You have two choices, a single operating system(OS) or a multi-boot system.

Many desktop users like to run Linux in addition to Windows on an existing PC. An additional hard drive may be used for Linux or an existing drive may be sectioned into two or more partitions. Linux may also reside as the only operating system on the computer as is preferred by those creating a server. Using a separate drive for Linux is the easiest and the preferred multi-boot configuration because it allows the original Windows drive to remain intact.

Note: While not recommended, re-partitioning a drive will destroy all data on the drive unless a tool such as partition magic is used. The Red Hat CD-ROM includes a repartitioning tool called fips in the dosutils directory. See /dosutils/fipsdocs. This tool is unsupported. Partition Magic would be a wiser choice for those pursuing this approach.

For those creating a dual boot system with Windows NT or Windows 2000, the NT loader resides on the Master Boot Record (MBR). Upon boot-up, the NT loader is activated and then it loads lilo to boot Linux. In this instance lilo does not reside on the Master Boot Record (MBR) as it would for a Windows 95 installation. Instead lilo will install on the first sector of the root partition. See: LDP: NT Loader HOWTO (Or boot with a floppy which has lilo on the MBR of the floppy.)

 

Hardware notes:

Most PC motherboard support two IDE connectors, a primary and a secondary. Each IDE connector has a ribbon cable which can support two devices. A typical PC with one hard drive and one CD-ROM can thus support two more devices. A jumper on the device will set the device to be the master or slave device on that IDE connection.

Also check the hardware compatability list before you begin.

A tool to detect the hardware you are using is available as a DOS disk from the Ulitimate Boot Disk site.

 

Documentation on the Installation CD:

Online manuals can be read from the Linux CD-ROM by any operating system. From Windows you can look at your Linux CD and open the files with a web browser.

RH 5.2/6.0:

	CDROM:dochmanualmanualindex.htm - REDHAT manual. 
	CDROM:docHOWTO...   		- RH 5.2/6.0/6.1
	CDROM:FAQHTMLIndex.htm 	- RH 5.2/6.0/6.1										

RH 6.0: introduced the ``Getting Started Guide'' in:

	CDROM:dochgsgindex.htm

RH 6.1:

	CDROM:dochinstindex.htm - Install Guide
	CDROM:dochgsgindex.htm - Getting Started Guide
	CDROM:dochrefindex.htm - Reference Guide

RH 6.2:

        CDROM:docgsgindex.htm           - Redhat Getting Started Guide
        CDROM:docinstall-guideindex.htm - RH Installation Guide
        CDROM:docef-guideindex.htm     - RH Reference Guide

All releases contain documentation on DEC/Alpha installations in:

	CDROM:docalpha

RH 7.1:

        CDROM:RH-DOCShl-cg-en-7.1index.html      - Red Hat Configuration Guide: Dual Boot, Kickstatrt Install, Rescue Mode, RAID, Network, FTP, SSH, Samba, Apache, BIND, Printers, Linuxconf, building a Kernel, RPM, PGP
        CDROM:RH-DOCShl-gsg-en-7.1index.html     - Getting Started Guide: Gnome, KDE, Web, e-mail, Audio, Video, Gimp, sh, general intro
        CDROM:RH-DOCShl-ig-x86-en-7.1index.html  - Red Hat Linux x86 Installation Guide
        CDROM:RH-DOCShl-rg-en-7.1index.html      - Red Hat Reference Guide: File systems, users, groups, boot, init, shutdown, LDAP, CCVS (Credit Card Verification System), Sendmail, Security, PAM, Kerberos, Tripwire, SSH, Apache, Powertools
        CDROM:FAQS...                    - Frequently Asked Questions
        CDROM:HOWTOSINDEX.html           - How To documentation from the "Linux Documentation Project"

1. Backup important partitions.
2. Create a DOS boot floppy to restore a ``Master Boot Record'' if it gets corrupted.
3. Create DOS/Windows recovery disks for DOS/Windows partitions. (For dual boot configurations)

It would be wise to make a backup of anything important that may reside on disks or partitions you don't intend on disturbing. The Linux installation has the option of installing an operating system loader called Lilo. This allows one to boot multiple operating systems and is usually installed on the master boot record of the hard drive (boot drive). As a precaution, it would be wise to have a rescue plan for the Master Boot Record.

