NOTE:  This is a somewhat ancient document, and may not be entirely accurate.
       It might still contain useful information, so I hesitate to throw it
       away.  Still, you'll do well to read the other README files first and
       take advice here with a grain of salt. :^)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The Linux Installation HOWTO
  by Matt Welsh, mdw@sunsite.unc.edu
  v3.0, 30 June 1994
  Updated by Patrick Volkerding for Slackware version 3.6.0.

  This document describes how to obtain and install the Linux software,
  focusing on the popular Slackware distribution (version 3.6.0). It is
  the first document which a new Linux user should read to get started.

  1.  Introduction

  Linux is a freely-distributable implementation of UNIX for 386, 486,
  Pentium, and compatible machines.  It supports a wide range of software,
  including X Windows, Emacs, TCP/IP networking (including SLIP/PPP), the
  works.  This document assumes that you have heard of and know about Linux,
  and just want to sit down and install it.



  1.1.  Other sources of information

  If you have never heard of Linux before, there are several sources of
  basic information about the system. One is the Linux Frequently Asked
  Questions list (FAQ), available from
  sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/docs/FAQ. This document contains many
  common questions (and answers!) about Linux---it is a ``must read''
  for new users.

  In the directory /pub/Linux/docs on sunsite.unc.edu you'll find a
  number of other documents about Linux, including the Linux INFO-SHEET
  and META-FAQ, both of which you should read.  Also take a look at the
  USENET newsgroups comp.os.linux.help and comp.os.linux.announce.

  Another source of online Linux documentation is the Linux HOWTO
  archive, on sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO. The file HOWTO-
  INDEX in that directory explains what Linux HOWTOs are available.

  The Linux Documentation Project is writing a set of manuals and books
  about Linux, all of which are freely distributable on the net.  The
  directory /pub/Linux/docs/LDP on sunsite.unc.edu contains the current
  set of LDP manuals.

  The book ``Linux Installation and Getting Started'' is a complete
  guide to getting and installing Linux, as well as how to use the
  system once you've installed it. It contains a complete tutorial to
  using and running the system, and much more information than is
  contained here. This HOWTO is simply a condensation of some of the
  most important information in that book. You can get ``Linux
  Installation and Getting Started'' from sunsite.unc.edu in
  /pub/Linux/docs/LDP/install-guide.  The README file there describes
  how you can order a printed copy of the book (about 180 pages).



  1.2.  New versions of this document

  New versions of the Linux Installation HOWTO will be periodically
  posted to comp.os.linux.announce, comp.os.linux, and news.answers.
  They will also be uploaded to various Linux FTP sites, including
  sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO.



  1.3.  Feedback

  If you have questions or comments about this document, please feel
  free to mail Matt Welsh, at mdw@sunsite.unc.edu. I welcome any
  suggestions, criticism, or postcards. If you find a mistake with this
  document, please let me know so I can correct it in the next version.
  Thanks.


  2.  Hardware Requirements

  What kind of system is needed to run Linux? This is a good question;
  the actual hardware requirements for the system change periodically.
  The Linux Hardware-HOWTO gives a (more or less) complete listing of
  hardware supported by Linux. The Linux INFO-SHEET provides another
  list.

  At the very least, a hardware configuration that looks like the
  following is required:

  Any ISA, EISA or VESA Local Bus 80386 or 80486 system will do.
  Currently, the MicroChannel (MCA) architecture (found on IBM PS/2
  machines) is not supported.  Any CPU from the 386SX to the 486DX2 will
  work. You do not need a math coprocessor, although it is nice to have
  one.

  You need at least 4 megabytes of memory in your machine. Technically,
  Linux will run with only 2 megs, but most installations and software
  require 4. The more memory you have, the happier you'll be. I suggest
  8 or 16 megabytes if you're planning to use X-Windows.

  Of course, you'll need a hard drive and an AT-standard drive
  controller. All MFM, RLL, and IDE drives and controllers should work.
  Many SCSI drives and adaptors are supported as well; the Linux SCSI-
  HOWTO contains more information on SCSI.

  Linux can actually run on a single 5.25" HD floppy, but that's only
  useful for installation and maintenance.

  Free space on your hard drive is needed as well. The amount of space
  needed depends on how much software you plan to install. Most
  installations require somewhere in the ballpark of 40 to 80 megs.
  This includes space for the software, swap space (used as virtual RAM
  on your machine), and free space for users, and so on.

  It's conceivable that you could run a minimal Linux system in 20 megs
  or less, and it's conceivable that you could use well over 200 megs or
  more for all of your Linux software. The amount varies greatly
  depending on the amount of software you install and how much space you
  require. More about this later.

  Linux will co-exist with other operating systems, such as MS-DOS,
  Microsoft Windows, or OS/2, on your hard drive. (In fact you can even
  access MS-DOS files and run some MS-DOS programs from Linux.)  In
  other words, when partitioning your drive for Linux, MS-DOS or OS/2
  live on their own partitions, and Linux exists on its own. We'll go
  into more detail later.

  You do NOT need to be running MS-DOS, OS/2, or any other operating
  system to use Linux. Linux is a completely different, stand-alone
  operating system and does not rely on other OS's for installation and
  use.

  You also need a Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA, or Super VGA video card and
  monitor.  In general, if your video card and monitor work under MS-DOS
  then it should work under Linux. However, if you wish to run X
  Windows, there are other restrictions on the supported video hardware.
  The Linux XFree86-HOWTO contains more information about running X and
  its requirements.

  In all, the minimal setup for Linux is not much more than is required
  for most MS-DOS or MS Windows systems sold today. If you have a 386 or
  486 with at least 4 megs of RAM, then you'll be happy running Linux.
  Linux does not require huge amounts of diskspace, memory, or processor
  speed. I (used to) run Linux on a 386/16 MHz (the slowest machine you
  can get) with 4 megs of RAM, and was quite happy. The more you want to
  do, the more memory (and faster processor) you'll need. In my
  experience a 486 with 16 megabytes of RAM running Linux outdoes
  several models of workstation.



  3.  Getting Linux

  In this section we'll cover how to obtain the Linux software.


  3.1.  Linux Distributions

  Before you can install Linux, you need to decide on one of the
  ``distributions'' of Linux which are available. There is no single,
  standard release of the Linux software---there are many such releases.
  Each release has its own documentation and installation instructions.

  Linux distributions are available both via anonymous FTP and via mail
  order on diskette, tape, and CD-ROM. The Linux Distribution HOWTO (see
  sunsite.unc.edu in the file /pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/Distribution-HOWTO)
  includes a list of many Linux distributions available via FTP and mail
  order. 

  The release of Linux covered in this HOWTO is the Slackware
  distribution, maintained by Patrick J. Volkerding
  (volkerdi@mhd1.moorhead.msus.edu). It is one of the most popular
  distributions available; it is very up-to-date and includes a good
  amount of software including X-Windows, TeX, and others.  The
  Slackware distribution consists of a number of ``disk sets'', each one
  containing a particular type of software (for example, the d disk set
  contains development tools such as the gcc compiler, and so forth).
  You can elect to install whatever disk sets you like, and can easily
  install new ones later.

  Slackware is also easy to install; it is very self-explanatory.  (So
  self-explanatory, in fact, that this HOWTO may not be necessary.)

