pande.info

Before anything…
Let me clarify…everything here, is what I understood till date, if any mistakes PLEASE let me know.

Now I assume this!
. you have windows 9x/2000/XP
. And knows how to install Windows (‘;’)
. there is some 3GB free space on the hard drive.
. have 3 CDs (or more) of RPM based LINUX DISTRIBUTION (eg. Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE ..etc)
. Most IMP of all…knows why you are installing LINUX !

If u r installing linux for the first time..better you grab Mandrake CD set from your friend
Or if u r in bangalore[INDIA] ,can contact me I can BURN for U.

That said, let us start the installation process.
Wait, this procedure may not be applicable for all RPM based distro. So don’t be confused.
And is almost same for All mandrake latest releases( Mandrake 8.1,8.2,9.0, and 9.1)

Steps,
1. Boot into MS windows and make one windows BOOTUP floppy if u don’t have one…just in worst case.

2. Install any hard drive partitioning app..PQ Magic is one of the best. Make two partition (Better three !) one around 3gb and another (2*Your physical memory) as SWAP.

3. You may format 3gb partition as linux ext2 (better ext3) and SWAP as linux swap
This can be done during installation only…so no problem !

4. Now insert MDK cd-1 and restart.

5. u get welcome screen…Press enter for install/upgrade

6. it asks for your language, mouse, keyboard…don’t lie !

7. When it asks about hard drive partitioning….choose custom/portioning with disk druid. Now u have to set mount points (mount points are the directory names under which u want your hard drive contents)if u don’t know…SLASH(/) is where all the operating system files will reside and ‘/home’ is where all users file reside like this…/bin /var. It is better to have different partitions for /bin, /home etc but don’t worry ! Chose ‘/’ for 3gb partition format it as ext3. and SWAP that is already there.

8. Then it asks for which are all partitions u want to format? Chose your 3gb and swap partition.

9. Next…its time to choose the packages. Better u select GNOME, KDE, Internet, Multimedia, Game , Configuration etc. If u have older PC then u also install OTHER window managers like IceWM, Blakbox, Enlightment etc Because if KDE and GNOME takes too much memory (and sure they will !) u can use those light weight Window Managers.

10. After all the packages installed..it will ask for bootloader. U can choose LILO or GRUB. Better LILO with Graphics. Location to install LILO, choose MBR.
{
The only problem with installing LILO on MBR(your C drive) is when u reinstall
WINDOWS, it overwrites all the MBR content. Then again u have to reinstall LILO. For reinstalling LILO u should have Linux Bootable floppy. U can also reinstall LILO using your Mandrake CD-1.
That’s why I told u better 3 partitions. A small partition(around 100MB) for /boot. U have to remember the address of your /boot (for eg, hda7 or hda8) when setting mount points in Disk Druid. Then u can choose “first sector of your ROOT partition ” instead of MBR.
Now if u don’t install LILO on MBR then u may not be able to boot into linux directly. You have to use Third party OS loaders like BOOT Magic, XOSL. Better XOSL because it is very small application with lots of customizations. XOSL can be installed within windows only. Now also if u reinstall windows, MBR contents will be overwritten but now the solution is simple just reinstall XOSL. (This is similar to reinstalling LILO….but again it is your choice. You want XOSL or LILO.)
If u have problem installing XOSL can ASK ME.
}

For first timers , better to choose MBR for LILO. And don’t worry about windows reinstallation, LILO ,XOSL.

11. Next….choose latest XFREE86 server and your Graphics card. If you bought your PC vary recently then it should be having a descent graphics card. Almost every graphic card is AUTO DETECTED. You just have to choose video memory.(like 32MB, 64MB etc). Chose the resolution (600×800 or 1024×768..16bit or 32bit what ever)

12. Now it asks for Users. Better to have at least 1 user…even though u r the only person using. It is the classical UNIX way to LOGIN as an ORDINARY user instead of ROOT. Then SU to be ROOT !

13. Finally…summary if u want to change anything, u can do it here. Especially TIME ZONE and COUNTRY.

14. Congratulations…Mandrake Linux successfully installed !

15. Just click EXIT..Then remove CD and REBOOT.

16. Now u get LILO screen. Press ENTER —- Here we go !
Your Mandrake Linux is UP and WALKING !

************** IF u have any trouble with hardware ***************
How to NVIDIA on LINUX
When u install Mandrake linux it auto detects nvidia, and loads module “nv” which is I think default driver for nvidia based cards.If u want better performance, then goto nVIDIA Driver Page download latest BIN file (eg. NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4349.run)
How to install?
It is recommended that first u change your run level to 3 (Open file “/etc/inittab ” in any editor change Runlevel:3) then “REBOOT”.
Login at prompt.
$cd /WHAT/ EVER/ DIR/CONTAINING/DOWNLOADED/RUNFILE
$./ NVIDIA-Linux-x86-XXX.run
Open “/etc/X11/XFREE86-4
Replace
Driver “nv” line BY Driver “nvidia”
Then
$startx
If everything is fine, u should see “nvidia logo”
And if there is some display problem u have to reboot.
Now u can set Runlevel to 5 (again editing that “/etc/inittab” file).

How to Internel Modem(WINMODEM) on LINUX
If you are lucky?then u may get driver (in rpm or tz format) from vendor driver page.
If you get RPM,
Very simple.
$rpm -ivh driver_xxx.rpm
open “kppp ” in xwindow terminal and your ISP accordingly.
If you get TZ format, (assuming u already installed Kernel sources)
$tar -xvzf driver_xxx.tar.gz
$cd driver_xxx
$make
If everything is fine do
$make install.
To confirm, just
$lsmod
to see which are all the modules loaded.
Let us take eg,
If u have Mototrola SM56 internal modem…
I think Motorola site have driver for RH 7.1 “sm56_RH_xxx.rpm ” (just guessing)
(Recently i visited a site, SM56.TK..Visit for more info.)
$rpm -ivh sm56_RH_xxx.rpm
$insmod sm56 —manually inserting sm56 module
$lsmod —–You should see an “SM56″ entry in the table

And if you have Conexant chip, no problem
I think you get driver for RedHat,Mandrake,SuSe including for their latest release Here OR Here
Just install that rpm..using
$rpm -ivh hsf_XXXXX.rpm
Follow the instructions..

Any questions and comments HERE

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Tags: Linux, unix

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2003 at 8:40 pm and is filed under General, c-linux.

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