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Installation of the RedHat distribution

The RedHat distribution is currently one of the most popular distributions, considering that the installation procedure is very simple. As a matter of fact, this procedure simply asks you to choose from a list of main peripheral devices as well as languages and packages to install. The installation steps are as follows:

• choice of language: choose the language for the installation procedure
• choice of keyboard: For a French keyboard with accented characters, choose fr-latin1
• choice of installation support: In case your Linux installation is on a CD, choose CD-ROM, otherwise (if you have downloaded it, for example), choose Hard drive
• choice of installation style: Means either update of an existing system or full installation from scratch
• type of installation: The system allows you to choose between workstation, server or customized. Choosing customized installation will give you more flexibility
• choosing SCSI adapators: In case you have a SCSI adaptor, you should answer yes to this question. The installation system will try to detect your hardware. In case this automatic search comes up empty, you just have to enter a line of parameters to specify the type of SCSI adapter as well as IRQ and memory address. A card "AHA1520" with the address 0x140 and IRQ 10 will be found by the command llne:
  aha152x=0x140,10
• partitioning the hard disk: this distribution will allow you to partition your hard disk at this level of the installation process (unless you have done so earlier) and let you choose between druid diskand fdisk
• partitioning the hard disk: the software prompts you to chose the hard disk from a list on which you want to create the partitions
  • eliminating unnecessary partitions: under fdisk, use the "d" key to eliminate unnecessary partitions (please make sure not to erase your Windows partitions!)
  • creating Linux partitions: the keys n and p will allow you to create root and swap partitions as well as any other partitions you may need. You will be asked for the number of the first cylinder of the partition as well as its size (in Mo)
  • changing the type of partition: Use the key t to assign type 82 to the swap partition and type 83 to the Linux partitions...
  • exiting fdisk: Hit the q key to quit fdisk without any changes, hit the key
  w to save any changes before quitting
• selecting mount points: on a screen, the different partitions are proposed that you can mount. Select the partition you want to mount and name them one after another, i.e. by specifying the mount point The root must be specified: it represents the master partition and must be named /. Each partition you want to use under Linux must be assigned a mount point (/home for example, or rather /mnt/dos for your DOS partition, in case you want it to be mounted automatically after installation
• selecting the swap partition: the system will then prompt you to choose the partition to be used as secondary memory
• formatting partitions: you must select all new partitions that you have created. Make sure not to format any partitions containing any data!
• choosing packets: this options simply prompts you to choose the elements to be installed from a list
• installing/copying packets: the system will install all specified packets one by one. This operation may take a very long time! (up to half an hour...)
• Configuring the network: Applies to computers having a network card (not a modem)
• Choosing the time zone: choose the time zone that is appropriate for your country (for France, Belgium, and Switzerland, choose Europe/Paris, for Québec, it depends...)
• Choosing startup services: you can choose the services to be activated at each startup from a list. A priori apmd, netfs and sendmail will not be very useful for you if your machine is not a server...
• Choosing the printer: a series of questions will allow you to configure your printer by choosing from a list and specifying the port to which it is connected
• Recording the password: you will be prompted to enter a password for the superuser (root) account, i.e. a user who has all rights

LILO:

Once you have booted under Linux and entered your superuser name (root) and your password, you must (a priori) install a graphical interface that is more user-friendly than the console (text mode). To do this, go to Installation - XFree86