  The version of Slackware described here is 3.4.0, of November 1997.
  Installation of later versions of Slackware should be very similar to
  the information given here.

  Information on other releases can be found in the Linux Installation
  and Getting Started manual from the LDP. You can also find other
  releases of Linux on various FTP sites, including
  sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/distributions See the Distribution-HOWTO
  (mentioned above) for details.

  The instructions here should be general enough to be applicable to
  releases other than Slackware. I hate to be biased towards a single
  release, but I don't have time to keep up with them all! And Slackware
  appears to have what most Linux users are looking for.



  3.2.  Slackware Space Requirements

  Unfortunately, Slackware does not maintain a complete list of
  diskspace requirements for each disk set. You need at least 7
  megabytes to install just the A series of disks; a very rough estimate
  of the required diskspace would be 2 or 2.5 megabytes per disk.

  The following disk sets are available:

     A    The base Slackware system.  Contains enough utilities to get
          Slackware running and have comm programs, editors, and installation
          utilities available.  Installing the entire A series requires 25 MB.

     AP   Linux applications.  These are some useful programs, including
          better editors, file quota utilities, a spell checker, man
          pages (and the groff package needed to process them), a Norton
          Commander clone called the Midnight Commander, extra shells, and
          other utilities.  Installing the entire AP series uses 20 MB.

     D    Program development.  This series contains compilers, interpreters,
          and other tools for C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran-77, Common LISP,
          Pascal, Perl, and more.  You need this series if you plan to
          recompile your kernel (or anything else).  Installing the entire D
          series will require 48 MB.

     E    GNU Emacs 20.3.  This is a text editor with about a million extra
          features that allow you to read your mail, news, edit and compile
          programs, and just about anything else you might need to do.
          Installing the entire E series will require 35 MB.

     F    Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Linux.  This series
          will install useful Linux documentation, including the Linux HOWTOs,
          on your machine under /usr/doc/faq.  Installing the F series
          requires about 11 MB.

     K    Linux kernel source.  This package contains source code for the
          2.0.35 Linux kernel.  You'll need this (along with the C compiler
          and utilities from the D series) if you want to recompile
          your Linux kernel.  Installing the K series will require 27 MB, and
          you'll need more to compile it.

     N    Networking.  This package contains TCP/IP and UUCP support for
          Slackware, including packages to support SLIP/PPP, mail programs such
          as sendmail, pine, and elm, news readers like tin, trn, and nn, the
          Apache Web server, and lynx Web browser.  Installing the entire N
          series will use 23 MB.

     T    The teTeX TeX distribution.  TeX is a typesetting language that you
          can use to format and print high-quality output on many types of
          printers.  Installing the entire T series requires 42 MB.

     TCL  Tcl/Tk/TclX scripting languages, and tools for using Macintosh disk
          volumes.  The TCL series needs about 7 MB.

     X    The X Window System, from XFree86 3.3.2.  This series provides a
          system for supporting GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) under
          Slackware.  The entire X series requires 70 MB.

     XAP  Applications for the X Window System.  Extra programs for X, such
          as file managers (TkDesk, xfm, xfilemanager), a window manager
          that makes X resemble Windows95 (fvwm95), graphical web browsers
          (Arena and Netscape Communicator), image editing and processing
          apps (xv, GNU gimp), a fractal generator (xfractint),
          communications programs, and more.  Installing the entire XAP
          series will require about 65 MB.

     XD   Tools to recompile X servers.  This is a kit used to relink your
          server, perhaps to compile in support for a new video card.  Not
          many people will need to install this -- this series is not needed
          to compile X applications.  Installing the XD series will use
          about 14 MB.

     XV   xview3.2p1-X11R6.  The XView series adds support for the Open Look
          window manager (commonly used on Sun systems), and for compiling
          XView applications.  The XV series uses 11 MB.

     Y    The Y series contains a collection of games for Slackware.
          Installing the entire Y series will use about 8 MB.

  You must get the ``a'' disk set; the rest are optional.  I suggest at
  least installing the a, ap, and d sets, as well as the x set if you
  plan to run X Windows.


  3.3.  Getting Slackware via Mail Order

  Slackware is available for free from the Internet, as well as via mail
  order (if you don't have Internet access, or don't want to take the
  time to download it yourself). The next section describes how to
  download Slackware from the Internet.

  The official Slackware CD-ROM set is available from Walnut Creek CDROM,
  see:  http://www.cdrom.com.


  3.4.  Getting Slackware from the Internet

  The Slackware release of Linux may be found on any number of FTP sites
  worldwide. The Linux META-FAQ lists several of the Linux FTP sites; we
  suggest that you try to find the software on the FTP site nearest you,
  to reduce net traffic. However, two of the major Linux FTP sites are
  sunsite.unc.edu and tsx-11.mit.edu.

  The Slackware release may be found on the following FTP sites:

  o  sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/distributions/slackware

  o  tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/packages/slackware

  o  ftp.cdrom.com:/pub/linux/slackware

     ftp.cdrom.com is Slackware's home site.


  3.4.1.  Downloading the files

  You need to download the following files from the FTP sites listed
  above. Make sure that you use binary mode when FTPing them!



  o  The various README files, as well as FAQ.TXT.  Be sure to
     read these files before attempting to install the software, to get
     any updates or changes to this document.

  o  A bootdisk image. This is a file that you will write to a floppy to
     create the Slackware boot disk. If you have a 1.44 megabyte boot
     floppy (3.5"), look in the directory bootdsks.144.  If you have a
     1.2 megabyte boot floppy (5.25"), look in the directory
     bootdsks.12.  The README files in these directories describes what
     the files are.

     You need one of the following files:


    IDE Slackware bootdisks: 
    ------------------------

    aztech.i           CDROM drives:  Aztech CDA268-01A, Orchid CD-3110,
                       Okano/Wearnes CDD110, Conrad TXC, CyCDROM CR520, CR540.

    bare.i             This is the disk to use for installation on most IDE
                       based PCs.  It includes support for IDE/ATAPI CDROM
                       drives.  Most CDROM drives made today fall into this
                       catagory.

    bareapm.i          This disk is the same as the bare.i image, with the
                       addition of Advanced Power Management support.  This
                       is usually used on laptops to check the battery
                       level, or to put the machine in standby or sleep mode.
                       On machines that aren't laptops, it can cause booting
                       problems.

    cdu31a.i           Sony CDU31/33a CDROM.

    cdu535.i           Sony CDU531/535 CDROM.

    cm206.i            Philips/LMS cm206 CDROM with cm260 adapter card.

    goldstar.i         Goldstar R420 CDROM  (sometimes sold in a 'Reveal
                       Multimedia Kit').

    isp16.i            Supports ISP16/MAD16/Mozart CDROM drives.
                       Boot time command line options (or 'append=' options
                       in /etc/lilo.conf) are:

                       isp16=<port>,<irq>,<dma>,<drive_type>

                       Valid values for drive_type include: Sanyo, Panasonic
                       (same as Sanyo), Sony and Mitsumi.  Default values are:
                       port=0x340, irq=0, dma=0, drive_type=Sanyo.

