Here's one of my oldest articles. I'm glad I found a few of them. This one was written on 12th Dec'04, when I was pursuing my engg degree.
:-)
Linux Mandrake – the magic of the magician
Pre-requisites
–installation cds
–1 pre-formatted floppy
–IP addrs, subnet mask, gateway, DNS addrs
–particulars of graphics card, monitor, sound card, printer
–knowledge of ur hard disk n partitions
So, here we go,
1. First screen -
When the comp boots with Mandrake 1sst cd, you'll get a screen,
with 2 options -
a. enter to install or upgrade
b. press F1 for more options
Its better to always go with the default.
So, juz enter !!
default – Enter
2.Choose language -
choose the language for installation,
default – English (U.S.)
3. Terms and conditions – Read it as u please,(juz a formality)
click on Accept,
default – Accept ( disagree will quit the installation)
4.Installation screen -
a. Recommended – for normal users with not so many options
b. Expert - with many options, to configure
default – Recommended, (expert only if you know wat u r doing)
I've gone with the Expert install, which will cover Recommended mode as
well.
a. Installation – First time install
b. Upgradation – Upgrading older version of Mandrake, i.e. 8.2
c. upgrade packages only – upgrade libraries etc.
default - Installation
5.Any disk/SCSI interface -
Small Computers System Interface ports for SCSI hard disks, printers.
SCSI provides flexibility of attaching many devices to one SCSI port,
and many times higher data transfer speed as compared to other interfaces,i.e . IDE (like we usually have).
Default – No , if yes, u hav to configure it (do it urself, as i hav no SCSI devices)
6. Mouse – choose your mouse (ah, don't go into the kitchen to find 1)
default – PS2 Generic (connected to PS2 port like keyboard) or USB wheel (conneccted to USB port)
7.Keyboard Layout – choose your keyboard
default – US keyboard (104 keys)
8.Security level – choose the security level you want for ur PC
a. standard – for normal users, pc to be used as a client
b. high – a bit higher security, (security checks at particular interval)
c. higher – if the pc is to be made a server, (assign admin password or e-mail)
d. Paranoid – almost every services are filtered or blocked with max. security
9.Install -
a. Recommended -
b. Expert -
a. Install -
b. Upgrade -
c. Upgrade packages only -
as discussed above.
10.Partitioning – be careful while doing this.
You'll need at least 2 partitions for Linux. 1st for mount point “/” (root) and the other for swap space. Root partition is recommended to be assigned 2-7 GB as or how much packages are to be installed.
Swap space should be double the size of RAM. If the RAM is 128 MB, then the Swap space should be 128*2=256 MB (approx). [I used 512MB]
Filesystem for the Root partition may be Linux Ext2 or Ext3.
Swap space should have swap filesystem(raw).
Both the partitions can be primary or logical drives at any place on the hard disk.
Another partition - “/boot” is required , if you want to boot Linux from any other operating system.
Note – You can have separate partitions for separate imp. Mount points, i.e. /root, /usr, /home
The partitioning software “DiskDruid” is very powerful, but if u r resizing a partition, all the data on that partition will be lost(unlike partition magic).
Select, resize, format, n make mount points for Linux as per required or desired.
Default – if u wanna dedicate the whole hard disk to Linux, it'll be more than happy to oblige u to do all the partitioning just for u.
11.Packages selection -
a. Development – i.e. Gcc, flex n other devel. Softwares
b. Servers – ftp, http , samba n any other servers that u want ur PC to be
c. Games – afterall, there's a kid in each of us
d. Multimedia – mp3-audio players, video players, Graphics softwares
e. Desktop environment – provides interface between the user and the OS,
i.e. KDE, Gnome, Enlightment etc.
default – leave it as its seen & selected
12.Individual Packages selection - if u wanna select ne particular packages, though u can always add 'em later after installation
13. Installation Screen – shows installation progress, particulars of individual instl. too, estimated time left.
Default – u can't do nething (except cancel). Get urself some snacks & a cup of coffee !!
14. Set root password - type your root password, n memorize it. Write it down somewhere else. Its very important. Root is super-user, its got all the previleges n it can boycott ne n every rules. U need root password for installation of ne new packages.he's the admin.
There's no way to recover password in unix-based OS, coz they encrypt the password and store 'em. When u login , it encrypts the current password n compares with the one stored. There's no process for decryption.
Authentication -
a. Local files – for local files
b. NIS – if the PC z gonna support NIS
c. Win domain – blah blah blah.....
default – Local files
15. Add a user – Its always recommended to add one normal user, who will do all the tasks, n he'll need the root's password only when required.
