370 lines
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370 lines
10 KiB
HTML
<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>Before You Begin</TITLE
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>The Linux Installation HOWTO</TH
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></TR
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><TR
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WIDTH="10%"
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><A
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>Prev</A
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><H1
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><A
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NAME="BEFORE">4. Before You Begin</H1
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><P
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>Before you can install Linux, you'll need to be sure your machine is
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Linux-capable, and choose a Linux to install. The <A
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HREF="http://members.tripod.com/~algolog/lnxchk.htm"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Linux Pre-installation
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checklist</A
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> may help you organize configuration data before you
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begin.</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="REQUIREMENTS">4.1. Hardware requirements</H2
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><P
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>What kind of system is needed to run Linux? This is a good question;
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the actual hardware requirements for the system change periodically. The
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<A
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HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Linux Hardware-HOWTO</A
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>, gives
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a (more or less) complete listing of hardware supported by Linux. The
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<A
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HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/INFO-SHEET.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Linux INFO-SHEET</A
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>, provides
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another list.</P
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><P
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>For the Intel versions, a hardware configuration that looks like the
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following is required:</P
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><P
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>Any 80386,
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80486,
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Pentium or Pentium
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II processor will do.
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Non-Intel clones of the 80386 and up will generally work. You do not need a
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math coprocessor, although it is nice to have one.</P
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><P
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>The ISA,
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EISA, VESA Local
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Bus and
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PCI bus architectures are
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supported. The MCA bus
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architecture (found on IBM PS/2 machines) has been minimally supported
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since the 2.1.x kernels, but may not be ready for prime time yet.</P
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><P
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>You need at least 4 megabytes of memory in your machine. Technically,
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Linux will run with only 2 megs, but most installations and software
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require 4. The more memory you have, the happier you'll be. I suggest an
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absolute minimum of 16 megabytes if you're planning to use X-Windows; 64 is
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better.</P
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><P
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>Of course, you'll need a hard drive and an AT-standard drive
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controller. All MFM,
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RLL, and
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IDE drives and controllers
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should work. Many SCSI drives and adaptors are supported as well; the
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Linux SCSI-HOWTO contains more information on SCSI. If you are assembling
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a system from scratch to run Linux, the small additional cost of SCSI is
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well worth it for the extra performance and reliability it brings.</P
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><P
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>You'll want a CD-ROM
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drive; effectively all Linux distributions are now CD-ROM based. If your
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machine was built in 1998 or later, you should be able to actually boot
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your Linux's installer right off the CD-ROM without using a boot
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floppy.</P
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><P
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>If your CD-ROM is ATAPI,
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SCSI, or true
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IDE you should have no problem
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making it work (but watch for cheap drives advertising "IDE" interfaces
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that aren't true IDE). If your CD-ROM uses a proprietary interface card,
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it's possible the installation kernel you're going to boot from floppy
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won't be able to see it -- and an inaccessible CD-ROM is a installation
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show-stopper. Also, CD-ROMs that attach to your parallel port won't work
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at all. If you're in doubt, consult the <A
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HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/CDROM-HOWTO.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Linux CD-ROM HOWTO</A
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> for a list and
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details of supported hardware.</P
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><P
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>If your CD-ROM isn't in your machine's boot sequence, you will need a
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3.5" floppy drive. While 5.25" floppies are supported under
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Linux, they are little-enough used that you should not count on disk images
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necessarily fitting on them. (A stripped-down Linux can actually run on a
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single floppy, but that's only useful for installation and certain
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troubleshooting tasks.)</P
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><P
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>You also need an MDA,
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Hercules, CGA,
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EGA,
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VGA, or Super
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VGA video card and
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monitor. In general, if your video card and monitor work under MS-DOS or
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Windows then they should work under Linux. However, if you wish to run the
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X window system, there are other restrictions on the supported video
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hardware. The <A
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HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/XFree86-HOWTO.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Linux
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XFree86-HOWTO</A
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>, contains more information about running X and its
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requirements.</P
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><P
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>If you're running on a box that uses one of the Motorola 68K
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processors (including Amiga,
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Atari, or
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VMEbus machines), see the
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<A
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HREF="http://www.linux-m68k.org/pub/faq/faq.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Linux/m68k FAQ</A
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>
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for information on minimum requirements and the state of the port. The FAQ
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now says m68k Linux is as stable and usable as the Intel versions.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="DISKSPACE">4.2. Space requirements and coexistence</H2
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><P
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>You'll need free space for Linux on your hard drive. The amount of
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space needed depends on how much software you plan to install. Today most
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installations require somewhere in the ballpark of a gigabyte of space.