DOS recovery disk: From dos create a floppy:

   C:>FORMAT /U A:/S
   C:>COPY C:DOSFDISK.EXE A:
   C:>COPY C:DOSFORMAT.COM A:
   C:>COPY C:DOSMSD.EXE A:

This creates a boot floppy with some rescue tools. To restore a Master Boot Record, boot the PC from the floppy and enter the following DOS command:

	
   A:>FDISK /MBR C:

Explanation of MBR: The Master Boot Record is on a sector of your hard drive which cannot be seen from your file system. It is separate. Upon booting, the system reads the MBR first. This points the computer to the portion of the disk where the operating system resides and the OS is loaded from there. When running a dual boot system, LILO in the MBR can point to more than one operating system from which to boot.

Windows 95 recovery diskette: To create a windows ``start-up'' disk select ``Start'' + ``Settings'' + ``Control Panel'' + ``Add/Remove Programs'' then select the ``Startup Disk'' tab. This may require your Windows 95 CD-ROM.

 

Installation:

I highly recommend that you choose Custom Installation mode and not Server or Workstation . Server and Workstation installation modes add pre-configured disk partitions which may wipe out stuff on drives you did not intend to disturb. A server-class installation does NOT install a GUI interface nor does it install X-windows. To install everything choose the "Custom" installation option.

[Potential Pitfall]: (RH 7.1) A server-class installation WILL erase all partitions both Linux and Non-Linux from every one of your computer's hard drives. This method will also put Lilo on the MBR. (Not good for Windows NT dual boot)

The "Automatic Partitioning" option (RH 7.1 and greater) is used by workstation, server and laptop class preconfigured installtions and has the consequences of overwriting the MBR and re-partitioning all your drives. The "Manual" partition option is much more flexible.

Upgrades will be logged to the file /tmp/upgrade.log.

Linux installation is fairly intuitive except managing the disk partitions. The Linux CD-ROM is a boot disk, thus stick it in and re-boot your computer and the install menu will appear. If this does not work check your BIOS to see if your CD is in the list of boot devices. If you cannot boot from the CD-ROM, see instructions in section titled ``Creating a Linux boot floppy for Linux Installation'' in this guide. Most hardware is auto-detected during installation. The user is queried for the rest.

[Potential Pitfall]: (RH 6.1 and later)If the installation program presents itself as a text based DOS like interface instead of a graphical based interface, chances are that the install program could not detect your graphics card and does not have the drivers for it.

Disk Druid: This is the disk partition manager. IDE drives are referred to as hda for the first drive, hdb for the second etc ... IDE uses separate ribbon cables for primary and secondary drives. The partitions on each drive are referred numerically. The first partition on the first drive is referred to as hda1, the second as hda2, the third as hda3 etc ... SCSI drives would be identified as sda, sdb ...

Linux IDE naming conventions:

Device	Description	Configuration
/dev/hda	1st (Primary) IDE controller	Master
/dev/hdb	1st (Primary) IDE controller	Slave
/dev/hdc	2nd (Secondary) IDE controller	Master
/dev/hdd	2nd (Secondary) IDE controller	Slave

If the CD-ROM was NOT recognized, restart from the Linux boot floppy and enter at the ``boot:'' prompt, linux hdX=cdrom, where X is a,b,c or d as described above.

You will add at least three partitions. The first will be unnamed as a Linux swap partition of a given size i.e. 127Mb. Add another as /boot, 16Mb of type Linux native and the third as /, Linux native and [*] growable. The "growable" option takes whatever size is given as a minimum and actually allows the partition to take up the rest of the drive without actually specifying how much space is left. For RH 5.2 and 6.0, use the space bar to toggle your choices between un-selected [ ] and selected [*]. For RH 6.1 pick the select button.

   mount point  Size  Growable  Type
   /boot        23Mb   [ ]      Linux native
   _________    133Mb  [ ]      Linux swap
   /            100    [*]      Linux native

Descriptions:

• Swap - used for virtual memory (Use the larger value: 2 x physical memory or 127Mb. Red Hat 7.1 recomends at least 254Mb)
• /boot - Bootable operating system kernel is placed here.
• / - All the rest of the UNIX files are placed under this directory

See worstation and server recomendations.

