Mandrake 9.1 Install Step by step guide

[dalek]

This is a long one. Print it and have it handy if you are a newbie. When you're done with that register here, learn and then help your fellow users. Hope you find this helpful. Use at your own risk. See bottom of posts.


Linux Mandrake 9.1 Install Step-by Step Guide

I will assume you have backed up your data just in case something does go wrong. I will also assume you are familiar with the components connected and how they are connected to your system. I will also hope that you are ready to experience Linux Mandrake. The slower your system the longer some screens will take. Some may take a few minutes with no CD or hard drive activity. Don't reboot unless you know your system is locked up.

I recommend that you have all hardware connected such as printers and external modems during the install. The install will pick up most hardware and install the needed packages automatically. It will also do some of this during the configure stage.

If you intend to have a dual boot system with windows, make sure you have ran 'defrag' before installing. You should also make sure that 'make programs load faster' is not selected in the defrag program. This will make sure that all data is moved to the beginning of the drive. After you run 'defrag' DO NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES OR RUN ANY PROGRAMS go directly to shutdown. Scandisk will usually run the first time you boot into Windows. Don't want you to panic when you see that. You may use another partition utility if you choose but it is not neccasary. Mandrake uses DrakeX and will do a good job during the install. If you are ready to install read on. . . .

Make sure you have researched your and the components are compatable. Mandrakelinux.com and some other sites have this info. It's to long to list here. www.google.com/linux is a good place to start for info about Linux in general.

You need to change your BIOS setting so your can boot from CD ROM. Then boot from your CD drive. You will see a screen that says 'F1' to upgrade or rescue and 'Enter' to install. If you need a patch to install hit 'F1" and type in the proper command(s) you need. You may need this if you have 1Gb or more of memory or some other issue listed on the mandrakelinux.com website for errata.

When you get to this point the install begins by asking what language you want to use. When you select the language click "Next". You will then be asked to accept the license, select "accept" and click "Next". Next is the mouse, make sure you give the right one. Mine usually picks the right port but the wrong type. Select the proper one and click "Next". If you change the setting from what it picks it will ask you to 'test' the mouse. You may have to push each button and roll the wheel before you can click "next". Next will be the security level. I always use 'standard'. You can leave the password for this blank. Root access will give you all the privileges you need.

[dalek]

Now comes the partitioning part. DrakX will appear and you will have a few options that may vary with your system. I suggest that you use 'custom disk partitioning'. If you choose one of the others DrakX will make the changes automatically for you. I recommend at least 5Gb total for Linux. That will have room for expansion if you need it. You should have at least 500Mb swap space, the max is 2Gb if memory serves me correctly.

SINGLE HARD DRIVE SYSTEM:
If you have a single hard drive you will most likely have one large partition that is colored 'Blue'. It should have "/mnt/windows" in it. Click the mouse inside the blue part and some options will appear below and to the left. Click resize and a box with a slider will appear. Resize till you get the size you want. You can use arrow buttons for fine adjustments. You will be adjusting the Windows partition. Make sure you leave enough room for any new windows data. Click 'OK' when you are done. You should then have a space that is colored blue and some that is white. Click inside the white part. You can choose to make your own custom sizes or click 'auto allocate'. If you are new to Linux click auto and it should do the sizes automatically including swap and you can skip to the bottom of this section. If you want to do your own there are a number of ways to set it up. I will suggest the easiest. When you click in the white space, you will have the option to 'create' a partition. Click create and a window will come up for size and file system type. The first partition can be "/" or root. If you are only going to have one Linux partition make this so that only the amount of swap space is left. I suggest ext3 for file system in the pull down menu however you can use ext2 if you wish. Click OK and you should see your newly created partition. Now you will need swap space. It's like extra memory space on your hard drive and yes Windows does something similiar. Click in the white part that is left and then create. The window should come up, just pick 'swap' from the pull down menu and slide the slider all the way to the right. That should fill up your drive. You can leave some blank if you want to and have a large drive. When you have the partitions the way you want or YOU CHOSE 'AUTO ALLOCATE" just click 'DONE'. It will then tell you that the partition will be written to disk. Just click 'OK' and it will write the partition info and format the new partitions.