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This includes space for the software, swap space (used as virtual
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RAM on your machine), and free space for users, and so on.</P
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><P
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>It's conceivable that you could run a minimal Linux system in 80 megs
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or less (this used to be common when Linux distributions were smaller), and
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it's conceivable that you could use two gigabytes or more for all of your
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Linux software. The amount varies greatly depending on the amount of
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software you install and how much space you require. More about this
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later.</P
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><P
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>Linux will co-exist with other operating systems, such as MS-DOS,
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Microsoft Windows, or OS/2, on your hard drive. (In fact you can even
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access MS-DOS files and run some MS-DOS programs from Linux.) In other
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words, when partitioning your drive for Linux, MS-DOS or OS/2 live on their
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own partitions, and Linux exists on its own. We'll go into more detail
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about such ``dual-boot''
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systems later.</P
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><P
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>You do <EM
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>not</EM
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> need to be running MS-DOS, OS/2, or
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any other operating system to use Linux. Linux is a completely
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stand-alone operating system and does not rely on other OSs for
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installation and use.</P
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><P
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>In all, the minimal setup for Linux is not much more than is
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required for most MS-DOS or Windows 3.1 systems sold today (and
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it's a good deal less than the minimum for Windows 95!). If you
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have a 386 or 486 with at least 4 megs of RAM, then you'll be happy
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running Linux. Linux does not require huge amounts of disk space,
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memory, or processor speed. Matt Welsh, the originator of this
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HOWTO, used to run Linux on a 386/16 MHz (the slowest machine you
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can get) with 4 megs of RAM, and was quite happy. The more you want
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to do, the more memory (and faster processor) you'll need. In our
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experience a 486 with 16 megabytes of RAM running Linux outdoes
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several models of expensive workstations.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="TIME">4.3. Time requirements</H2
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><P
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>Start to finish, a modern Linux installation from CD-ROM can be expected
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to take from ninety minutes to three hours.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="DISTRIBUTIONS">4.4. Choosing a Linux distribution</H2
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><P
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>Before you can install Linux, you need to decide on one of the
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``distributions'' of Linux which are available. There is no single,
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standard release of the Linux software---there are many such
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releases. Each release has its own documentation and installation
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instructions. All distributions pretty much share the same underlying
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codebase, however.</P
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><P
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>Linux distributions are available both via anonymous FTP and via mail
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order on diskette, tape, and CD-ROM. There are many checklists and
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comparative
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reviews of Linux distributions out there. The <A
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HREF="http://lwn.net/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Linux Weekly News site</A
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>, in addition to
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being an excellent general source of news and information, carries a
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weekly report on distributions with pointers to many of them.</P
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><P
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>In the dim and ancient past when this HOWTO was first written
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(1992-93), most people got Linux by tortuous means involving long
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downloads off the Internet or a BBS onto their DOS machines,
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followed by an elaborate procedure which transferred the downloads
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onto multiple floppy disks. One of these disks would then be
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booted and used to install the other dozen. With luck (and no
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media failures) you'd finish your installation many hours later
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with a working Linux. Or maybe not.</P
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><P
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>While this path is still possible (and you can download any one of
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several distributions from <A
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HREF="http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Metalab</A
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>),
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there are now much less strenuous ways. The easiest is to buy one of the
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high-quality commercial Linux distributions distributed on CD-ROM, such as
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Red Hat, Debian, Linux Pro, or WGS. These are typically available for less
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than $50 at your local bookstore or computer shop, and will save you
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many hours of aggravation.</P
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><P
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>You can also buy anthology CD-ROMs such as the InfoMagic Linux
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Developer's Resource set. These typically include several Linux
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distributions and a recent dump of major Linux archive sites, such
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as metalab or tsx-11.</P
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><P
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>In the remainder of this HOWTO we will focus on the steps needed to
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install from an anthology CD-ROM, or one of the lower-end
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commercial Linuxes that doesn't include a printed installation
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manual. If your Linux includes a paper manual some of this HOWTO may
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provide useful background, but you should consult the manual for
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detailed installation instructions.</P
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></DIV
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VALIGN="top"
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>The Easiest Option: Buy, Don't Build</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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> </TD
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VALIGN="top"
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>Installation Overview</TD
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