Server installations: It is common practice to create more partitions to isolate user, system and temporary file directories. In this way, a user would not be able to fill up a drive and lock-up the computer, nor would the installation of large software packages or the generation of temporary files or log files. Create separate partitions for /home (user space), /opt (optional, non-standard software packages) or /usr/local, /tmp, /var etc... Making /home and /opt a separate partition from / also helps Linux upgrades which can be set to write over and upgrade all partitions except /home and /opt.

Other partitioning tools: fdisk is another disk partitioning tool.DOS, Linux and other version of fdisk exist. I recommend Red Hat s Disk Druid .

Note: The placement of /boot is limited by the Disk Druid tool to account for BIOS limitations. Although unlikely, you may not have these BIOS limitations, in which case, use fdisk to partition the drive and no limitations will be imposed.

Note: The /opt directory is often used to create a separate directory structure for commercial and "optional" software which is not part of the base install. This way it is a separate self-contained environment which is easy to backup and restore separately from the rest of the system. The directory structure will often mimic the / directory with /opt/bin, /opt/etc, /opt/lib etc...

Other Installation Methods: This book covers installation from a CR-ROM. It should be pointed out that Linux may also be installed from an NFS server, by FTP, SMB (a windows shared drive) and from a local hard drive.

[Potential Pitfall]: If using IDE, note that most BIOS s requires /boot be installed on a drive attached to the Primary controller. If using two IDE hard drives it might be best to place them on the primary controller and place the CD-ROM on the Secondary .

[Potential Pitfall]: When using SCSI devices, the /boot partition must reside on SCSI ID 0 or 1.

[Potential Pitfall RH7.0 and earlier]: NOTE: The /boot partition must be completely placed within the first 1024 cylinders of the disk. This drive geometry information is presented by Disk Druid under the heading Geom. The symbols [C / H / S] represent [Cylinders / Heads / Sectors] of the drive. (This is one reason why it may be easiest to install Linux on a separate drive and place the /boot partition at the beginning of the drive.) RH 7.1 introduced a newer version of LILO with LBA32 support which corrects this limitation.

[Potential Pitfall]: I had one installation where I selected the Check for bad blocks while formatting and it caused the install to lock up. On this particular system I had to skip this check.

Lets Do The Install: Partitions and mount points which are already allocated, are listed at the top of the screen. Use the "Tab" key to get to "Add" if you want to create a new partition for Linux. Use the "Tab" key to get to "Delete" , if you are going to put Linux on a partition previously used for DOS and then Add it as a new Linux partition.
Tab to the hard drive selection box which will have all drives selected.

       [*] hda
       [*] hdb

Tab to the drive you don't want to use and press the space bar to un-select.

       [ ] hda
       [*] hdb

Now add the partitions for boot, root (/) and swap as described above.

Boot Options:

• boot: text
• boot: linux console=ttyS0 - For use with a serial terminal
• boot: linux isa - To explicitly request ISA configuration dialog

Lilo is the Linux bootstrap loader that actually starts the kernel. The Linux install will ask if you want to place lilo on the master boot record. The answer of course is YES (Unless you are installing Windows NT/2000. See special install section for dual booting with these operating systems). If you do not install Lilo on the MBR, you can boot linux from a boot floppy which can be generated during the install.

Other bootstrap loaders are available. A DOS program called loadlin can boot Linux from DOS. Loadlin can be found on the Red Hat CD under CDROM:dosutils. Both loadlin.exe and the Linux kernel must be loaded on a DOS partition. A commercially available System Commander from V Communications requires and partially installs in a DOS partition. See: http://www.v-com.com for more information.

SCSI and lilo: The choice of selecting "Use Linear Mode" during lilo install is a little complicated. PCs running Microsoft operating systems use a SCSI BIOS based LBA mode to access drives of more than 1,024 MB. This is the default selection for most PCs. Check your SCSI BIOS if you are un-sure.
RH 5.2: Use the Linux default lilo setting of [*] "Use Linear Mode" .
RH 6.0: The default was changed to [ ] where Linear mode is un-selected. This is incompatible with most Microsoft OS's. If you are dual booting with Windows, you will probably want to set to [*] "Use Linear Mode" .
RH 6.2: The default "Use Linear Mode" is pre-selected. This is compatable with LBA mode. (It imples LBA mode).