    lowmem.i           This is a really stripped-down Linux kernel which might
                       be useful for installing on IDE systems with a low
                       amount of RAM (less than 8MB).  If bare.i runs into
                       problems, you might try this.  NOTE:  On systems with
                       extremely low memory (4MB), ZipSlack plus the
                       fourmeg.zip add-on (found in the zipslack directory)
                       may boot and run even in cases where lowmem.i doesn't.

    mcd.i              NON-IDE Mitsumi CDROM support.

    mcdx.i             Improved NON-IDE Mitsumi CDROM support.

    net.i              An IDE/ATAPI bootdisk with Ethernet support.

    no_kbd.i           This version of bare.i is a workaround for a problem:
                       Some newer P2/Celeron systems have been known to
                       reboot themselves as the kernel is starting up.  This
                       seems to happen as the keyboard LEDs are reset.  The
                       no_kbd.i does not reset the keyboard LEDs, and will
                       boot correctly on most machines with this symptom.
                       A BIOS upgrade from the motherboard manufacturer may
                       fix the problem.

    no_pci.i           If you're having problems with a hang during PCI
                       probing, try this IDE-supporting bootdisk without PCI
                       BIOS support.  Some old PCI motherboards have BIOS
                       bugs and may crash if "PCI bios support" is enabled,
                       but they run fine without this option.  In many cases
                       the BIOS can be fixed with a flash update from the
                       motherboard manufacturer's web site.

    optics.i           Optics Storage 8000 AT CDROM (the 'DOLPHIN' drive).

    pportide.i         This is an extended version of bare.i will support for
                       a wide variety of parallel-port IDE devices.  Supports
                       parallel-port products from MicroSolutions,
                       Hewlett-Packard, SyQuest, Imation, Avatar, and other
                       manufacturers.

    sanyo.i            Sanyo CDR-H94A CDROM support.

    sbpcd.i            Matsushita, Kotobuki, Panasonic, CreativeLabs
                       (Sound Blaster), Longshine and Teac NON-IDE CDROM
                       support.  IMPORTANT!  I can't possibly stress enough
                       that this disk is *not* for IDE/ATAPI CDROM drives,
                       which include nearly all of the drives made by these
                       manufacturers recently.  For IDE/ATAPI CDROM drives,
                       use bare.i.

    testkern.i         This is a disk built with a recent development kernel,
                       such as linux-2.1.125.

    xt.i               MFM (very very old) hard drive support.


    SCSI/IDE Slackware bootdisks:    
    -----------------------------

    7000fast.s         Western Digital 7000FASST SCSI support.

    advansys.s         This bootdisk supports all AdvanSys SCSI controllers,
                       including some SCSI cards included with HP CD-R/RW
                       drives, the Iomega Jaz Jet SCSI controller, and the
                       SCSI controller on the Iomega Buz multimedia adapter.

    aha152x.s          Adaptec 152x SCSI support.  This supports the AHA-1510,
                       AHA-1520, AHA-1522, and AHA-2825 SCSI host adapters.

    aha1542.s          Adaptec 1542 SCSI support.

    aha1740.s          Adaptec 1740 SCSI support.

    aha2x4x.s          Adaptec AIC7xxx SCSI support.  These include the 274x
                       EISA cards, 284x VLB cards, 294x PCI cards, 394x PCI
                       cards, 3985 PCI card, and several versions of the
                       Adaptec built-in SCSI controllers on various PC
                       motherboards.

    aic7890.s          This bootdisk supports some SCSI controllers using
                       very recent versions of the Adaptec aic7xxx chipset.  If
                       aha2x4x.s doesn't work for you, try this.  This may also
                       provide better performance for other aic7xxx cards.

    am53c974.s         AMD AM53/79C974 SCSI support.

    buslogic.s         This supports BusLogic MultiMaster and FlashPoint SCSI
                       controllers.

    dtc3280.s          DTC (Data Technology Corp) 3180/3280 SCSI support.

    eata_dma.s         DPT EATA-DMA SCSI support.  (Boards such as PM2011,
                       PM2021, PM2041, PM3021, PM2012B, PM2022, PM2122, PM2322,
                       PM2042, PM3122, PM3222, PM3332, PM2024, PM2124, PM2044,
                       PM2144, PM3224, PM3334.)

    eata_isa.s         DPT EATA-ISA/EISA SCSI support.  (Boards such as
                       PM2011B/9X, PM2021A/9X, PM2012A, PM2012B, PM2022A/9X,
                       PM2122A/9X, PM2322A/9X)

    eata_pio.s         DPT EATA-PIO SCSI support.  (PM2001 and PM2012A)

    fdomain.s          This supports Future Domain's 16-bit SCSI host adapters
                       (TMC-1660/1680, TMC-1650/1670, TMC-3260,
                       TMC-1610M/MER/MEX) and other adapters based on the
                       Future Domain chipsets (Quantum ISA-200S, ISA-250MG;
                       Adaptec AHA-2920; and at least one IBM board).

    gdt.s              This is a bootdisk for all SCSI Disk Array Controllers
                       (EISA/ISA/PCI) manufactured by ICP Vortex.

    ibmmca.s           This is a bootdisk based on a development kernel which
                       supports MicroChannel Architecture, found in some IBM
                       PS/2 machines and laptops. It is a bus system similar to
                       PCI or ISA.  Support for most MCA SCSI, Ethernet, and
                       Token Ring adapters is included.

    in2000.s           Always IN2000 SCSI support.

    iomega.s           IOMEGA PPA3 parallel port SCSI support.  This supports
                       the parallel-port Zip drive as a Linux SCSI device.  It
                       does not support the ZipPlus drive (but you can use a
                       ZipPlus with Linux if you attach it to a SCSI controller.                       It works better that way, anyway. :)

    n53c406a.s         NCR 53c406a SCSI support.

    n_5380.s           NCR 5380 and 53c400 SCSI support.  This is the generic
                       NCR family of SCSI controllers, not to be confused with
                       the NCR 53c7 or 8xx controllers.  An example of a
                       controller that uses the NCR53c400 chip is the Trantor
                       T130B.

    n_53c7xx.s         NCR 53c7xx, 53c8xx SCSI support.  (Most NCR PCI
                       SCSI controllers use this driver)

    n_53c8xx.s         This is the FreeBSD NCR driver adapted to Linux for
                       the NCR53C8XX family of PCI-SCSI controllers. This
                       driver supports parity checking, tagged command queuing,
                       fast SCSI II transfer up to 10 MB/s with narrow SCSI
                       devices and 20 MB/s with wide scsi devices.  It also
                       supports Ultra SCSI data transfers with NCR53C860 and
                       NCR53C875 controllers.

    no_kbd.s           This version of scsi.s is a workaround for a problem:
                       Some newer P2/Celeron systems have been known to
                       reboot themselves as the kernel is starting up.  This
                       seems to happen as the keyboard LEDs are reset.  The
                       no_kbd.s does not reset the keyboard LEDs, and will
                       boot correctly on most machines with this symptom.
                       A BIOS upgrade from the motherboard manufacturer may
                       fix the problem.

