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authorRobby Workman <rworkman@slackware.com>2010-01-11 23:22:22 -0600
committerRobby Workman <rworkman@slackware.com>2010-01-11 23:22:22 -0600
commit2168ea8b1650198e0b91215adc5ad52c42651440 (patch)
tree5d3b376139fbac81aa77f021152a6a835b0ef2b8 /chapter_02.xml
downloadslackbook-2168ea8b1650198e0b91215adc5ad52c42651440.tar.xz
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+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
+ "/usr/share/xml/docbook/xml-dtd-4.5/docbookx.dtd">
+
+<chapter>
+<title>Installation</title>
+
+<para>
+Slackware's installation is a bit more simplistic than many other Linux
+distributions use, and is very reminiscent of installing one of the
+varieties of BSD operating systems. If you're familiar with those, you
+should feel right at home. If you've never installed Slackware or used
+a distribution that makes use of a non-graphical installer, you may
+feel a bit overwhelmed. Don't panic. The installation is very easy
+once you understand it, and works on just about any x86 platform.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+The latest versions of Slackware Linux are distributed on DVD or CD
+media, but Slackware can be installed in a variety of other ways. This
+book will only focus on the most common way: installing via optical
+media. In order to install Slackware, you'll need at least an Intel
+486 or equivilant CPU, but we recommend you obtain a 586 or better CPU
+if at all possible. Slackware can be pared down to run on as little as
+32 MB of RAM (or even less), but with the size of the 2.6 kernel and
+user-space applications, you will find yourself having a much easier
+time if you have a minimum of 64 MB of RAM. If you wish to use
+anything older than these, you might want to obtain an older copy of
+Slackware which will perform better with fewer CPU Megahertz and less
+RAM.
+</para>
+
+<section>
+<title>Booting the Installer</title>
+
+<para>
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+</para>
+
+</section>
+
+<section>
+<title>Partitioning</title>
+
+<para>
+Unlike many other Linux distributions, Slackware does not make use of a
+graphical disk partitioning tool in its installer. Rather, Slackware
+makes use of <application>fdisk</application>(8) and
+<application>cfdisk</application>(8), both console tools.
+<application>cfdisk</application> is a curses-based partitioning tool
+while <application>fdisk</application> is not. Whichever you choose to
+use should only rarely matter. In this book, we'll only discuss
+<application>fdisk</application>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+In order to partition your hard drive, you'll first need to know how to
+identify it. In Linux, all hardware is identified by a special file
+called a device file. These are all (typically) located in the
+<filename>/dev</filename> directory. If your hard drive is IDE, you
+will most likely find it as <filename>/dev/hda</filename>; however,
+many hard drives today including SATA disks are identified as SCSI
+devices by the kernel. If you don't know what your hard drive is
+identified in Linux as, <application>fdisk</application> can help you
+out.
+</para>
+
+<screen><prompt>root@slackware:/# </prompt><userinput>fdisk -l</userinput>
+
+Disk /dev/sda: 72.7 GB, 72725037056 bytes
+255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 8841 cylinders
+Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
+</screen>
+
+<para>
+Here, you can see that my system has a hard drive located at
+<filename>/dev/sda</filename> that is 72.7 GB in size. You can also
+see some additional info about this hard drive. (In my case, this is
+actually three SCSI hard drives on a hardware RAID controller that
+makes them appear as a single drive.) The <arg>-l</arg> argument to
+<application>fdisk</application> tells it to display the hard drives
+and all the partitions it finds on those drives, but won't make any
+changes to the disks. In order to actually partition our drives, we'll
+have to tell <application>fdisk</application> what drive to operate on.
+</para>
+
+<screen><prompt>root@slackware:/# </prompt><userinput>fdisk /dev/sda</userinput>
+
+The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 8841.
+There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
+and could in certain setups cause problems with:
+1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
+2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
+ (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)
+
+Command (m for help):
+</screen>
+
+<para>
+Now we've told fdisk what disk we wish to partition and it has dropped
+us into command mode after printing an annoying warning message. The
+1024 cylinder limit has not been a problem for some time, and
+Slackware's boot loader will have no trouble booting disks larger than
+this. Typing <arg>m</arg> and hitting ENTER will print out a helpful
+message telling you what to do with <application>fdisk</application>.
+</para>
+
+<screen>Command (m for help): <userinput>m</userinput>
+
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN!