[Potential Pitfall]: If the system boots to a prompt "LI" and a blinking cursor and is stuck, you chose the wrong one.

Systems using Unixware or older PCs with smaller drives may NOT be using LBA and thus Use Linear Mode must be unselected. If this selection is incorrect, your machine will not boot and the Master Boot Record will have to be restored and lilo will have to be re-installed.

Adaptec SCSI card users: Press CNTL-A on boot up to enter the SCSI card BIOS set-up. This is where you chose LBA mode or not. ( > 1 Gb addressing)

[Potential Pitfall]: Adding an extra drive on which to install Linux: If the drive is a pre-formatted drive for Microsoft Windows, and if you boot Windows after installing the drive you may experience the following problem. Windows will recognize and assign a letter to the new drive and may re-assign the letters assigned to your CD-ROM and previous drives. If installing a new pre-formatted drive, DO NOT boot to Windows. It would be best to boot from the Linux CD-ROM. The Linux install will allow you to assign the new drive as a Linux drive. Thus when booted to Windows (after the Linux install), the system will not recognize the new Linux drive and therefore will not reassign your drive letters.

Pitfall Fix: If you do reboot to Windows and Windows re-assigns your drive letters for your CD-ROM, restore the settings by:

• "Start" + "Settings" + "Control Panel"
• Select "System"
• Select the tab "Device Manager" and select the CD-ROM
• Set the drive letter to the letter of your choice.

 

Completing Install:

Linux System Kernel Note: : The default Linux kernel installed supports a multitude of devices using loadable modules. In order to keep the kernel small, maximize device support and minimize memory usage, the appropriate module is loaded at run time. The kernel may be optimized for performance by compiling in support for the specific devices needed. Video drivers are not controlled by the kernel but by the X-window application program.

Note: Install output is written to five of the virtual consoles.

Console #	Key	Output
1	Alt-F1	Installation Dialog
2	Alt-F2	Shell Prompt
3	Alt-F3	Install Log
4	Alt-F4	System Log (from OS kernel)
5	Alt-F5	Other Messages

After installation the X-window system will use Cntl-Alt-F1 as the system console terminal, Cntl-Alt-F2 to F6 for virtual consoles and Cntl-Alt-F7 for the X-window display. Cntl-Alt-Backspace will kill the X-Window session.

Mouse: If your connector at the end of your mouse is round, you have a PS/2 bus mouse. Many UNIX programs require three mouse keys. If yours has only two, choose the three button emulation. In emulation mode, pressing both mouse buttons at the same time is the same as pressing the middle button on a three button mouse.

Printers: Note that DOS calls your printer port "lpt1". Linux refers to your first printer as /dev/lp0. The numbering of all Linux devices starts with 0. (0, 1, 2, 3...) The printer will aslo be assigned a given name. A printer of the name "lp" will be considered the default printer. Another printer definition may be duplicated under this name to make it the default. (Create a default printer of this name and life gets easier because many applications such as Adobe Acrobat reader rely on this default.)

Upgrade Note: Some older versions of Linux began printer numbering at lpt1. If upgraded, this would have to be changed to reflect a newer version of Linux.

 

Creating a boot floppy for Linux Installation:

This is only necessary if you can not boot from the CD-ROM.

Creating Linux install diskette from a Microsoft OS: Use rawrite to load the file boot.img to the diskette from the CD-ROM (D: in this example):

       C:> D:
       D:> CD DOSUTILS
       D:DOSUTILS> RAWRITE D:IMAGESBOOT.IMG A:
    

RAWRITE does not work with NT/2000. Use winimage.

Creating Linux install diskette on Unix/Linux:

       mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
       cd /cdrom/images
       dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k

The -o ro option mounts the CR-ROM as Read Only.

 

Post Installation Configuration:

Post Install: (perform these functions as root user)

Login:

• Upon boot, the loader (LILO) will show the prompt boot: . Press Return to take the default or type ? or tab to see all possible selections then type the selection. i.e. type linux to boot Linux or dos (default name given for the Microsoft partition), or win95" if that is the name you gave for MS/Windows 95 upon Linux partitioning and install. The defaults and configuration of lilo may be altered. See the section on lilo and /etc/lilo.conf.
• At the Login: prompt, enter the user id root and give the password you chose during install. This will log you into the system in command console mode.

