Transcript 2.0 INSTALLTION OF LINUX DISTRIBUTION

Chapter 2
INSTALLTION OF LINUX DISTRIBUTION
Minimum hardware requirement
1) DVD drive:
 You must have a DVD drive (either DVD-ROM or DVD
burner), and the PC must be able to boot from that drive.
 The exact model doesn't matter. What matters is how the DVD
drive connects to the PC.
 Most new PCs have DVD drives that connect to the hard drive
controller (called IDE, for Integrated Drive Electronics, ox ATA,
for AT Attachment).
 If you add an external DVD drive, it most likely connects to the
USB port. Any IDE/ATA or USB DVD drive works in Linux.
2) Hard drives:
 Any IDE disk drive works in Linux. Another type of hard drive
controller is SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), which Linux
also supports. To comfortably install and play with Linux, you need
about 5GB of hard drive space. On the other hand, to try the Live
CD versions of Linux, such as Knoppix, you don't need any space
on the hard drive.
3) Keyboard:
 All keyboards work with Linux and the X Window System.
4) Modem:
 If you plan to dial out to the Internet, you need a modem that Linux
supports. For software-based modems, called soft modems or winmodems, you may have to download a driver from the manufacturer.
(It may or may not be freely available.)
5) Monitor:
 The kind of monitor is not particularly critical except that it
must be capable of displaying the screen resolutions that the
video card uses.
 The screen resolution is expressed in terms of the number of
picture elements (pixels), horizontally and vertically (for
example, 1024 x 768). The installer can detect most modern
monitors. If it doesn't detect your monitor, you can select a
generic monitor type with a specific resolution (such as 1024 x
768).You can also specify the monitor by its make and model
(which you can find on the back of the monitor).
6) Mouse:
 The installation program can detect the mouse. All types of mouse
(such as PS/2 or USB) work with Linux and the X Window System.
7) Network card:
 Not all PCs have network cards, but if yours does, the installer can
probably detect and use it. If you have problems, try to find the
make and model (such as Linksys LNE100TX Fast Ethernet
Adapter) so that you can search for information on whether Linux
supports that card.
8) Processor:
 A 400 MHz Pentium II or better is best. The processor speed,
expressed in MHz (megahertz) or GHz (gigahertz), is not that
important as long as it's over 400 MHz. But the faster the better.
Linux can run on other Intel-compatible processors, such as AMD,
Cyrix, and VIA processors.
9) RAM:
 RAM is the amount of memory your system has. As with processing
speed, the more RAM, the better.You need 256MB to install both
Linux and the X Window System and to comfortably run a GUI
desktop.
10) Sound card:
 If your PC has a sound card and you want to have sound in Linux,
you have to make sure it's compatible.You can configure the sound
card after successfully installing Linux
11) Video card:
 Linux works fine with all video cards (also known as display adapters)
in text mode, but if you want the GUI, you need a video card that
works with the X Window System. The installer can detect a supported video card and configure the X Window System correctly.
However, if the installer cannot detect the video card, it helps if you
know the make and model of your video card.
12) Printer:
 In addition to this hardware, you also need to find out the make and
model of any printer you plan to use in Linux.
 Many distributions, such as Debian GNU/Linux, work on
any hardware that's compatible with the Linux kernel.
 For information on Linux-compatible hardware, see;
 www. tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO.
Linux installation methods
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FTP server across the network
HTTP Web server across the network
NFS server across the network
SMB (Server Message Block) server across the
network
Virtual Network Computing (VNC) server across the
network
From packages located on the hard disk
Installation from one or more CD-ROMs
Disk Partitioning
Reasons for creating multiple partitions in Linux
installation:
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multiple operating systems
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You can configure your disk to contain multiple partitions that can
each be used to hold a different operating system type. For
example, if you started with a computer that had Windows on the
hard disk, you could put Linux on a separate partition, and then set
up the computer to boot either operating system.
 Reasons for creating multiple partitions in Linux installation
(cont):
 multiple partitions within an operating system
 In some cases, you need more than one partitions within your operating
systems. It is depends on your necessity why do you want more than one
partitions. Mostly people make it for backups. If you want to restore that
partition later, you can simply copy it back (bit by bit) to a hard disk.
With smaller partitions, this approach can be done fairly efficiently.
 Reasons for creating multiple partitions in Linux installation
(cont):
 different file system types
 Some people who are install multiple operating system to their
computers wants to do partitions that compatible with operating systems
installed in their computers.
 For example if a computer is installed with Linux and Windows XP, they
must partition their hard disk with Ext2 file system for Linux and NTFS
file system for XP.
Partitions required in Linux
 Partition for root directory
 Root directory is important because this is where all the Linux
system begins. All the files during the installation process will
be placed in this directory.
 Partition for virtual memory (swap memory)
 Swap memory plays a role like a RAM during installation. It
will support the RAM if the RAM run out of memory.
 It is also an independent section of the hard disk used solely for
swapping; no other files can reside there.
Common Linux file system
 /boot—Has the bootable Linux kernel and boot loader
configuration files (GRUB).
 /home—Contains directories assigned to each user with a
login account (with the exception of root).
 /usr—Contains user documentation, games, graphical files
(X11), libraries (lib), and a variety of other user and
administrative commands and files.
 /usr/local—You might need a separate /usr/local
partition if you plan to install many programs that are
not part of the Debian distribution.
 /opt—This directory is reserved for all the software and
add-on packages that are not part of the default
installation. For example, StarOffice, Kylix, Netscape
Communicator and WordPerfect packages are normally
found here.
 /var—Contains directories of data used by various
applications. In particular, this is where you would place files
that you share as an FTP server (/var/ftp) or a Web server
(/var/www). It also contains all system log files (/var/log)
and spool files in /var/spool (such as mail, cups, and news).
 /tmp—Contains temporary files used by applications.
Partitioning methods
 It's necessary to let the installation program know where
it should install Linux.
 There are various way of partitioning methods to install
your system.
 Automatically partition
 Manual partition using GUI partitioning tools (e.g. Disk
Druids)
 Fdisk utilities
 GNU parted
Example of partitioning using GParted
Example of partitioning using fdisk
Example of partitioning using GUI
Choosing an installation method for
the Linux distributions
 If you are new to Linux, you may want to use the automatic
partitioning method.
 If you are a more experienced Linux user, use the manual
partitioning method for more control over your system
configuration, or select and modify the automatically defined
partitions.
EXERCISE
List five (5) minimum hardware requirement to install
Linux distribution.
2) Why do we need to create multiple partitions in hard disk
for Linux installation?
3) List three method of partitioning
1)