MULTIPLE HARD DRIVE SYSTEM:
If you have installed a new drive for your Linux, your install may be little easier and less likely to loose data since you will not have to mess with your windows at all. When DrakeX comes up you will have a 'tab' for each hard drive on you system. They will be labeled hda, hdb, hdc etc. hda is primary master, hdb is primary slave, hdc is secondary master and hdd is secondary slave. You will most likely have windows on hda and it will be colored blue. Just click the tab for hdb or where ever your new drive is. If this drive is new it will be all white, unpartitioned or unused. Just click in the white space and choose 'auto allocate' if you want it to setup the partitions automatically. If you choose 'auto' you may skip to the last part of this section. If you want to setup your own partitions read on. You will need at least two partitions, one swap and one root, "/". I will explain the easiest way to do this. You can set up the partition in dozens of different ways. When you click in the white space, you will have the option to 'create' a partition. Click create and a window will come up for size and file system type. The first partition can be "/" or root. If you are only going to have one Linux partition make this so that only the amount of swap space is left. I suggest ext3 for file system in the pull down menu however you can use ext2 if you wish. Click OK and you should see your newly created partition. Now you will need swap space. It's like extra memory space on your hard drive and yes Windows does something similiar. Click in the white part that is left and then create. The window should come up, just pick 'swap' from the pull down menu and slide the slider all the way to the right. That should fill up your drive. You can leave some blank if you want to and have a large drive. When you have the partitions the way you want or YOU CHOSE 'AUTO ALLOCATE" just click 'DONE'. It will then tell you that the partition will be written to disk. Just click 'OK' and it will write the partition info and format the new partitions.

With either single or multiple hard drives you should now have your drive(s) setup for Linux to install. When the drives have been formatted you should see a screen that says "looking for available packages". Depending on your system speed this could take a while with little or no drive activity. So don't reboot unless you know your system is locked up. You should at some point see a list on the left. Click on the packages you want. Example, if you have a CD R/W you may want multimedia, if you have a network you may want to install network. If you know exactly what packages you need you can click at the bottom "Individual Package Selection" to select the individual packages. Note you can always install needed packages later if you need to. After you have selected the packages you want click 'Install'. You may get a message asking "Do you really want to install these servers?", just click yes and the install will begin. This make take a while depending on your system speed. You can watch the slide show if you want or click 'details' to see the files install and a description of what they are used for. You will need to change the CD's when prompted and click 'OK' when you change the CD. This install will vary from a few minutes to a hour depending on system speed and what you have selected to install. The system may not have drive activity from time to time so don't reboot thinking it has locked up. Mine has stalled for a minute or two during the install and then took off again.

[dalek]

You should eventually reach a point where it wants a root password. Make SURE you remember this password. It is possible to boot and get the password but it is NOT easy from what I hear. Click next when you get that entered. It will then want to set up a user. You can set up as many as you want by clicking 'accept user' and entering another. When you have all the users you want click 'Next'. It may install more packages after adding users.

You should see "preparing boot loader" on the screen. After that's done, you should see the summary page after it gets through with the bootloader. Any thing in red should be configured as much as possible here. Just click configure and walk through the steps. They may vary from system to system so details can't be provided here. It may also install more packages during this too. Some may require you to finish setup after you have booted into Linux. It will usually tell what command to run for this. If it does write it down so you will have it. A ISA sound card is a good example of this. It will install the software here but you must run 'sndconfig' when booted into Linux later.

If you want to boot into Windows by default, click configure lilo or boot loader. When it comes up you should see 'windows' in the list. Double click Windows and a box should come up. Put a check mark in the box next to "default" and click OK. Windows should have a "*" next to it. It will boot to whatever has the '*' next to it with no input from you.

I recommend that you test your monitor settings here. Just click configure and adjust to what you want then click 'test'. If you don't see anything just wait, it will come back at the original setting and you need to adjust before leaving. If the setting works you should see a box that ask if you can see this and if it is correct. If you see it and the display is normal click 'yes' to save the setting. Click 'Done' when finished.

When finished with this part just click 'next'. You should come to a screen that says it is time to reboot. Click 'reboot'. You will probably see some strange messages during the shutdown but don't worry, it's just closing out files it used during the install. Don't forget to change your BIOS to boot from the hard drive when the system starts to boot.

When you boot your system a screen you probably have never seen before will come up. It will ask if you want to boot 'Windows', 'Linux', 'Linux non-fb', 'failsafe', or 'floppy'. Note you have 10 seconds to pick or press one of the arrow keys. Use the arrow keys to change which one you want to boot too and hit enter when you have it selected. If you pick 'Linux' and it's the first time you will see a screen that wants to know what desktop and theme you want to use. Just pick the one you want, KDE, Gnome etc, and it will then want you to pick a theme. Just pick the one you like and click 'finish'. You can change these later if you want. I use KDE and the theme that first comes up. It will also want to know what mail program you want to use. I use Kmail but you can pick whichever you want. Then type in your mail infomation, email address etc and click 'finish'.

You should after a few minutes have your new Linux desktop. You have successfully installed Mandrake Linux.

Good job and good luck. Raise the hood and see what's under there. This is not Windows. You can raise the hood here and see how it works.

DISCLAIMER: I assume no responsiblity for data loss. This is a use at your own risk guide. No exceptions!

Requests: If you notice a error please PM me with the info. Please be specific and realize that each system will be a little different depending on hardware and other variables.