• startx : This command start the graphical user interface X- windows system.
• If this fails one can reconfigure X windows with the command Xconfigurator. (or you can also use XF86setup or xf86config which performs a similar function) This produces the same graphics setup as the installation. Xconfigurator generates the file/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config (This is linked to /etc/X11) (See /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc/README.Config)
• The /etc/X11/XF86Config file holds X-windows configuration information about the graphics card, monitor, mouse and keyboard.
• For my 17 inch monitor (1280x1024 resolution) I configured X-Windows for a resolution of 1024x768 for better readability.
• If you find that the text and other details on the screen are too small, use Xconfigurator to set up a configuration file using a lower resolution. You can save multiple configuration files and rename them to /etc/X11/XF86Config when needed.
• To exit out of X-windows and the GNOME interface gracefully, select the GNOME Start icon (left side of tool bar) and select log out . Changes to the XF86Config configuration file will not be implemented by X-windows until it is halted and restarted.
• The key sequence - - will allow you jump out of a mis-configured X-windows session and go to a console. If the X-window session is inoperable you can kill the process from this new console. The command ps -a will reveal the startx process id (PID). Then kill <process id number>. Your initial console upon boot is Cntl-Alt-F1. Use Cntl-Alt-F7 to return to the X-window session.

Leaving the system: (UNIX text console commands)

• exit : This is the command to logoff. This allows one tore-login as new user
• /sbin/shutdown -h now : shutdown the system. (Must beroot) Wait for:
  • RH 5.2: System halted .
  • RH 6.0: Power Down .
  • Do NOT turn the power off without doing this first.

 

Pitfalls and Fixes:

• Install: RH 7.1:
  • [Pitfall] Note on iptables and ipchains support.
  • [Pitfall] In a fresh install of RH 7.1 I found that Bind (named) could not be added to the init process using the chkconfig --add named command. Use the command chkconfig --level 345 named on to force bind to start upon system boot.
  • [Pitfall] Your mail server no longer works. See the configuration changes to the default sendmail configuration.
  • [Pitfall] While performing an upgrade to Red Hat 7.1, the package to manage iptables (the firewall facility in the new kernel) was not included. You must manually include this facility by selecting the package. It seems that an upgrade looks at your configuration and upgrades the packages that you have installed on your system. The previous versions of Red Hat used kernel 2.2 which used ipchains and thus did not support iptables. Iptables were included for the first time in the kernel 2.4 used by Red Hat 7.1.
  • [Pitfall] The upgrade created a new /etc/printcap.local file. The old /etc/printcap file was saved to /etc/printcap.save. This is a good thing as all references to printers except lp were deleted. The configuration tool /usr/bin/printtool is no longer used. The new tool is /usr/sbin/printconf-gui. (The 7.1 upgrade replaced printtool with a script which starts printconf-gui.) I'm confused as this new tool still uses the file /etc/printcap. I started the tool /usr/sbin/printconf-gui and then selected "File" + "Save Changes" to re-generate the /etc/printcap file. The man page for lpd suggests that the file /etc/printcap is indeed the proper configuration file for the lpd daemon. This file is constructed each time the lpd daemon is run, thus it is useless to edit this file. Use the GUI tool.
    For more info see RH 7.1 manual: Printer Configuration
  • [Pitfall] The default upgrade to Gnome has mysteriously made the autohide feature of the toolbar useless. The autohide feature is turned on by a right-mouse-button-click on the Gnome toolbar + "Properties" + "Hiding policy" + "Auto hide". The toolbar will unhide but it is always displayed below other applications so it can't be seen or used.
    To fix this stupid behavior:
    • Start the Gnome Control Center: select the toolbox on the toolbar.
    • Select tree items (LHS) "Desktop" + subitem "Panel".
    • Then select tab (RHS) "Miscellaneous"
    • Un-select the button "Keep panel below windows (GNOME compliant window managers only)"
    • Complete this action by selecting "Ok".
  • [Pitfall] Reducing system overhead: While performing an upgrade, the installation will add some packages to your init procedure even if it was not included in the init process previously. The installation assumes that if it is installed, you want to use it. To clean this up use the chkconfig command: i.e. chkconfig --del sshd (server daemon which allows remote login) and chkconfig --del sendmail (mail server). I performed this on my workstation to disable FreeWnn (Kana-to-Kanji conversion system. That's what I get for installing everything!!), pppoe (point to point over ethernet), medusa, nfslock (I'm not running NFS), netfs (mounts NFS and SMB), autofs (NFS) and portmap (RPC's used by NFS). One can also use the GUI tool /usr/sbin/ntsysv.

