# Sticky  Linux Installation Guide



## wmorri

**buntu:*
The first distro that I am going to write about is probably the most popular in the media base currently. That is *buntu. When you put the Ubuntu, disk into your computer and start you computer up, you will not automatically be brought to the installer, like what happens with Windows. You will have to start the computer up and then go to the boot loader, to do this you need to push ESC, or another key repeatedly until you get a bootloader and choose the drive that you put the cd into to load first.

The fist screen that you will see after loading the cd is the operating system options page. It will have options to start or install Ubuntu, start Ubuntu in safe graphics mode, check cd for defects, memory test, and boot from first hard disk. You will want to choose start or install Ubuntu. If you don't do this in 30 seconds, then whatever choice is high lighted will start automatically.

If this is a livecd you will be loaded into the main desktop. From there you will have a couple of options. The first is to use the OS like a normal computer, in which you can do everything that you would as if it were installed on your computer. The other option is the click on the install icon on the desktop. Once you click on the installer icon an installer GUI will open for you.

The first screen that you see is a welcome screen, here you will need to choose what language you want to see throughout the rest of the process. Then you will click forward. Next it asks you to choose a country and time zone. You have the option of clicking on the map on one of the red dots, or you can choose from a drop down menu. You can also set the correct time. Then click on the forward button. If you didn't get the right language you can go back, or go back at any time during the install process. Third you will want to choose the correct keyboard layout, there is the option to try typing to make sure the layout is correct. The forth step is that you will be asked for your name, and what you want to choose as a log in name, they can both be the same if you want. You will have to enter a password, and re-enter it, and enter the name of your computer. Entering the name of your computer doesn't mean, enter Dell, or HP, but enter running or Jupiter, or whatever you want it to show up as if you were to connect from another computer or network. This will be used if/when you use command line, too. Then click forward.

Now comes the time when you are choosing what disk or how much space you want to use for OS. I would recommend that you just use the default options, for this as the installer will do most of the work, unless you fell that you are proficient at partitioning your hard drive. Then click next. If you choose a hard drive from the last screen you will be asked to choose how much of that drive you want to you. If you did it manually then you will be moved right on the final step. The last screen shows you everything that you have entered for information about your system. It has the language, keyboard layout, your name, login name, location, and partitioning. If everything is to your liking then you can go ahead and click install. From here an installing system box will open and will commence with installing the OS. After it has completed the installation, a window will come up and ask if you want to continue using the live CD, or restart now. A restart is required in order to use the OS without the CD.

Everything about how to install *buntu can be found in a graphical manner here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GraphicalInstall


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## wmorri

*Fedora:*

When you put the Fedora disk into your computer and start you computer up, you will not automatically be brought to the installer, like what happens with Windows. You will have to start the computer up and then go to the boot loader, and choose the drive that you put the cd into to load first. To do this you will need to puch the ESC key or another key a lot until the bootloader appears.

The fist screen that you will see after loading the cd is the operating system options page. It will have options to run from image, run from ram – requires 1GB+, and verify and run image. You will want to choose run from image. The next thing that will happen is that your screen will go black. Then a lot of information will run down your screen, this is just the OS’s way of making sure that everything is there and in check. Depending on how fast your computer is it could take 30 seconds for the black screen to run through or it could take a little bit longer. After the black screen goes away you will be presented with a fedora loading screen. This is similar to the Mac OS X loading screen, and just lets you know that the OS is loading.

If this is a livecd you will be loaded into the main desktop. From there you will have a couple of options. The first is to use the OS like a normal computer, in which you can do everything that you would as if it were installed on your computer. The other option is the click on the install icon on the desktop. Once you click on the installer icon an installer GUI will open for you.

The first screen that you see is a welcome screen, you have options to read the release notes, and click on the next button. Next it asks you to pick what language you want to use for your keyboard. After you choose your language a pop-up window will open, don’t be worried, this is normal. It is informing you that all the data on the current drive will be erased, just click yes. Then click the next button.

Now comes the time when you are choosing what disk or how much space you want to use for OS. I would recommend that you just use the default options, for this as the installer will do most of the work. For Fedora Core the first screen for partitioning you will see a drop down menu that asks you if you want to “remove Linux partitions on selected drive and create a default layout”. The next option is to “use free space and create a default layout”. The last is “create custom layout”. I would choose the either the first one if you have a Linux partition, or the second one if you want to leave your current OS on there, which would probably be a good idea. The hard drive that you are going to be writing to will also be listed. If you only have one hard drive, then this area will be grayed out. Then click next. After clicking next a pop-up will open that will ask you what drive configuration you want. If you choose “remove Linux partitions on selected drive and create a default layout” the pop-up will open and ask you if you want to remove all information from that drive. Just click yes.