+
+</screen>
+
+<para>
+Now that we know what commands will do what, it's time to begin to
+partition our drive. At a minimum, you will need a single
+<filename>/</filename> partition and should create a swap partition.
+You might also want to make a seperate <filename>/home</filename>
+partition for storing user files (this will make it easier to upgrade
+later, or install a different Linux operating system by keeping all of
+your users' files on a seperate partition). So, let's go ahead and
+make three partitions. The command to create a new partition is
+<arg>n</arg> (which you would have noticed if you read the help).
+</para>
+
+<screen>Command: (me for help): <userinput>n</userinput>
+Command action
+ e extended
+ p primary partition (1-4)
+<userinput>p</userinput>
+Partition number (1-4): <userinput>1</userinput>
+First cylinder (1-8841, default 1): <userinput>1</userinput>
+Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-8841, default 8841): <userinput>+8G</userinput>
+
+Command (m for help): n
+Command action
+ e extended
+ p primary partition (1-4)
+<userinput>p</userinput>
+Partition number (1-4): <userinput>2</userinput>
+First cylinder (975-8841, default 975): <userinput>975</userinput>
+Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (975-8841, default 8841): <userinput>+1G</userinput>
+</screen>
+
+<para>
+Here we have created two partitions. The first is 8GB in size and the
+second is only 1GB. We can view our existing partitions with the
+<arg>p</arg> command.
+</para>
+
+<screen> Command (m for help): <userinput>p</userinput>
+
+Disk /dev/sda: 72.7 GB, 72725037056 bytes
+255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 8841 cylinders
+Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
+
+ Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
+/dev/sda1 1 974 7823623+ 83 Linux
+/dev/sda2 975 1097 987997+ 83 Linux
+
+</screen>
+
+<para>
+Both of these partitions are of type "83" which is the standard Linux
+filesystem. We will need to change <filename>/dev/sda2</filename> to
+type "82" in order to make this a swap partition. We will do this with
+the <arg>t</arg> command.
+</para>
+
+<screen>Command (m for help): <userinput>t</userinput>
+Partition number (1-4): <userinput>2</userinput>
+Hex code (type L to list codes): <userinput>82</userinput>
+
+Command (me for help): <userinput>p</userinput>
+
+Disk /dev/sda: 72.7 GB, 72725037056 bytes
+255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 8841 cylinders
+Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
+
+ Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
+/dev/sda1 1 974 7823623+ 83 Linux
+/dev/sda2 975 1097 987997+ 82 Linux swap
+
+</screen>
+
+<para>The swap partition is a special partition that is used for
+virtual memory by the Linux kernel. If for some reason you run out of
+RAM, the kernel will move the contents of some of the RAM to swap in
+order to prevent a crash. The size of your swap partition is up to
+you. A great many people have participated have participated in a
+great many flamewars on the size of swap partitions, but a good rule of
+thumb is to make your swap partition about twice the size of your
+system's RAM. Since my machine has only 512MB of RAM, I decided to
+make my swap partition 1GB. You may wish to experiment with your swap
+partition's size and see what works best for you, but generally there
+is no harm in having "too much" swap.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+At this point we can stop, write these changes to the disk, and
+continue on, but I'm going to go ahead and make a third partition which
+will be mounted at <filename>/home</filename>.
+</para>
+
+<screen>Command: (me for help): <userinput>n</userinput>
+Command action
+ e extended
+ p primary partition (1-4)
+<userinput>p</userinput>
+Partition number (1-4): <userinput>3</userinput>
+First cylinder (1098-8841, default 1098): <userinput>1098</userinput>
+Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1098-8841, default 8841): <userinput>8841</userinput>
+</screen>
+
+<para>
+Now it's time to finish up and write these changes to disk.
+</para>
+
+<screen>Command: (me for help): <userinput>w</userinput>
+The partition table has been altered!
+
+Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
+Synching disks.
+<prompt>root@slackware:/# </prompt>
+</screen>
+
+<para>
+At this point, we are through partitioning our disks and are ready to
+begin the <application>setup</application> program. However, if you
+have created any extended partitions, you may wish to reboot once to
+ensure that they are properly read by the kernel.
+</para>
+
+</section>
+
+<section>
+<title>The <application>setup</application> Program</title>
+
+ <!-- Each part of setup gets its individual subsection. -->
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Help</title>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Keymap</title>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Addswap</title>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Target</title>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Source</title>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Select</title>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Install</title>
+
+ </section>
+
+ <section>
+ <title>Configure</title>
+
+ </section>
+
+</section>
+
+</chapter>