    no_pci.s           If you're having problems with a hang during PCI
                       probing, try this SCSI-supporting bootdisk without PCI
                       BIOS support.  Some old PCI motherboards have BIOS
                       bugs and may crash if "PCI bios support" is enabled,
                       but they run fine without this option.  In many cases
                       the BIOS can be fixed with a flash update from the
                       motherboard manufacturer's web site.

    old_cd.s           This disk is provided in the unlikely event that
                       someone needs to install from an old CDROM drive on a
                       proprietary (*not* SCSI or IDE/ATAPI) interface to a
                       hard drive on a SCSI controller.  This disk supports
                       most Linux supported SCSI controllers, plus the CDROM
                       drives supported by these bootdisks:  aztech.i, cdu31a.i,                       cdu535.i, cm206.i, goldstar.i, isp16.i, mcd.i, mcdx.i,
                       optics.i, sanyo.i, and sbpcd.i.

    pas16.s            Pro Audio Spectrum/Studio 16 SCSI support.

    qlog_fas.s         ISA/VLB/PCMCIA Qlogic FastSCSI! support.  (also
                       supports the Control Concepts SCSI cards based on the
                       Qlogic FASXXX chip)

    qlog_isp.s         Supports all Qlogic PCI SCSI controllers, except the
                       PCI-basic, which is supported by the AMD SCSI driver
                       found on the am53c974.s bootdisk.

    scsi.s             A generic SCSI bootdisk, with support for most SCSI
                       controllers that work under Linux.  (NOTE: This disk
                       wastes a lot of memory, since it contains nearly *all*
                       of the SCSI drivers.  If you know which SCSI controller
                       your system has, it's *far* better to use the disk
                       designed especially for it.  But, if you don't know,
                       then this generic disk might just work for you.)

    scsinet.s          Supports most SCSI controllers, plus most ethernet
                       cards.  Use this for installing over a network to a
                       SCSI drive.

    seagate.s          Seagate ST01/ST02, Future Domain TMC-885/950 SCSI
                       support.

    tekram.s           This bootdisk supports the Tekram DC390(T) PCI SCSI
                       Hostadapter with the Am53C974A chip, and perhaps other
                       cards using the same chip.  It does _not_ support the
                       DC390W/U/F adaptor with the NCR/Symbios chips -- for
                       those cards, use the n_53c8xx.s bootdisk.

    testkern.s         This is a generic SCSI supporting disk built with a
                       recent development kernel such as linux-2.1.125.

    trantor.s          Trantor T128/T128F/T228 SCSI support.

    ultrastr.s         UltraStor 14F, 24F, and 34F SCSI support.

    ustor14f.s         UltraStor 14F and 34F SCSI support.


  o  A rootdisk image. This is a file that you will write to a floppy to
     create the Slackware installation disk. As with the bootdisk image,
     look in rootdsks.144 or rootdsks.12 depending on the type of boot
     floppy drive that you have.

     You need one of the following files:

  o  color.gz. The menu-based color installation disk for 1.44 meg
     drives. Most users should use this rootdisk.

  o  umsdos.gz. A version of the color.gz disk for installing with the
     UMSDOS filesystem, which allows you to install Linux onto a
     directory of an MS-DOS filesystem. This installation method is not
     discussed in detail here, but it will prevent you from having to
     repartition your drive. More on this later.

  o  text.gz. The terminal-based installation disk for 1.44 meg
     drives. You should use color.gz, but a few people have reported
     problems with it on their system. If color.gz doesn't work for
     you, try text.gz instead.  It is a bit dated and the installation
     procedure isn't identical, but it should work if color.gz
     doesn't.

  o  pcmcia.gz.  This disk contains support for installing via a PCMCIA
     card.  

     Again, you need only one of the above rootdisk images, depending on
     the type of boot floppy drive that you have.

  o  RAWRITE.EXE. This is an MS-DOS program that will write the contents
     of a file (such as the boot and rootdisk images) directly to a
     floppy, without regard to format. You will use RAWRITE.EXE to
     create the boot and root floppies.  This can be found in the
     install directory as well.

     You only need RAWRITE.EXE if you plan to create the boot and root
     floppies from an MS-DOS system. If you have access to a UNIX
     workstation with a floppy drive instead, you can create the floppies
     from there, using the dd command.  See the man page for dd and ask
     your local UNIX gurus for assistance.

  o  The files in the directories a1 through a12.  These files make up
     the ``a'' disk set of the Slackware distribution. They are
     required. Later, you will copy these files to MS-DOS floppies for
     installation (or, you can install from your hard drive). Therefore,
     when you download these files, keep them in separate directories;
     don't mix the a1 files with the a2 files, and so on.

     Be sure that you get the files without periods in the filenames as
     well. That is, within FTP, use the command ``mget *'' instead of
     ``mget *.*''.

  o  The files in the directories ap1, ap2, etc., depending on what disk
     sets you are installing. For example, if you are installing the
     ``x'' disk series, get the files in the directories x1 through x5.
     As with the ``a'' disk set, above, be sure to keep the files in
     separate directories when you download them.


  3.4.2.  Installation methods

  Slackware provides several different means of installing the software.
  The most popular is installing from an MS-DOS partition on your hard
  drive; the other is to install from a set of MS-DOS floppies created
  from the disk sets that you downloaded.

  You can also install Slackware from an NFS-mounted filesystem over a
  TCP/IP network. This is somewhat involved, however, and a discussion
  of how to do this is out of the range of this document. If you need
  help, ask your local UNIX gurus how to set up your system to mount an
  NFS filesystem which you can install Slackware from. (For this, you'll
  need another system on the network which has Slackware available on an
  exported filesystem.)

  First we'll describe how to create the boot and root floppies, and
  then we'll describe how to set things up for either a hard drive or
  floppy installation.


  3.4.2.1.  Creating the boot and root floppies

  You must create floppies from the bootdisk and rootdisk images that
  you downloaded, no matter what type of installation you will be doing.
  This is where the MS-DOS program RAWRITE.EXE comes into play.

  First, you must have two high-density MS-DOS formatted floppies.  (They
  must be of the same type; that is, if your boot floppy drive is a 3.5"
  drive, both floppies must be high-density 3.5" disks.) You will use
  RAWRITE.EXE to write the boot and rootdisk images to the floppies.

  For example, if you're using the bare.i bootdisk, use the command:

       C:\> RAWRITE BARE.I A:


  RAWRITE will copy the file, block-by-block, directly to the floppy. 
  Also use RAWRITE for the root disk image (such as COLOR.GZ). When 
  you're done, you'll have two floppies: one containing the boot disk,
  the other containing the root disk. Note that these two floppies will
  no longer be readable by MS-DOS (they are ``Linux format'' floppies,
  in some sense).

  Be sure that you're using brand-new, error-free floppies. The floppies
  must have no bad blocks on them.

  Note that you do not need to be running MS-DOS in order to install
  Slackware. However, running MS-DOS makes it easier to create the boot
  and root floppies, and it makes it easier to install the software (as
  you can install directly from an MS-DOS partition on your system). If
  you are not running MS-DOS on your system, you can use someone else's
  MS-DOS system just to create the floppies, and install from there.