This way he can't harm the OS knowingly or unknowingly.
Add as many users(user-name) u want. Assign a password, full name.
16.Configure Network – if u want ur comp to connect to the internet via NIC, select ur connection type,
17. dhcp options - for client to get IP addrs from the server.
default – dhcpcd
18. It finds ur NIC , do u hav ne other NIC ?
- configure it likewise
19. IP address – i.e. 10.0.0.5
network mask – i.e. 255.0.0.0
Automatic IP – if not manually entered above
start at boot – check the box if the network is to be started on boot
20.Hostname – any , i.e. localhost (your name on the network)
DNS server – i.e. 203.123.64.122 (IP addrs of the domain name resolving server, which maps a domain name to an IP addrs n vice versa)
Gateway – IP addrs of the Router
21.Proxies – if ur computer requests a Proxy server to connect to the internet, enter its IP addrs, n port no. Also,
http Proxy -
ftp Proxy -
Track n/w card id (useful for laptops) -
default – leave it as it is
22. connect to internet -
a. no firewall – if u don't wanna filter internet traffic
b. http – ur trusted http servers, ports
c. ftp – ur trusted ftp servers , ports
default – leave as it is
23. Summary -
a. Mouse – settings of ur mouse
b. Key board – settings of ur keyboard
c. Time zone – ur time zone as per the GMT
d. Printer – if u wanna add ne printer (local or network)
Configure if u wanna change ne settings.
24. Services to be started at boot time -
select the services u want to be started at boot time, i.e. Shorewall,ipchains (firewall, packet-filter)
default – leave as it is
25. Boot Loader – Boot Loader for linux – LILO or GRUB can boot almost ne other OS in the world. Its so powerful. It configures to boot windows itself, rest u'll hav to configure.
Now, u hav to decide where to install the boot loader -
a. hda – first hard disk's MBR
b. hdb – second hard disk's MBR
MBR – master boot record is the 1st sector of the hard disk. When the control goes to the hard disk(POST), it reads the MBR and when a boot image is found, it boots the OS as indicated(or transfers the control to the selected partition). If the MBR is corrupted the OS can't boot, even if its well installed.
hda# or hdb# - first/second hard disk's #th partition.
If linux is installed in the 1st hard disk's 3rd partition, it'll be hda3 for “/root”.
U can install the boot loader on hda or hdb whichever boots first, or the linux's partition, or floppy, if u don't wanna erase ur MBR's current settings.
Default – MBR of the hard disk which boots 1st
Defaults -
–LILO graphical , LILO text mode, grub – choose ne 1 of 'em
–boot device – hda (1st hard disk's MBR)
–delay – delay time before booting the default OS (10 secs)
–password – if u wanna assign a password for the bootloader
26.Entries on the Boot menu -
u can add valid boot options for ne other OS installed on the PC, i.e. Windows,Solaris, FreeBSD, BeOS, or any other linux- RedHat, slackware,debian etc
u hav to specify a name, boot path , table as shown in the options.
27. Create a bootdiskette – It is recommended.
Even if LILO doesn't boot from the MBR, or u don't wanna erase the MBR, u can always create a boot diskette and boot Linux from it.
U need a pre-formatted floppy.
28. Monitor – choose ur monitor. i.e. Samsung, compaq etc
default – plug n play
29. X-server - choose ur graphics card
i.e. Intel 845
30. Resolution – select the resolution, for graphics card supporting higher frequencies (>60 Hz), u can choose 1024*768, or u can always choose the default 800*600 (pixels).
Select depth -
256 colors – 8 bits
32 thousand colors – 15 bits
65 thousand colros – 16 bits
16 Million colors – 24 bits
default – 24 bits
31. Start X-server at boot – if u don't want a text login, instead a graphical X-login display, select the check box.
Autologin for single-user – if u hav juz 1 normal user, u can use this feature, which will login u automatically when Linux boots.
Usually, its not recommended.
32. Download updates – u can always download updates from the official Linux server, if u don't hav a copy of Linux.
33. OK to Reboot – remove the boot media – cd, floppy
If u wanna boot Linux from the boot diskette, insert the floppy.
Recommended Linux software -
–wine – windows emulator('W'ine 'I's 'N'ot a windows 'E'mulator) – runs windows binaries on linux
–mplayer – terrific media player – plays almost every format
–Limewire , GTK-Gnutella, Gnut – p2p client
–Openoffice – office tools like MS-Office
Have a great time 'njoying the superb features and stability of Linux !!
p.s. Computers are like air-conditioners, they don't work well if u open Windows.
No comments:
Post a Comment