[dalek]

If you are not familiar with the packages available with Linux, here is a brief overveiw:

Office Workstation | This is Open Office etc, like Microsoft office sort of.
Game Station | This is some games for Linux.
Multimedia Station | This is for when you have a CD Player/Writer etc
Internet Station | This has all the internet stuff, Mozilla, KPPP, K-Mail etc. Recommended for internet use.
Network Computer | If you are on a LAN you will need this.
Configuration | this has menudrake and all the other config tools you need. Recommended to install.
Scietific Workstation | This has the calculator and some other scientific stuff.
Console Tools | The is all the console tools. Recommended to install.
Development | This is for programmers, but some software may need some of it to run. If you have space to waste, install.
Documentation | This is all the how to's. Recommended to install.
LSB | This is for third party software installs from what I have read. I would install just in case.

This is brief but may help a newbie to know what he/she needs.

[Jordan_NZ]

Dalek,

Thanks for taking the time to type and post this thread. I will be installing Mandrake 9.1 in the next day or so and I am trying to read as much relevent information beforehand. I have read this thread and gone to the Mandrake Linux site and downloaded all the documentation for 9.1. Hopefully I will be ready for the install. I can't wait.

Your effort is much appreciated!

[dalek]

If it gives you any slack about 'custom partitioning', reboot and when the screen comes up to hit F1 or enter, hit F1 and type in 'expert'. It should give you more options after that.

BTW, your welcome. I got a lot of help from people on this site and owe them this at least, especially mdwatts. I also posted a how to for NVIDIA drivers. You do have a NVIDIA video card don't you? Please don't have a ATI card.

Good luck!

[leonpmu]

great job on the HOWTO!!!

BTW what si wrong with ATÏ cards?? I personally think that they are better than ANY NVIDIA out there!!

[dalek]

Well I don't have one and never did. From what I understand the driver support for ATI is not near as good as NVIDIA. NVIDIA now has one file to install and usually one change to /etc/x11/XF86Config-4 file and thats it. Very easy for a newbie. I have read that ATI drivers and the tweaks you have to make can be tough on a newbie.
It's my opinion, right or wrong. I know that ATI is a great card for Windoze but they need some work on the drivers for Linux. If I were using windoze I would likely get a ATI card, just not for Linux.
I was told this in another thread, on this forum, about video card suggestions when I was preparing to build this rig. I'm glad I took the advice. It was not that bad to install.

That's my thoughts. Remember you asked for it.

[Jordan_NZ]

Dalek,

My video card is an SIS 650, with driver sisgrp.sys - does that tell you if it is NVIDIA or an ATI card?

Thanks for the heads up on the expert partitioning mode.

[malsurk]

Just to mention that Mandrake 9.1 is the only distro that i have yet found that will pick up and use the Speedtouch 330usb.
It only requires a small micro-code insert [ mgmt.o ]
it is easy to find, but if any probs drop me a line and i will send it

[dalek]

The .sys is for windoze. Won't work in Linux. What brand and model of motherboard do you have? It appears that the chipset may be OK, just some issues with the drivers. More info on brand and model will help. Please PM me with the info if you can. We are having storms here and sometimes my modem disconnects. I'll get back to you though, just maight take a bit.



BTW, it doesn't have to be branded NVIDIA just have the NVIDIA chipset. Mine is made by Chaintec but has the NVIDIA chipset.

A good way to find info for Linux is www.google.com/linux . It only returns links related to Linux. Example: I put in "SIS 650 video motherboard" to look for your answer. Got some good info.

[malsurk]

dalek
my system
motherboard : jetway v266b
proc : AMD 1700+
memory : 384mb ddr
video : nvidia geforce4 mx440 se
monitor : 17" Daewoo
s/c : mercury kob c884-e
h/d : 20gb Maxtor
modem : Speedtouch 330 usb
os : mandrake 9.1
cdroms : creative 8432 cdrw
: LG 52x

NO WINDOWS

[leonpmu]

I have in fact, noted the opposite, I have an ATI Radeon 7000, which works flawlessly, whereas a friend of mine has an Nvidia GeForce4 something or another, and his look terrible next to mine....

BW both tests were done under RedHat 8.0

Again, just an opinion and experience, nothing meant more than that

[DSwain]

Well, what I've found is that older ATI cards (Radeon 7500 or less) are not too good with linux. I mean, they look good and all, but they have no true driver support from ATI, so that's what's lowsy about that. My next card will be an nVidia (that's my mobo's chipset now; nForce2) and will see how it preforms. I would assume better with drivers and everything. Speaking of which, does anybody know if there are linux drivers on the nvidia install disk, or do i just have to go and download them? downloading them is no problem, but i was just curious.

[dalek]

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux.html

You will want the IA32 driver. You don't have the 64 bit processor do you?

Here's a how to. Works for most distro's:

http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showt...readid=108859&

Do check for stability afterwords but it generally works. If you are a heavy gamer you may want to read the book that's on the website for tweaks.

Later dude.