The next step is to set up what type of network you have for your internet connection. The screen shows the network devices. These are all the modems or Ethernet cards(NICS) that are in or connected to your computer. If you are not sure what your network device is and there is one listed as “eth0” then put a check mark in that box. It will probably say under IPV4/Netmask: “DHCP”, and under IPV6/Prefix: “Auto”. That is all fine, if you don’t under stand that I will explain it a little. DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. Basically it allows your network devices i.e. Ethernet card, to get a dynamic address i.e. IP address, to allow you to get connected to a network i.e. the internet. The opposite of that is a Static IP. This is one that doesn’t ever change. But, back to the topic. Under “Hostname” you should choose “automatically via DHCP” unless you know otherwise. Then click next.

After the network configuration is done you will have to choose what time zone and area of the world you are in. You have two options to do this. The first is to click on one of the dots on the map, while the other one is to choose from a list. Then click next.

Your next step is to enter a root password. This is just in case you need to log in as “root”. Root gives you access to everything in the OS and isn’t recommended unless you are absolutely sure that you know what you are doing. Then click next.

The next screen just says that you are done with the configuration and that you can start to install Fedora Core. It also tells you were you can find a log of what happens during the install, and a file that will allow you to install other options if you find that you need something. Then click next.

This screen starts with formatting the drive for a Linux partition, which is different from a windows partition if that is what you had on it before. Next it starts the install of all the files that are needed. Finally a box comes up that says that it is “performing post installation filesystem changes” this is not a big deal. After that is done, just click next. The last screen just says that you have finished the install. Click on close.

This will kick you back to the livecd and you will want to go through and end the session and restart your computer. There are some other steps that you will have to go through in order to make sure that your set up is correct, but they are all self explanatory.

For a graphical version of this you can go here: http://howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-fedora-10


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## wmorri

*Mandriva:*

Ok, this is the next distro that I am going to cover. It is pretty popular.

The first thing that you are going to want to do it put the disk in the drive, and boot up from the boot loader. To do this you will want to press the ESC key or another key a lot until the bootloader starts. Then choose the drive that you put the cd into to load first.

The first screen that you are going to come to is one that asks you to pick a language. You will want to go down to your language and click on it there may be more than one option for that language so then click on your specific language. After you have done that you can click on next.

Next you will get to the license agreement you can go through and read it if you want but it isn’t necessary. Just click on the accept button, then click next. The next screen asks you if you want to upgrade, or install Mandriva, for this walk through, you should choose install. Then click next. This screen asks you to choose your keyboard layout. There a lot of different ways to connect your keyboards, and mouse to your computer. There are options for PS/2, USB, busmouse, serial, none. So go ahead and choose the one that works best for you. If you don’t know what the difference is between some of them, look in the back of your computer. If your keyboard, and mouse connect at the top near all the other components then you probably connect with PS/2 connectors. If you connect with USB, choose that option, most people don’t connect with a serial connection anymore, or a busmouse. Once you are done click next.

Then next section is for your mouse. This just has you test your mouse by clicking on the buttons to make sure that it works fine. After that you can click next.
The next section is security. For most home users, you can choose the “standard” next to the security level section. However Mandriva has started to set the default as “high”, so use your own judgment. Then click next.

This next section allows you do choose what software you want on your computer. There are many different options like “workstation”, “gamestation”, and so on, choose all or any of the ones that you want. You can also choose any of the server components if you want, but that isn’t necessary. Also you are going to want to choose what Graphical Environment you want to have. Choose from KDE, Gnome, or Other. Then click next. The next screen just shows how what components are going to be installed. Click install after you are done.

You may get a warning that you have chosen some server apps, if you choose to install them. Just put a dot next to yes, and click next if everything is fine, if you clicked on them by accident, you can go back and remove them. Then click next. Then comes the installation process. This installer gives you an estimated time until it will be done. If you want to see all that stuff being installed you can click on the details button. If you stay on the main installer page you will get some snapshots of the desktop and other features.