  It is not necessary to use RAWRITE.EXE under MS-DOS to create the boot
  and root floppies, either. You can use the dd command on a UNIX system
  to do the same job.  (For this, you will need a UNIX workstation with
  a floppy drive, of course.) For example, on a Sun workstation with the
  floppy drive on device /dev/rfd0, you can use the command:


       $ dd if=bare.i of=/dev/rfd0 obs=18k




  You must provide the appropriate block size argument (the obs argu-
  ment) on some workstations (e.g., Suns) or this will fail. If you have
  problems the man page for dd will be instructive.


  3.4.2.2.  Preparing for installation from hard drive

  If you're planning on installing the Slackware software directly from
  the hard drive (which is much faster and more reliable than a floppy
  installation), you will need an MS-DOS partition on the system that
  you're installing Slackware to. (That is, you must already be running
  MS-DOS on the system.)

  Note: If you plan to install Slackware from an MS-DOS partition, that
  partition must NOT be compressed with DoubleSpace, Stacker, or any
  other MS-DOS drive compression utility. Linux cannot currently read
  DoubleSpace/Stacker MS-DOS partitions directly. (You can access them
  via the MS-DOS Emulator, but that is not an option when installing the
  Linux software.)

  To prepare for hard drive installation, simply create a directory on
  the hard drive to store the Slackware files. For example,

       C:\> MKDIR SLACKWAR


  will create the directory C:\SLACKWAR to hold the Slackware files.
  Under this directory, you should create the subdirectories A1, A2, and
  so on, for each disk set that you downloaded. All of the files from
  the A1 disk should go into the directory SLACKWAR\A1, and so forth.

  Now you're ready to go on and install the software; skip to the
  section ``Installing the Software''.


  3.4.2.3.  Preparing for floppy installation

  If you wish to install Slackware from floppies instead of the hard
  drive, you'll need to have one blank, MS-DOS formatted floppy for each
  Slackware disk that you downloaded. These disks must be high-density
  format.

  The A disk set (disks A1 through A8) may be either 3.5" or 5.25"
  floppies. However, the rest of the disk sets must be 3.5" disks.
  Therefore, if you only have a 5.25" floppy drive, you'll need to
  borrow a 3.5" drive from someone in order to install disk sets other
  than A. (Or, you can install from the hard drive, as explained in the
  previous section.)

  To make the disks, simply copy the files from each Slackware directory
  onto an MS-DOS formatted floppy, using the MS-DOS COPY command. As so:

       C:\> COPY A1\*.* A:


  will copy the contents of the A1 disk to the floppy in drive A:.  You
  should repeat this for each disk that you downloaded.
  You do not need to modify or uncompress the files on the disks in any
  way; you merely need to copy them to MS-DOS floppies. The Slackware
  installation procedure takes care of uncompressing the files for you.


  4.  Installing the Software

  In this section we'll describe how to prepare your system for
  installing Slackware, and finally how to go about installing it.


  4.1.  Repartitioning

  On most systems, the hard drive is already dedicated to partitions for
  MS-DOS, OS/2, and so on.  You need to resize these partitions in order
  to make space for Linux.

  NOTE: If you use one of the umsdos root diskettes, you can install
  Slackware TO a directory on your MS-DOS partition. (This is different
  than installing FROM an MS-DOS partition.) Instead, you use the
  ``UMSDOS filesystem'', which allows you to treat a directory of your
  MS-DOS partition as a Linux filesystem. In this way, you don't have to
  repartition your drive.

  I only suggest using this method if your drive has four partitions and
  repartitioning would be more trouble than it's worth. Or, if you want
  to try Slackware out before repartitioning, this is a good way to do
  so. But in most cases you should repartition, as described here. If
  you do plan to use UMSDOS, you are on your own---it is not documented
  in detail here. From now on, we assume that you are NOT using UMSDOS,
  and that you will be repartitioning.

  A partition is just a section of the hard drive set aside for a
  particular operating system to use. If you only have MS-DOS installed,
  your hard drive probably has just one partition, entirely for MS-DOS.
  To use Linux, however, you'll need to repartition the drive, so that
  you have one partition for MS-DOS, and one (or more) for Linux.

  Partitions come in three flavors: primary, extended, and logical.
  Briefly, primary partitions are one of the four main partitions on
  your drive. However, if you wish to have more than four partitions per
  drive, you need to create an extended partition, which can contain
  many logical partitions.  You don't store data directly on an extended
  partition---it is used only as a container for logical partitions.
  Data is stored only on either primary or logical partitions.

  To put this another way, most people use only primary partitions.
  However, if you need more than four partitions on a drive, you create
  an extended partition. Logical partitions are then created on top of
  the extended partition, and there you have it---more than four
  partitions per drive.

  Note that you can easily install Linux on the second drive on your
  system (known as D: to MS-DOS). You simply specify the appropriate
  device name when creating Linux partitions. This is described in
  detail below.

  Back to repartitioning your drive: The problem with resizing
  partitions is that there is no way to do it (easily) without deleting
  the data on those partitions.  Therefore, you will need to make a full
  backup of your system before repartitioning. In order to resize a
  partition, we simply delete the partition(s), and re-create them with
  smaller sizes.

  NOTE: There is a non-destructive disk repartitioner available for MS-
  DOS, called FIPS. Look on sunsite.unc.edu in the directory
  /pub/Linux/system/Install. With FIPS, a disk optimizer (such as Norton
  Speed Disk), and a little bit of luck, you should be able to resize
  MS-DOS partitions without destroying the data on them.  It's still
  suggested that you make a full backup before attempting this.

  If you're not using FIPS, however, the classic way to modify
  partitions is with the program FDISK. For example, let's say that you
  have an 80 meg hard drive, dedicated to MS-DOS. You'd like to split it
  in half---40 megs for MS-DOS and 40 megs for Linux. In order to do
  this, you run FDISK under MS-DOS, delete the 80 meg MS-DOS partition,
  and re-create a 40 meg MS-DOS partition in its place. You can then
  format the new partition and reinstall your MS-DOS software from
  backups. 40 megabytes of the drive is left empty. Later, you create
  Linux partitions on the unused portion of the drive.

  In short, you should do the following to resize MS-DOS partitions with
  FDISK:

  1. Make a full backup of your system.

  2. Create an MS-DOS bootable floppy, using a command such as

       FORMAT /S A:


  3. Copy the files FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM to this floppy, as well as
     any other utilities that you need. (For example, utilities to
     recover your system from backup.)

  4. Boot the MS-DOS system floppy.

  5. Run FDISK, possibly specifying the drive to modify (such as C: or
     D:).

  6. Use the FDISK menu options to delete the partitions which you wish
     to resize. This will destroy all data on the affected partitions.

  7. Use the FDISK menu options to re-create those partitions, with
     smaller sizes.

  8. Exit FDISK and re-format the new partitions with the FORMAT
     command.

  9. Restore the original files from backup.

  Note that MS-DOS FDISK will give you an option to create a ``logical
  DOS drive''. A logical DOS drive is just a logical partition on your
  hard drive. You can install Linux on a logical partition, but you
  don't want to create that logical partition with MS-DOS fdisk. So, if
  you're currently using a logical DOS drive, and want to install Linux
  in its place, you should delete the logical drive with MS-DOS FDISK,
  and (later) create a logical partition for Linux in its place.

  The mechanism used to repartition for OS/2 and other operating systems
  is similar. See the documentation for those operating systems for
  details.



