose a desktop
  • Notes to consider when installing Linux
    • Start the system with the DVD installer disk in the DVD drive
      1. If your system will not start from the DVD
      2. RESTART your system
      3. Select the key displayed at startup that enters the BIOS settings
      4. BIOS settings key is usually DELETE, F2 or ALT-S
      5. Select BOOT menu
      6. Move DVD drive to the first boot setting
      7. Save the changes, usually F10 -> OK
    • Choose the settings specific to your country, language & keyboard layouts
    • Choose a password that will not be guessed easily, perhaps a not-too-common phrase
    • Hard drives - BE VERY CAREFUL
      • If you are only using Linux on this machine then ignore this section
      • Dual Booting - Windows & Linux
        • Check the drive details for NTFS or FAT32
        • DO NOT FORMAT these drives unless you intend to remove Windows completely
        • Be aware that single hard drives will usually be shrunk by the installation
        • Do yourself a favour & get a separate hard drive - MUCH SAFER
        • If the hard drive is very small; eg under 10GB
          • Installing the distro Damn Small Linux on a USB drive is a better option
        • Before you proceed here make sure you have backed up your hard drive data
        • Dual booting on one machine requires Windows be installed first
        • Linux can read Windows drives but Windows cannot read Linux drives
        • Windows drives should be mounted (named) as: /windows/c or /windows/d
      • Divide the remaining space between two drives mounted (named) as: / (forward slash) & /home
      • On smaller drives, make the size about half each up to 20GB
      • Make the format type ext3 as this is a journalled format for error correction
      • On larger drives, make the fourth drive a virtual drive
      • Create a drive of 1GB that is of type swap
      • Make the /home drive 20GB
      • Make a /backup drive out of the rest
      • Make a list of which drives are which & email it to yourself later on, for future reference
      • On future reinstalls, just add the home or backup drives without formatting
    • Continue with the installation details as they appear on the DVD