    In the end my workstation runs anacron, apmd, atd, crond, gpm, keytable, kudzu, linuxconf, lpd, network, portsentry (my add-on - not typical), random, rawdevices, reconfig, syslog, xfs, and xinetd upon system boot. My server on the other hand runs a whole lot more and omits the font server xfs. Your choices will be based upon your requirements.

    Tripwire is a great file system monitoring tool for a server but really un-neccessary for a dial-up PPP system or a system which is rarely connected to the internet. It is used to detect file changes by hackers. The default is to use cron to run tripwire every day. This behaviour can be changed to run tripwire weekly or monthly by moving the script /etc/cron.daily/tripwire-check to the /etc/cron.weekly/ directory.

  • [Note and Pitfall] The inetd daemon and the configuration file /etc/inetd.conf has been replaced by xinetd which uses files located in the directory /etc/xinetd.d/. Xinetd has access control machanisms, logging capabilities, the ability to make services available based on time, and can place limits on the number of servers that can be started, etc... and thus a worthy upgrade from inetd.
    

    The pitfall: The services are all disabled upon install. I found that the wu-ftpd default was that the service was turned off. Edit the file /etc/xinetd.d/wu-ftpd and change the line:

    disable = yes
    to
    disable = no
    Then restart the daemon: /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd restart. The ftp server is now available.

  • [Note and Pitfall] The locations of some the applications have changed with release 7.1. If you have created a launcher icon and hard-coded the full path name, it may not work. I noticed that xpaint moved from /usr/X11R6/bin/ to /usr/bin/ and some of my network utilities moved from /usr/sbin/ to /usr/bin/.

   

• Install: RH 7.0:
  • [Pitfall] Sendmail hangs for a while before allowing Linux to complete the boot process. This is often due to the fact that you have given your computer a name but it is unknown the the networking software on your system. Add the computer name to the /etc/hosts file.

          127.0.0.1	  <put-your-computer-name-here>    localhost
          

    The host name is often assigned during install and can be found in the /etc/HOSTNAME file. It can be assigned/re-assigned using the hostname command or by using the GUI admin tool "/bin/linuxconf".

   

• Install: RH 6.2, 7.0:
  • [Pitfall] Apache fails due to an improper configuration file option. Edit file /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf. Uncomment the line:

          ServerName localhost 
          

    by removing the "#" at the begining of the line.

   

• Install: RH 6.2:
  • [Pitfall] Desktop application launching icons (GMC) may fail due to an update in their format.
    Edit the files in $HOME/.gnome-desktop/ .desktop so that the line:
    Name=<application>
    is changed to:
    Name[en_US.ISO8859-1]=<application>
    Then right click on the desktop and select "Rescan Desktop Directory".
  • [Pitfall] For a more robust desktop, change the default window manager from "Enlightenment" to "Sawmill". After about three days of heavy desktop use, "Enlightenment" will start to get flakey.
    Note: Red Hat 7.0 makes Sawfish (the current version of Sawmill) the default window mananger. They must have had a similar experience.

   

• Upgrade: RH 6.1:
  • [Pitfall] The SAMBA upgrade was incomplete. The /etc/sb.conf file gets backed up as /etc/smb.conf.rpmsave but a new samba configuration file (smb.conf) was not generated. Copy the smb.conf.rpmsave to smb.conf.
  • [Pitfall] Fix for SAMBA if it is not initiated upon boot.
    chkconfig --level 345 smb on
  • [Pitfall] Printing or serial ports ignored: Add the following line to the file /etc/conf.modules:
    alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
    This configures the kernel upon system boot to auto-detect and configure system serial ports. This may also effect modem use.
    Note: Newer kernels such as 2.2.17 use /etc/modules.conf.