Once the install is complete you will come to the screen that asks you for the root password. Go ahead and enter that, then click next. After that screen you get a screen that allows you to add users, this is where you will add your username and password, and other peoples. Then click next. Next comes the auto login screen. This is pretty self explanatory, but you can choose to use it or not, and what Graphical interface you want to use.

Next is the boot loader install screen, the first option of “first sector of drive MBR” is the easiest. Then you will want to click next. This next screen shows a summary of everything, so that if you want to change anything like the keyboard layout or what is installed you can do it from here. Then click next. After that screen you have all the server apps that have been chosen. You can click next after you make sure that everything is good.

Next is just another summary for you to check, and change if needed. You can click next once done. The last step is to install updates. This is a handy feature or the installer. This way your system will be-up-to-date the very first time you load into it. Click next once done. Finally you have the last screen of the installer. It says congats and all that. Then you will want to click on the reboot button, and you are all set.

There is a graphical walk though here for more information: http://www.mandrake.tips.4.free.fr/install.html


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## wmorri

*CentOS:*

The first thing that you are going to want to do it put the disk in the drive, and boot up from the boot loader. To do this you will want to press the ESC key or another key a lot until the bootloader starts. Then choose the drive that you put the cd into to load first.

The first screen that you will see is the Cent OS opening screen. On it there are the options to: Install or Upgrade in Graphical mode, press the <enter> key, To install or upgrade in text mode, type: Linux text <enter>, and Use the function keys below for more options. You are going to want to choose the first one. The next screen is just asking you if you want to check and make sure that everything is one the disk that is needed. You can choose to do this or skip this step it is up to you.

Now the Cent OS install wizard starts up. This is the starting screen, there are the release notes in the bottom left corner, that you can read if you want. Then click next. This next screen asks you what language you would like to see this installer in. Once you have chosen then you can click next. The third step here is choosing what layout you want for your keyboard. Then click next.

This screen is for your partitioning of your hard drive. You have the options at the top to choose how you want it done. There are the options to: Remove all partitions and create a default layout. This would remove your windows partition as well, if you have one, so be careful if you choose this. Second is: Remove Linux partitions on selected drive and create a default partition. This is pretty self explanatory. Third is: Use free space on selected drive, and last is: Create custom layout. I would recommend that if this is your first install that you choose the second, or third choice. Once you have chosen, go ahead and click next.

This next screen is for setting up your network devices. This is where you choose your NIC or Network Interface Card, or your modem, if you have one and still use it. The box underneath Network Device, you have listed all your network devices. Most people will only have one device, so go a head and put a check mark in the box next to that one. The device header you will see “etho0” this is your default Ethernet card. The header IPV4/Netmask should be set to DHCP. The rest of the headers you don’ need to worry about. Were it says Hostname, and you have to set the host name, you should have it set to DHCP, which allows your ISP to change your IP dynamically. However, if you have a static Ip, or have a host name that you connect through then you can set it to manual and input that information. Then click next.

This next screen has you choose what part of the world you are from, and what the time zone you are in. You can either click on the interactive map, or choose from the menu. There is a spot for you to click use UTC. If you have another operating i.e. Windows. The reason for this is that it will change the internal clock with the change to and from daylight savings time. Then click next.

This next screen has you input your root password. It is recommended that you not use something easy to remember like names of family members or pets. Also, don’t use whole names like this: George. Use something like this: g30rg3. That way it is harder for people to gain access to your computer. Then click next.

This next screen asks you what predefined packages you want to have installed. They have options like what Graphical Interface you want, Gnome or KDE, Server packages and so on. Also you have the option to install packages from Cent OS Extras. If you choose to do that a pop-up window will open asking for your network setting, if you have already set them just click OK.

As long as you don’t choose to custom install your packages, you will be brought to the final page before you start to install. If you are all set and ready to install, go ahead and click next. Then you will see a pop-up in the middle of the install window that says Formatting/file system…. Then it will change to Transferring install image to hard drive. Next will be Starting install process. This could take several minutes. That is followed by Preparing transaction for installation source. That is the last pop-up window, now the installation begins. Once it finishes click next. Then click reboot on the next screen, and you are all set.

To see a graphical walk through go to: http://www.howtoforge.com/installati...tos5.1-desktop


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## wmorri

*OpenSUSE:*

The first thing that you are going to want to do it put the disk in the drive, and boot up from the boot loader. To do this you will want to press the ESC key or another key a lot until the bootloader starts. Then choose the drive that you put the cd into to load first.