  4.2.  Creating partitions for Linux

  After repartitioning your drive, you need to create partitions for
  Linux. Before describing how to do that, we'll talk about partitions
  and filesystems under Linux.


  4.2.1.  Filesystems and swap space

  Linux requires at least one partition, for the root filesystem, which
  will hold the Linux software itself.

  You can think of a filesystem as a partition formatted for Linux.
  Filesystems are used to hold files. Every system must have a root
  filesystem, at least. However, many users prefer to use multiple
  filesystems---one for each major part of the directory tree. For
  example, you may wish to create a separate filesystem to hold all
  files under the /usr directory.  (Note that on UNIX systems, forward
  slashes are used to delimit directories, not backslashes as with MS-
  DOS.) In this case you have both a root filesystem, and a /usr
  filesystem.

  Each filesystem requires its own partition. Therefore, if you're using
  both root and /usr filesystems, you'll need to create two Linux
  partitions.

  In addition, most users create a swap partition, which is used for
  virtual RAM. If you have, say, 4 megabytes of memory on your machine,
  and a 10-megabyte swap partition, as far as Linux is concerned you
  have 14 megabytes of virtual memory.

  When using swap space, Linux moves unused pages of memory out to disk,
  allowing you to run more applications at once on your system.
  However, because swapping is often slow, it's no replacement for real
  physical RAM. But applications that require a great deal of memory
  (such as the X Window System) often rely on swap space if you don't
  have enough physical RAM.

  Nearly all Linux users employ a swap partition.  If you have 4
  megabytes of RAM or less, a swap partition is required to install the
  software. It is strongly recommended that you have a swap partition
  anyway, unless you have a great amount of physical RAM.

  The size of your swap partition depends on how much virtual memory you
  need. It's often suggested that you have at least 16 megabytes of
  virtual memory total. Therefore, if you have 8 megs of physical RAM,
  you might want to create an 8-megabyte swap partition.  In fact, with the
  high memory requirements of today's X applications, you should probably
  consider shooting for a higher total virtual memory figure, like 32 MB or
  even 64 MB.


  4.2.2.  Booting the installation disk

  The first step is to boot the Slackware bootdisk.  After the system
  boots, you will see the message:

    VFS: Insert root floppy disk to be loaded into ramdisk and press ENTER



  At this point you should remove the bootdisk from the drive and insert
  the rootdisk. Then press enter to go on.

  The rootdisk will be loaded into memory, and you should be presented
  with a login prompt. Login as ``root''.



  slackware login: root
  #


  4.2.3.  Using fdisk

  To create partitions, you'll use the Linux fdisk program.  After
  logging in as root, run the command

       fdisk <drive>


  where <drive> is the name of the drive that you wish to create Linux
  partitions on. Hard drive device names are:

  o  /dev/hda First IDE drive

  o  /dev/hdb Second IDE drive

  o  /dev/sda First SCSI drive

  o  /dev/sdb Second SCSI drive

     For example, to create Linux partitions on the first SCSI drive in
     your system, use the command

       fdisk /dev/sda


  If you use fdisk without an argument, it will assume /dev/hda.

  To create Linux partitions on the second drive on your system, simply
  specify either /dev/hdb (for IDE drives) or /dev/sdb (for SCSI drives)
  when running fdisk.

  Your Linux partitions don't all have to be on the same drive.  You
  might want to create your root filesystem partition on /dev/hda and
  your swap partition on /dev/hdb, for example. In order to do so just
  run fdisk once for each drive.

  Use of fdisk is simple. The command ``p'' displays your current
  partition table. ``n'' creates a new partition, and ``d'' deletes a
  partition.

  To Linux, partitions are given a name based on the drive which they
  belong to. For example, the first partition on the drive /dev/hda is
  /dev/hda1, the second is /dev/hda2, and so on. If you have any logical
  partitions, they are numbered starting with /dev/hda5, /dev/hda6 and
  so on up.

  NOTE: You should not create or delete partitions for operating systems
  other than Linux with Linux fdisk. That is, don't create or delete MS-
  DOS partitions with this version of fdisk; use MS-DOS's version of
  FDISK instead. If you try to create MS-DOS partitions with Linux
  fdisk, chances are MS-DOS will not recognize the partition and not
  boot correctly.

  Here's an example of using fdisk. Here, we have a single MS-DOS
  partition using 61693 blocks on the drive, and the rest of the drive
  is free for Linux. (Under Linux, one block is 1024 bytes. Therefore,
  61693 blocks is about 61 megabytes.)  We will create two Linux
  partitions: one for swap, and one for the root filesystem.

  First, we use the ``p'' command to display the current partition
  table.  As you can see, /dev/hda1 (the first partition on /dev/hda) is
  a DOS partition of 61693 blocks.

  ______________________________________________________________________
  Command (m for help):   p
  Disk /dev/hda: 16 heads, 38 sectors, 683 cylinders
  Units = cylinders of 608 * 512 bytes

       Device Boot  Begin   Start     End  Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/hda1   *       1       1     203   61693    6  DOS 16-bit >=32M

  Command (m for help):
  ______________________________________________________________________



  Next, we use the ``n'' command to create a new partition. The Linux
  root partition will be 80 megs in size.

  ______________________________________________________________________
  Command (m for help):  n
  Command action
      e   extended
      p   primary partition (1-4)
  p
  ______________________________________________________________________


  Here we're being asked if we want to create an extended or primary
  partition. In most cases you want to use primary partitions, unless
  you need more than four partitions on a drive. See the section
  ``Repartitioning'', above, for more information.

  ______________________________________________________________________
  Partition number (1-4): 2
  First cylinder (204-683):  204
  Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (204-683): +80M
  ______________________________________________________________________



  The first cylinder should be the cylinder AFTER where the last
  partition left off. In this case, /dev/hda1 ended on cylinder 203, so
  we start the new partition at cylinder 204.

  As you can see, if we use the notation ``+80M'', it specifies a
  partition of 80 megs in size. Likewise, the notation ``+80K'' would
  specify an 80 kilobyte partition, and ``+80'' would specify just an 80
  byte partition.

  Next, we create our 10 megabyte swap partition, /dev/hda3.

  ______________________________________________________________________
  Command (m for help): n
  Command action
      e   extended
      p   primary partition (1-4)
  p

  Partition number (1-4): 3
  First cylinder (474-683):  474
  Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (474-683):  +10M
  ______________________________________________________________________



  Again, we display the contents of the partition table. Be sure to
  write down the information here, especially the size of each partition
  in blocks. You need this information later.

  ______________________________________________________________________
  Command (m for help): p
  Disk /dev/hda: 16 heads, 38 sectors, 683 cylinders
  Units = cylinders of 608 * 512 bytes

       Device Boot  Begin   Start     End  Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/hda1   *       1       1     203   61693    6  DOS 16-bit >=32M
    /dev/hda2         204     204     473   82080   83  Linux native
    /dev/hda3         474     474     507   10336   83  Linux native
  ______________________________________________________________________



  Note that the Linux swap partition (here, /dev/hda3) has type ``Linux
  native''. We need to change the type of the swap partition to ``Linux
  swap'' so that the installation program will recognize it as such. In
  order to do this, use the fdisk ``t'' command:

  ______________________________________________________________________
  Command (m for help): t
  Partition number (1-4): 3
  Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
  ______________________________________________________________________


  If you use ``L'' to list the type codes, you'll find that 82 is the
  type corresponding to Linux swap.