   

• Upgrade: RH 5.2 to 6.0:
  • [Pitfall] The RH 6.0 installation/upgrade manual states the following but will cause X-windows to fail. Don't do it.

    The upgrade will not touch your video settings held in /etc/X11/XF86Config. In order to use the new font server add the following line:

        FontPath  tcp/localhost:7100"
            

    Next set the system configuration to run the font server at boot time: /sbin/chkconfig --add xfs
    Note: you can add or remove any system services to be started (at boot time) in this manner.

     

  • [Pitfall] RH 6.0 upgrade - I added everything for my upgrade. The news server and server for plan calendars were not configured and caused errors upon boot thus slowing the boot process.
    To remedy the situation: chkconfig --del innd and chkconfig --del netplan
    This removes the background daemons/services from the system boot process.

Release Updates and fixes: After a successful installation or update, it is wise to check the Red Hat web site for updates to the CD release. See: http://www.redhat.com/errata/.

Gotchas and Workarounds Documents:

• Red Hat 7.1
• Red Hat 7.0
• Red Hat 6.2
• Red Hat 6.1

During the Red Hat installation process, a series of configuration tools were used to configure the mouse, keyboard, video etc. These can be run separately at any time after the installation. Use the following commands to re-configure the system for new or replaced hardware devices or to correct inappropriate settings.

Device	Linux Configuration Tool
System Configuration All: keyboard, mouse, ...	/usr/sbin/setup
Video card,monitor	/usr/bin/X11/Xconfigurator
Keyboard	/usr/sbin/kdbconfig
Mouse	/usr/sbin/mouseconfig
Date / Time / Time zone	/usr/sbin/timeconfig
Sound Card	/usr/sbin/sndconfig
Network Card	/usr/sbin/netconfig (console) /usr/bin/netcfg (GUI)
System services (processes started at boot)	/usr/sbin/ntsysv /usr/X11R6/bin/tksysv (GUI)
Printer	/usr/bin/printtool Red Hat 7.1: /usr/sbin/printconf-gui
RH 7.1: System security. Choose and configure NIS, LDAP or Hesiod for authentication.	/usr/sbin/authconfig
RH 7.1: System security. Firewall configuration. Note this will configure your system to use ipchains and NOT iptables.	/usr/sbin/lokkit /usr/sbin/gnome-lokkit
System Management	/bin/linuxconf
Make an Emergency/Recover boot floppy	/sbin/mkbootdisk 2.2.16-3 (Enter release of kernel. See directory /boot)

 

Basic System Administration:

Editing files:

Many editors come with the basic Linux install. Basic console text editors include jed, joe, pico, emacs and vi. (Listed from easiest to most difficult to master) GUI X-window editors (which may be used after the startx command) include gnp (gnotepad), gedit, nedit, editor, edit and xemacs. These editors may be invoked from the command line or from the desktop tollbar. Man pages should be available for the editors. By far the easiest to use is gnp. ("Toolbar Gnome Start Icon" + "Applications" + "gnotepad+")

Linux command shell mode:

By default, when you first log in, the system is in the UNIX command shell mode. After X-windows is started, the GNOME desktop will offer you a command shell by selecting the computer terminal icon on the toollbar. (RH5.2 puts a shell on your desktop by default.) The default shell is bash. For more information type: man .

Information, documentation and help:

• Documentation can be found localy in /usr/doc/. (also/usr/doc/HOWTO/) It is easiest to view this with Netscape.
  Beginning with Red Hat 7.1 the documentation is located in directory /usr/share/doc/
• Information on a Linux subject or on individual commands is available with the UNIX man command. To find commands which refer to a subject, enter man -k . To view a Linux manual page on a particular command, enter man . The pages scroll using Page Up/Down keys and arrow keys. To exit type the letter q . Use the command man for more information.
• /etc/cron.weekly/makewhatis.cron : This sets up manual page index for man -k subject help facility.
• /etc/cron.daily/updatedb.cron : Sets up index for locate command. (Creates data file /var/lib/locatedb)

Security and permissions:

UNIX controls file, directory and device access by user id and group membership. File, directory and device permissions may be granted or denied for reading (r), writing (w) and executing (x). These permissions may be granted to a specific user (u), group (g) or all other users (o). Directory listings can show this with letters representing permissions. For example: -rw-r--r-- which shows that the owner (user) has read and write privileges while the group members and all other users have read only privileges. The symbols display access privileges in the order of owner, group and other. Users are listed in the file /etc/passwd. Groups and group members are listed in the file /etc/group.