The first screen that you see is one that has a couple of options for you to choose from. They are Boot from hard disc, Installation, Installation-ACPI Disabled, Installation-Local ACPI Disabled, Installation-Safe Mode, Rescue System. You will want to choose Installation. If you want the installation in a different language you will want to hit F2. Once everything is set for you then you can hit enter.

Next you will see a loading screen. This just has the OpenSUSE logo in the bottom right corner, underneath it is a loading bar. After that you will see the installation wizard. The first screen in the wizard asks you to check the installation media. Choose what media you have it on then hit start check. Once it is done click next. The next screen is the license agreement, and you have to agree to it. Then click next. This screen does a test to make sure that your computer can handle OpenSUSE. Then click next.

This screen asks you what you want to do with the installation. You have the option of Installation, update, other options. Under that box you also have the option to Add online repositories before installing, and Include add-on products from separate media. If you know what repositories you need you can choose that option, and the same for the add-on products, but if you don’t you should leave those boxes blank. Then click next.

This screen asks you if you want to run the network setup wizard, or not. Make your decision and click next. This next screen starts the set up wizard for your network, the options that you have in the box in the middle of the screen are: Automatic Address Setup (via DHCP), or Static Address Setup. Choose DHCP if you aren’t sure, because you would probably know if you had a static IP. Then click next.

This next screen shows the main repositories that are available, plus it also shows any other repositories that you may have wanted to install. Put an X in all the boxes that you want to install, then click next. The next screen show the wizard getting all the repositories that you wanted. It could take a couple of minutes depending on how many you chose to get.

The next screen asks you to choose what time zone you are in. It has two boxes. The first is one that has regions of the world, like Europe, USA, Asia, Pacific. The other box has all the time zones in it, such as for the USA: Easter, Pacific, Mountain. You have the option to use UTC, which changes the time based on daylight savings time. You can change the time, if it isn’t correct, too. Once you are done click next.

This next screen is just an overview of everything that is going to be installed on your system. If you need to change anything, then you can just click on the change button in the middle at the bottom. Once everything is correct, go ahead and clicks accept. After you click accept, one of three license agreements (AdobeICCProfile, Adobe flash player, Sun Java) will pop up. Go through and then accept them. Then a confirm the install window will pop-up. It asks if you are sure that everything is correct and you are ready to install. If you are click install.

The next screen will be the installer. It should take about 20-30 seconds for OpenSUSE to fully install. As soon as the install is complete it will automatically go to a countdown to restart, you can choose to stop that by clicking on Stop. Then you can click next.

This screen is for the root password. Go ahead and enter that. You can also, make sure that the keyboard layout is correct from this screen. Just type in the little box below the password boxes. Then click next.

This screen asks you for a host name. If you don’t know it you can just click on change host name via DHCP, then click on next. This screen asks you for your network configuration. Put a dot next to Use following configuration. Don’t change anything in the box unless you know exactly what you are changing. Just click on next. This next screen will test your connection to the internet via “whatever NIC or modem it found”. You can choose to do this or click on No, skip test. Then click next. Then you see the results on the next screen. Click next when done.

The next screen will ask you if you want to get updates now or if you want to wait till later. It is recommended that you get the updates. Once that is all done, click next.

The next screen is for user authentication. The options that you have are: Local(etc/password) which is the password file, LDAP, NIS, Windows Domain. Unless you are planning on running a server, you should choose Local. Then click next. The next screen asks you to add users. Just go through and add as many users as you would like, then click next.

The next screen will write the system configuration to the hard drive. This should only take a minute. Then click next, once done. Next is the Release Notes screen. Just go through them and then click next.

Once you click next on the last screen the installer will go through and detect all the hardware that is on your computer. Make sure that you read over this list carefully, to make sure that everything that is in your computer is listed there. If it isn’t then you can change things by clicking on the Change button on the bottom in the middle. Once everything is correct, go ahead and click next.

This last screen is the Installation complete screen. It has a Congratulations message and everything. Once you are all set just click Finish. The installer will go away and OpenSUSE will load up. Then you are all set.

To see a Graphical walk through go to: http://news.softpedia.com/news/openSUSE-10-3-Installation-Guide-with-Screenshots-69298.shtml


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