If the machine you're installing is dedicated to Linux, then your job is easy. You only need two partitions, one for swap and one for files. Swap size should be twice your RAM size. If you're worried that your log files might grow and fill the disk, then you should put /var on a separate partition. But in general, the more partitions you have, the less efficiently you will use your disk space.
If your machine will boot into multiple operating systems, then you have a bit more work to do. The following example is for a machine that boots into Windows 95, Windows NT, and Linux Mandrake 6.1.
Any configuration that includes Windows 95 or 98 requires that you
So stop now, install 95 or 98, then come back and keep reading.
Now that you've installed 95/98, you should boot into the Mandrake
Linux installation and create your Linux partitions so that
NT won't "borg" the entire disk. So start the Mandrake Linux
installation, then create at least one partition for the root (/)
filesystem and one for swap space. When you're done (with either
fdisk or Disk Druid), just reboot the machine and
install NT.
So stop now, install NT, then come back and keep reading.
Here's a diagram of what your disk might look like when you're finished.
Insert diagram here.
Of course you'll want to boot into the installation program. If you have a bootable CD, you can use the Mandrake CD. Otherwise, you'll have to make a boot floppy. See the README on the Mandrake CD for details. If you don't have a CD, then see the Mandrake Linux website. I'm not going to give you a blow-by-blow of the installation, because most of it is self-explanatory. But I'll touch on the important parts.
The installation program will ask you if you have any SCSI adapters. The default kernel contains SCSI support, so you can answer "no" if you'd rather take care of that later.
If you have one of those ubiquitous Adaptec AHA152x cards, then you'll need to select "specify options" if you want the installer to see your card. The syntax is:
aha152x=0xAAA,BB
where AAA is the I/O address of the card, and
BB is the IRQ. You can find these out by looking
at jumper settings on the card. I think the cards are shipped
with a default of 0x140 and 11.
(Please correct me if
I'm wrong.)
Special note: if you make a mistake when entering these parameters, you might as well reboot. The installer seems to get into a loop and never recovers, even if you later enter the correct parameters.
By the way, the above parameters are what you'll enter later when asked if you want to pass "special parameters" to the kernel at boot time.
You already did this, remember? Or if you didn't, do it now. Allow close to 1GB for a full-blow installation. For my non-fileserver servers, I manage with about 3-400.
The installer tells you that there is no need to format partitions that have been formatted in a previous install. However, you're (probably) crazy if you don't reformat. Just Do It -- after you've made a backup of any interesting config files.
Choose your Linux (ext2) mount points. I usually
mount / (the root directory) on /dev/hda2.
If you're upgrading your machine, then hopefully you have an old
copy of /etc/fstab. If so, don't bother specifying
non-Linux mount points at this stage.
For other mount points, I do the following:
| /c | /dev/hda1 (95)
| |
| /d | /dev/hda5 (NT)
| |
| /s | /dev/sr0 (SCSI CD)
| |
| /x | /dev/cdrom (CD)
| |
| /z | /dev/sda4 (Zip)
|
X: drive is my CD-ROM.
You may not get to specify all of these at installation, but
you can always edit /etc/fstab later.
Here's what I picked. Keep in mind that I'm a developer with a graphic arts background, and this is my personal desktop machine. You may not want everything on this list.
Without comment, here is the list of most of services I start on my desktop machine, deep within my internal network.
anacron
apmd
atd
crond
gpm
httpd
inet
linuxconf
lpd
named
netfs
network
nfs
pcmcia
portmap
random
sendmail
smb
sound
syslog
The installation may take a while, so get yourself a cup of coffee.
You should always make a boot floppy. Period.
In the case of multiple-OS boxes, install the boot loader (LILO) on the first sector of boot partition. Do not install the boot loader on the master boot record, or you'll be forced to configure LILO to load the other OSes.
If your system is a dedicated Linux box, then go ahead and install the boot loader on the MBR.
Don't forget the kernel parameters, if any. Especially with SCSI.
If you're also using NT, and you probably should be (even though I hate to say it), you should use the NT loader (ntldr) to load Linux. Get a copy of BootPart from http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm and follow the directions. It's ridiculously easy, thanks to G. Vollant.
If you're upgrading, then you'll want to restore some or all of the following files. If this is your first installation, then you should backup the following files:
/etc/fstab/etc/exports/etc/passwd/etc/shadow/etc/group/etc/hosts/etc/X11/XF86Config
Important: Do not restore fstab if there
are any nfs mounts in it and networking and is not properly
configured. Otherwise, your machine will take 20 minutes to
boot!!
If you have any handy utilities, you should restore them to
/usr/local/bin. Here are mine.
The best way to configure X is to restore a working copy of
/etc/X11/XF86Config. If you don't have one,
get one.
Make sure to have your card and monitor specifications on hand when configuring X.
Note: When you get around to actually using X, then you might wish to know that
startx -- -bpp 32
causes X to use 32-bit color (True Color). By default, X uses 8-bit color (Not Enough Colors).