  To quit fdisk and save the changes to the partition table, use the
  ``w'' command. To quit fdisk WITHOUT saving changes, use the ``q''
  command.

  After quitting fdisk, the system may tell you to reboot to make sure
  that the changes took effect. In general there is no reason to reboot
  after using fdisk---the version of fdisk on the Slackware distribution
  is smart enough to update the partitions without rebooting.
  4.3.  Preparing the swap space

  If you have 4 megabytes of RAM (or less) in your machine, you need to
  create a swap partition (using fdisk) and enable it for use before
  installing the software. Here, we describe how to format and enable
  your swap partition(s).

  If you have more than 4 megs of RAM, you need only create your
  partition(s)---it's not necessary to format and enable them before
  installing the software.  In this case you can skip down to the
  section ``Installing the Software''.

  If you get any ``out of memory'' errors during the installation
  procedure you should create a swap partition and enable it as
  described here.

  To prepare the swap space for use, we use the mkswap command.  It
  takes the form:

       mkswap -c <partition> <size>


  where <partition> is the partition name, such as /dev/hda3, and <size>
  is the size of the partition in blocks.

  For example, if you created the swap partition /dev/hda3 of size 10336
  blocks, use the command

       mkswap -c /dev/hda3 10336


  The -c option tells mkswap to check for bad blocks on the partition
  when preparing the swap space. If you see any ``read_intr'' error mes-
  sages during the mkswap operation, this means that bad blocks were
  found (and flagged). So you can ignore these errors.

  To enable swapping on the new device, use the command

       swapon <partition>


  For example, for our swap space on /dev/hda3, we use

       swapon /dev/hda3


  We're now swapping with about 10 megabytes more virtual memory.

  You should execute mkswap and swapon for each swap partition that you
  created.


  4.4.  Installing the software

  Installing the Slackware release is very simple; it's almost
  automatic. You use the setup command, which guides you through a
  series of menus which allow you to specify the means of installation,
  the partitions to use, and so forth.  Almost everything is automatic.

  Here, we're not going to document many of the specifics of using
  setup, because it changes from time to time. setup is very self-
  explanatory; it contains its own documentation. Just to give you an
  idea of what it's like, however, we'll describe what most
  installations are like using setup.


  Before you begin, be sure that you have a high-density MS-DOS
  formatted floppy on hand. You will use this floppy to create a Linux
  boot diskette.

  After running fdisk (and, perhaps, mkswap and swapon as described
  above), issue the command

       # setup


  This will present you with a colourful menu with various options such
  as ``Addswap'' (to set up your swap space), ``Source'' (to specify the
  source of the software to install, such as floppy or hard drive),
  ``Target'' (to specify where to install the software), and so on.

  In general, you should go through the menu commands in the following
  order:

  1. Addswap. If you created a swap partition (using fdisk), use the
     addswap menu option to tell the system about it.  This option will
     present you with a list of possible swap partitions; just type in
     the name of the swap partition(s) that you wish to use (such as
     /dev/hda3). The system will then ask you if you want to format the
     swap partition, which you should do unless you already ran mkswap
     and swapon on it.  That is, you should format the swap partition
     unless you already formatted and enabled it by hand as described in
     the previous section.

  2. Source. This menu option lets you specify the source for the
     software to install. You can select several means of installation,
     such as from floppy or from hard drive. If you are installing from
     floppies, the system will ask you which floppy drive to use. If you
     are installing from hard drive, the system will ask you what
     partition the files are stored on, and what directory they are in.

     For example, if you are installing from an MS-DOS partition on your
     hard drive, and the Slackware files are under the directory
     C:\SLACKWAR, you should enter the name of the MS-DOS partition
     (such as /dev/hda1) and the name of the directory (such as
     /slackwar). Note that you should use forward slashes (/), not
     backslashes (\), in the directory name.

     There are other means of installation, such as CD-ROM. These should
     be self-explanatory as well.

  3. Target. This menu item lets you specify what partition(s) to
     install the software on. The system will display a list of possible
     partitions. First you will be asked to enter the name of the root
     partition, such as /dev/hda2. You will be asked if you want to
     format the partition; unless you are installing on a partition
     previously formatted for Linux you should do so.

     You will also be given a chance to use additional partitions for
     different parts of the directory tree. For example, if you created
     a separate partition for the /usr filesystem, you should enter the
     name of that partition and the directory that it corresponds to
     (/usr) when asked.

  4. Disksets. This option allows you to specify the disksets you wish
     to install. Use the arrow keys to scroll through the list; pressing
     the spacebar selects or deselects a set. Press return when you're
     done selecting disk sets.

     You may wish to only install a minimal system at this time. That's
     fine. Only the A diskset is required. After you have installed the
     software you may run setup to install other disksets.

  5. Install. After setting up all of the parameters above, you're ready
     to install the software. First the system will ask you what type of
     prompting to use; you should use the ``normal'' prompting method
     (unless you're an expert and have modified the installation
     tagfiles in some way).

     The system will simply go through each disk set and install the
     software. For each software package, a dialog box will be displayed
     describing the software. Software packages that are required will
     be installed automatically. For optional software packages you will
     be given the option of either installing or not installing the
     package. (If you don't wish to install a certain package now, you
     can always use setup on your system to install it later).

     While the software is installing, watch out for error messages that
     may be displayed. The most common error that you're likely to run
     into is ``device full'', which means that you have run out of space
     on your Linux partitions. Unfortunately, the Slackware installation
     procedure is not quite smart enough to detect this, and will
     attempt to continue installing the software regardless. If you get
     any kind of error messages during the installation procedure, you
     may wish to break out of the installation program (using Ctrl-C) to
     record them. The only solution for the ``device full'' problem is
     to re-create your Linux partitions with different sizes, or attempt
     to reinstall the software without several of the optional software
     packages.



  4.5.  After installation

  After installation is complete, and if all goes well, you will be
  given the option of creating a ``standard boot disk'', which you can
  use to boot your newly-installed Linux system. For this you will need
  a blank, high-density MS-DOS formatted diskette of the type that you
  boot with on your system. Simply insert the disk when prompted and a
  boot diskette will be created.

  You will also be given the chance to install LILO on your hard drive.
  LILO (which stands for LInux LOader) is a program that will allow you
  to boot Linux (as well as other operating systems, such as MS-DOS)
  from your hard drive. If you wish to do this, just select the
  appropriate menu option and follow the prompts.

  If you are using OS/2's Boot Manager, the menu will include an option
  for configuring LILO for use with the Boot Manager, so that you can
  boot Linux from it.

  Note that this automated LILO installation procedure is not foolproof;
  there are situations in which this can fail. Be sure that you have a
  way to boot MS-DOS, Linux, and other operating systems from floppy
  before you attempt to install LILO. If the LILO installation fails you
  will be able to boot your system from floppy and correct the problem.

  More information on configuring LILO is given below.

  The postinstallation procedure will also take you through several menu
  items allowing you to configure your system. This includes specifying
  your modem and mouse device, as well as your time zone. Just follow
  the menu options.