See man pages:

• chmod - Change/modify file access permissions.
• group
• ls - list files

Note on root id: The login id root is all powerful and should be used for system administration only. For regular user operation of the system, it is best to create a new user.

All users are a member of a group. New users will be added to a group of the same name as the user (each user had his own group). Membership in other groups may be added. This is often done to give a group of users access to a file or device which is accessible to all group members.

Device access:

Mounting a Windows partition:

Use the command: mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt/C
Mount MS/windows partition with long filenames so Linux can look at it if Win95 is on your 1st partition on the first drive. Use option "-t umsdos" for DOS/Win 3.1partition. (i.e. On my SCSI based system: mount -t umsdos /dev/sda3 /mnt/C) This requires that one create the directory mount point first (mkdir /mnt/C ) This mount can be made permanent by making the following entry to the /etc/fstab file:

    /dev/hda1 /C vfat defaults 0 0

Note: The umount command is NOT unmount. Notice the difference in spelling.

Support for other file systems:

Filesystem	Filesystem Description
ext2	Linux
msdos	Basic Microsoft DOS
umsdos	DOS with ling file names and Linux extensions
vfat	Windows 95
iso9660	CD: Auto detects "High Sierra" and "Rock Ridge"
hpfs	OS/2 (Read only)
sysv	Commercial System V Unix
nfs	Network File System (remote mounts)
smb	Windows for workgroups, NT and LAN manager
ncpfs	Novel Netware NCP file system

Windows upgrade on a Dual Boot system:

• Create a Linux boot disk.
• Re-write the DOS boot loader onto the hard drive: fdisk /mbr
• Upgrade Windows.
• Boot system with Linux boot disk.
• Run /sbin/lilo -v to re-install Linux boot loader onto hard drive.

Setting graphical Login screen as default:

Desktop choices:

Tip: Gnome toolbar help on Red Hat 7.1 - right-mouse-click within the toolbar + "Panel" + "Panel manual".

[Potential Pitfall]: RH 6.1 has a slight bug in that it allows you to select the Win 95 interface (FVWM2) but you cant get back. The selection process is controlled by your $HOME/.Xclients script which calls .Xclient-$HOSTNAME:0 or .Xclients-default file. Use one of the following entries in your .Xclients-default file to restore your configuration:

• exec gnome-session
• exec startkde

Soft Paws:

   gpm -B 321

CD player:

X-Window scripts:

Adding an application to the start menues:

Apache Web server (httpd):

File locations:

   /home/httpd/html/          - Web pages go here. Home page is index.html
               icons/         - Graphical icons used by the server
               cgi-bin/       - Location for CGI programs

   /var/log/httpd/access_log  - Server log files
                  error_log

See Apache online manual

RPM - Redhat Package Manager:

 

Linux Installation Related Links:

Red Hat Installation Guide:

• RH 7.1 Install Guide
• RH 7.0 Install Guide i386 - [Alpha]
• RH 6.2 Install Guide i386 - [Alpha/SPARC]
• RH 6.1 Install Guide - [Alpha/SPARC]
• RH 6.0 Install Guide - [Alpha/SPARC]
• RH 5.2 Install Guide - [Alpha]

Installation guides for other distributions:

• Caldera:
  • FAQ and Support Knowledge Base
  • Frequently Asked Questions
• Debian GNU:
  • Installation Guide
  • Installation Instructions for all hardware platforms and all languages
  • Debian FAQ
• Mandrake:
  • FreeOS.com: Mandrake 7.2 install Guide
  • Mandrake documentation
• Slackware:
  • Installation Help
  • Online Discussion Forum (Web)
• S.u.S.E.:
  • S.u.S.E. Support Data Base
  • The SuSE Linux FAQ