If you'll be browsing the web at all, then you'll want to install
Microsoft's TrueType fonts on your machine. This is easy and legal,
if you own a copy of Windows (thus a copy of the fonts).
Hopefully, you mounted /dev/hda1 on /c.
So you can copy the fonts to the X directory like so:
mkdir /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType
cp /c/windows/fonts/*.ttf /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType
Now you need to serve the fonts so X client programs can use them. Here are the steps:
so_fonts.tgz),
and make a font.dir
file in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType.
/usr/local/bin.
/etc/X11/xfsft.config.
Here, you can use mine.
You'll reference this file when you invoke xfsft.
/etc/X11/XF86Config.
Add it next to the existing FontPath statement.
FontPath "tcp/localhost:7100"
/etc/rc.local file:
/usr/local/bin/xfsft -port 7100 -config /etc/X11/xfsft.config &
and do not forget the ampersand (&) or you'll be very very sorry!When you reboot, you should be able to see TrueType fonts. Browse to http://www.abcnews.com or to http://www.restonchildren.org to see the MS fonts displayed on your machine. Also, check to see if the new fonts are listed in the KDE Control Center.
Andrew Tridgell, a tall Australian, originally authored this method
of interworking Unix and Windows machines. The file
/etc/smb.conf is pretty self-explanatory. After you've
modified the file, restart the smbd -D process.
Nontrivial system-wide initializations should be peformed by
*.sh files in /etc/profile.d. Here is
a copy of my http://dawnstar.org/travis/mandrake-config/java.sh
file for java initialization.
I usually change the prompt to contain my working directory. So instead
of PS1="[\u@\h \W]\\$ ", I use
PS1="[\u] \w \\$ ".
I usually rewrite everything to miss this file. It's a kluge.
For that matter, so is /etc/profile
(profile.d is a better idea), but I have less
philosophical objection to the latter.
You may want to change the following files to suit your local needs and preferences:
.bashrc (or .zshrc or .shrc or whatever...).profile (or .bash_profile or whatever...).Xdefaults.emacs.kderc/etc/skel
to see what you might want to change or delete.
The KDE start menus are ludicrous. The names are too long, or
to short, or too meaningless. And worse, the menus are not
alphabetized. So I suggest you take 15 minutes to fix them.
KDE provides a utility to modify the menus -- the Menu Editor --
but it doesn't seem to work for non-root users. It seems to add
a Name[C]= field that only works for root.
IMHO, the best fix is to use the KDE menu editor as root. Login
as root and Select Change. I try to remove "K" from as many
things as possible. (Who the hell thought that one up, anyway?)
When you're done, alphabetize them.
Then create a tar archive, in case something goes wrong:
cd /usr/share
tar cvzf /tmp/applnk.tgz applnk
Then change dir to /usr/share/applnk, and
use my kfix
script like so:
find . -name '*.kdelnk' -exec kfix {} \;
Apparently, the menu editor adds a field to the .kdelnk files that has no effect on what the user sees. So I change the field into something that the user does see.
As far as I can tell, to see the changes as a non-root user, you
must delete the user's ~/.kde, and possibly also
the ~/Desktop directory. (You might want to
archive them first, just in case.) The second time the
user logs in, he will be presented with a dialogue asking "The
template files may have changed. Install the new ones?" Answer
yes, and voila, the changes will appear. (Hey, I just document
this stuff.)
Go to http://www.blackdown.org and download a copy of the JDK for Linux. You can also get a version from IBM. Some say it's faster, but the license is more restrictive, and possibly even worrisome for some organizations.
Go to http://www.cd.chalmers.se/~hch/filerunner.html and download a copy of FileRunner. It's the best file manager ever written, by Henrik Harmsen. Uh, I still owe you a postcard Henrik. =)
Go to http://www.sun.com and download a (free for personal use) copy of StarOffice. You won't regret it. Uhhh, better use a T1.
Your choice.
At this point, you should reboot and then make your Desktop environment as comfortable as possible.
Add application "quickstart" buttons by From the "start" menu,
browse to
I used to try and name my desktops after function, but that was too restrictive. Now I always name my desktops after colors, then I change the colors to match. Because of human physiology and psychology, it is best to use a blend with black at the bottom and a dark color at the top. It's easier on the eyes, trust me. (I use Rust, Teal, Blue, and Black.)
Modify ~/.kde/share/apps/kfm/desktop to change your
desktop icons. Man, did that take forever to find. I found it
because after dragging some icons to the QuickStart bar (not its
real name) and the rest to the trash, I found that everything
mysteriously returned upon my next login. I solved the problem
by repeating the drag-and-drop party, then becoming root and
using FileRunner to do something like:
mv /etc/skel/Desktop/* /etc/skel/Desktop/Trash
If you type the above, you'll probably get a message about
copying directories onto themselves. Ignore it.
There are certainly broken links on this page. I made them up as I went along. It seemed to make more sense to make them as they are needed. So send me mail if there's something you want.