  4.6.  Booting your new system

  If everything went as planned, you should be able to boot your Linux
  boot floppy (not the Slackware installation floppy, but the floppy
  created after installing the software). Or, if you installed LILO, you
  should be able to boot from the hard drive.  After booting, login as
  root. Congratulations! You have your very own Linux system.

  If you are booting using LILO, try holding down shift or control
  during boot. This will present you with a boot prompt; press tab to
  see a list of options. In this way you can boot Linux, MS-DOS, or
  whatever directly from LILO.

  After booting your system and logging in as root, one of the first
  things you should do is create an account for yourself.  The adduser
  command may be used for this purpose. For example,


       # adduser
       Login to add (^C to quit): ebersol
       Full Name: Norbert Ebersol
       GID [100]: 100
       UID [501]: 501
       Home Directory [/home/ebersol]: /home/ebersol
       Shell [/bin/bash]: /bin/bash
       Password [ebersol]: new.password

       Information for new user [ebersol]:
       Home directory: [/home/ebersol]  Shell: [/bin/bash]
       Password: [new.password]  UID: [502] GID:[100]
       Is this correct? [y/n]: y




  adduser will prompt you for various parameters, such as the username,
  full name, GID (group ID), UID (user ID), and so on. For the most part
  you can use the defaults. If you're unfamiliar with creating users on
  a UNIX system, I strongly suggest getting a book on UNIX systems
  administration. It will help you greatly in setting up and using your
  new system.

  You can now login as the new user. You can use the keys Alt-F1 through
  Alt-F8 to switch between virtual consoles, which will allow you to
  login multiple times from the console. The passwd command can be used
  to set the passwords on your new accounts; you should set a password
  for root and any new users that you create.

  Also, the hostname of your machine is set at boot time in the file
  /etc/rc.d/rc.M. You should edit this file (as root) to change the
  hostname of the machine.  You should edit the lines in this file which
  run the commands hostname or hostname_notcp. (The default hostname is
  slackware.) You may also wish to edit the domainname commands in this
  file, if you are on a TCP/IP network.

  Obviously, there are many more things to setup and configure. A good
  book on UNIX systems administration should help. (I suggest Essential
  Systems Administration from O'Reilly and Associates.)  You will pick
  these things up as time goes by. You should read various other Linux
  HOWTOs, such as the NET-2-HOWTO and Printing-HOWTO, for information on
  other configuration tasks.

  After that, the system is all yours... have fun!



  5.  Configuring LILO

  LILO is a boot loader, which can be used to select either Linux, MS-
  DOS, or some other operating system at boot time. If you install LILO
  as the primary boot loader, it will handle the first-stage booting
  process for all operating systems on your drive. This works well if
  MS-DOS is the only other operating system that you have installed.
  However, you might be running OS/2, which has it's own Boot Manager.
  In this case, you want OS/2's Boot Manager to be the primary boot
  loader, and use LILO just to boot Linux (as the secondary boot
  loader).

  The Slackware installation procedure allows you to install and
  configure LILO. However, this method doesn't seem to be smart enough
  to handle several peculiar situations. It might be easier in some
  cases to configure LILO by hand.

  In order to set up LILO for your system, just edit the file
  /etc/lilo/config. Below we present an example of a LILO configuration
  file, where the Linux root partition is on /dev/hda2, and MS-DOS is
  installed on /dev/hdb1 (on the second hard drive).


       # Tell LILO to install itself as the primary boot loader on /dev/hda.
       boot = /dev/hda
       # The boot image to install; you probably shouldn't change this
       install = /etc/lilo/boot.b
       # Do some optimization. Doesn't work on all systems.
       compact

       # The stanza for booting Linux.
       image = /vmlinuz       # The kernel is in /vmlinuz
         label = linux        # Give it the name "linux"
         root = /dev/hda2     # Use /dev/hda2 as the root filesystem
         vga = ask            # Prompt for VGA mode

       # The stanza for booting MS-DOS
       other = /dev/hdb1      # This is the MS-DOS partition
         label = msdos        # Give it the name "msdos"
         table = /dev/hdb     # The partition table for the second drive




  Once you have edited the /etc/lilo/config file, run /etc/lilo/lilo as
  root. This will install LILO on your drive. Note that you must rerun
  /etc/lilo/lilo anytime that you recompile your kernel (something that
  you don't need to worry about just now, but keep it in mind).

  You can now reboot your system from the hard drive. By default LILO
  will boot the operating system listed first in the configuration file,
  which in this case is Linux. In order to bring up a boot menu, in
  order to select another operating system, hold down shift or ctrl
  while the system boots; you should see a prompt such as

       Boot:


  Here, enter either the name of the operating system to boot (given by
  the label line in the configuration file; in this case, either linux
  or msdos), or press tab to get a list.

  Now let's say that you want to use LILO as the secondary boot loader;
  if you want to boot Linux from OS/2's Boot Manager, for example.  In
  order to boot a Linux partition from OS/2 Boot Manager, unfortunately,
  you must create the partition using OS/2's FDISK (not Linux's), and
  format the partition as FAT or HPFS, so that OS/2 knows about it.
  (That's IBM for you.)

  In order to have LILO boot Linux from OS/2 BM, you only want to
  install LILO on your Linux root filesystem (in the above example,
  /dev/hda2). In this case, your LILO config file should look something
  like:


       boot = /dev/hda2
       install = /etc/lilo/boot.b
       compact

       image = /vmlinuz
         label = linux
         root = /dev/hda2
         vga = ask




  Note the change in the boot line. After running /etc/lilo/lilo you
  should be able to add the Linux partition to Boot Manager. This mecha-
  nism should work for boot loaders used by other operating systems as
  well.


  6.  Miscellaneous

  I don't like to be biased towards the Slackware release, however, in
  order to document multiple releases of Linux, this file would be much,
  much longer. It is simpler and more coherent to cover the specific
  instructions for a single release of Linux. The book Linux
  Installation and Getting Started currently includes general
  installation instructions which should be applicable to ``any''
  distribution of Linux. However, because the installation procedures
  are so varied, covering them all would be very confusing both to
  myself and to the reader.

  The basic concepts in this document still hold, no matter what release
  of Linux you choose. For example, all releases require you to run
  fdisk, and all of them (to my knowledge) include some kind of
  installation menu similar to the setup program.  If you choose to use
  a release of Linux other than Slackware, the READMEs and installation
  instructions that come with that release should be easy to understand
  in the context of the material presented here.

  If you would like a more complete discussion of Linux installation
  (instead of the "quick" examples given here), read the book Linux
  Installation and Getting Started, from sunsite.unc.edu in
  /pub/Linux/docs/LDP.  This book includes a complete discussion of how
  to obtain and install Linux, as well as a basic UNIX and systems
  administration tutorial for new users.

  Please mail me at mdw@sunsite.unc.edu if any part of this document is
  confusing or incorrect. I depend on feedback from readers in order to
  maintain this document! I also like to help answer questions about
  Linux installation, if you have any.

  I'd like to thank Patrick Volkerding for his work on the Slackware
  distribution and assistance in preparing this document.

  Best of luck with your new Linux system!

  Cheers, mdw