Installing Linux on your PC
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The rest of these notes are out of date, but may contain useful hints.
You might want to install Linux because,
- It doesn't crash. Linux is robust, and many linux machines have uptimes in the order of months, only being rebooted to replace hardware.
- Choice. Linux provides mechanism, not policy. This means that you can configure your system for the way you use it.
- You're curious
However, it may seem daunting to install it, se we're going to hold your hand for a bit, and make it less scary. These notes are intended to help you after you've been to the Linux install fest talk.
And yes, you can have Linux and Windows on the same PC -- they work better together than, say Windows 95 and Windows NT do on the same PC! Linux will work perfectly happily all on its own, of course. A beginner's guide to installing linux is available. That seems to cover everything in sufficient detail, so I won't repeat it. You should also examine the RedHat Installation Guide.
Quick Highlights for Bristol
- Resnet connection.
- For those in halls, you need a ResNet connection. Details for these
are at ResNet:application
and more specifically
- Disk Partitions
- You need to make at least two partitions for Linux. A swap partition and a root partition (in addition to any you might have for Windows. This probably means repartitioning your drive. Use the FIPS program, from windows to do that. fips.exe is in the dosutils directory of the redhat installation. Run FIPS gives the full details.
- Linux Boot disk
- You will need to make a linux boot floppy, in order to start the network installation. Get the bootnet.img, or pcmcia.img (for laptops) from the images directory of the redhat installation. Also get the rawrite.exe from the dosutils directory. You then need to copy the retrieve image onto a floppy using rawrite. Make Boot gives full details.
- Start Install
- Put the boot floppy in the drive and reboot your machine. Follow the instructions. You want an FTP install. For a resnet connect you probably want bootp/dhcp option. Refer to the resnet pages for information about nameservers and gateways -- these depend on which hall you're in.
Linux Resources
- Beginner's Guide to Installing Linux
- Redhat Manual
- Hardware Compatibility
- Local Linux Resources
- Linux in a Nutshell, O'Reilly, ISBN: 1565925858
- Local newsgroup: questions and answers on linux.