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.You mayalso need to provide Linux some boot parameters.For our purposes, this should not benecessary, but you ll soon find out if this is the case.Enter a label name and press /keyReturn.When the Linux kernel finishes the bootupprocess, you may be presented with any of a number of prompts, depending on the distribu-tion.If you have a shell prompt, like the pound sign (#) or a dollar sign ($), you re whereyou need to be.If not, try presssing Alt - F2 or Alt - Shift -F2.You should be ableto activate one of the system s virtual consoles.Once you have a prompt (you should not need to log in), you will be working as  root(more on this in Chapter 4).Enter the command# fdiskIf an error is returned, try cfdisk.This is the disk partition utility.It defaults to/dev/hda, so if you need to work on the second hard drive, use the command# fdisk /dev/hdbInfdisk, press m to see a menu.The commands you will use are: n to create a newpartition; d to destroy a partition; t to change the partition type (83 is Linux Native, 82is Linux Swap); p prints to the screen the partition information currently in memory (notwhat s on the disk); w writes the partition table to disk; and q quits.3 Until you issue the w command, you are not committed and can make changes or quitwithout making any changes.3 Pay attention to prefixes and suffixes of the partition size.With the partition size youneed to specify  + if the size will be other than the ending partition number, and a suffixof  k or  M (case does not matter) to specify KB or MB.2.2.Linux distributions.53One final note on partitions: you can create up to four primary partitions.If you needmore than four partitions, you will create three primary partitions and then extended par-titions.The extended partition numbers begin with 5, so you may have /dev/hda1,/dev/hda2,/dev/hda3,/dev/hda5, and/dev/hda6if you need five partitions.As a final check before you write the partition table, ensure that your partitions do notoverlap.As long as the start and end segments don t overlap with any other start and endsegments, you can be sure the partition boundaries are okay.A beginning number may belisted as 1024 for partitions with numbers starting higher than that.For now, just considerthat a reminder that the BIOS will not be able to read (or boot from) that partition.cfdisk does exactly the same thing as fdisk, but displays on the screen the stateof the partition table in memory (but not on the disk) at all times.Use the Up and Downarrow keys to select a partition to work on, and the Right and Left arrow keys to selectthe action to be performed.Then press Enter to perform the action.You will have toinput numbers for the size you want to make the partition, but all information is given onthe screen, just follow the instructions.cfdiskdefaults to /dev/hda, so you must togive it the argument/dev/hdbif you want to change the partition table on a second diskdrive.Remember to write the table before you quit.This is the hardest part ofcfdisk.Itdoesn t ask for confirmation before exiting.So select Write and press Enter before youselect Quit and press Enter.2.2 Linux distributions.You are now faced with the task of deciding which particular distribution of Linux suitsyour needs.Not all distributions are alike.Many of them come with just about all of thesoftware you d need to run a complete system and then some.Other Linux distributionsare  small distributions intended for users without copious amounts of disk space.Manydistributions contain only the core Linux software, and you are expected to install largersoftware packages, such as the X Window System, yourself.(In Chapter ?? we ll showyou how.)The Linux Distribution HOWTO (see Appendix A) contains a list of Linux distributionsavailable on the Internet as well as by mail order.If you have access to USENET news, or another computer conferencing sys-tem, you might want to ask there for personal opinions from people who haveinstalled Linux.Also, Linux Journal maintains a table of features comparingLinux Distributions and periodically publishes software reviews of distributions (checkhttp://www.linuxjournal.com/selected.html for on-line versions of the54 Obtaining and Installing Linuxtable and articles).Even better, if you know someone who installed Linux, ask them forhelp and advice.There are many factors to consider when choosing a distribution; how-ever, everyone s needs and opinions are different.In actuality, most of the popular Linuxdistributions contain roughly the same set of software, so the distribution you select is moreor less arbitrary.2.3 Debian GNU/Linux.This section on Debian GNU/Linux was written by Boris Beletsky.2.3.1 Debian GNU/Linux installation features.Dependencies: yesInstall boot methods: floppyInstall methods: CD, hard disk, NFS, FTPSystem initialization: Sys VinitEase of installation: challengingGraphical administration tools: noInstallation utility: dselectPackage maintenance utility: dselect/dpkg2.3.2 Getting floppy images.If you have fast, cheap Internet access, the best way to get Debian is via anonymousFTP (see Appendix B).The home ftp site of Debian is located atftp.debian.orginthe/pub/debiandirectory.The structure of Debian archive is described in the table onpage 55.For a base installation of Debian you need about 12 megabytes of disk space and somefloppies.First, you need boot and driver floppy images.Debian provides two sets of bootfloppy images, for 1.2 and 1.44 Mb floppy disks, and one set of the base images which workwith either type of floppy.Check what floppy drive your system boots from, and downloadthe appropriate disk set.Choose the appropriate floppy set for your hardware from the table on page 55 and writethe images to floppy as described on page 50.Debian GNU/Linux 55Directory Contents [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]