My DL Installer Guide; for first time Linux Installs

My DL Installer Guide for first time Linux Install

THE BUILDUP!

Well, on March 7, 09, I wasn't around much, because I spent most of my computer time re-installing DL3.5 three times, in three different locations. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to test a few things.

First I copied my Xubu /home off to a safe place. Remember, DL3.5 is already installed and running great!

Checked my menu.lst and made sure that was OK. (This step is NOT needed if this is the first Linux OS you are installing.)

Next I started the LiveCD and installed DL with the /(root) over where the /(root) already exists, and asked that /home use the same /home as Xubu, with format: NO. /swap using the same /swap as it exists on my machine.

Once done I removed the CD and rebooted. BINGO! There's my Xubu desktop in Dreamlinux. Obviously some things didn't work, I have programs installed in Xubu that are not in Dreamlinux yet. But conky was running, my mouse pointer was changed, my custom background working. Well, that's nice.

Checked my menu.lst and made modifications to that for what was coming. (Again, not needed if this is your first Linux OS install, so relax and read on.)

Popped in the CD again and told DL Installer to use a 20GB partition on my second HD (sdb) for /(root), the entire 80GB of my third HD (hdc) as /home and the same /swap as Xubu on (sda). Now I really had things spaced out.

YES! That worked too. I was so happy. The second Linux distro I've ever tried, and I'm already testing it. I don't even have it fully setup for personal use yet. I must be nuts!

The third install was to put things back to the original install as that's the way I wanted it. But I did find out some nice things. Cleaned out the test partitions so there wasn't any residue floating around out there and copied my Xubu /home back in place - just in case. For this reason most phrases concerning Linux and this user usually starts with; "Oops!" Because I like to test things, and I've NEVER lost a single byte of information from my computer since I installed and started using Linux two and a half years ago. And trust me, my knowledge of what is under the GUI (Graphical User Interface) is very very limited. So if you're new, don't panic, it is a lot easier than you think. If I can do it and not loose information: anybody can!

Anyway the reason I did this was to see if I could come up with a reasonable guide to installing DL easily and I do believe I've done just that. It's not hard, it shouldn't be hard for new people, and in fact it's very easy in many respects. With a bit of information under your belt anybody who wants to install DL-3.5 can do so with a minimum of fuss. And I actually believe it to be easier than the one and only other distro I have installed. Dreamlinux is only the second distribution I have ever installed. I lurked in the DL Forums for a month and a half before getting DL3.5 and read things.

Anyway, to continue. This guide is focused on "DL Installer", not the OEM Install. It's fast, and perfect in my opinion, and easy to use. Everything you need is on one screen, that's right, one screen! You can review ALL information at a glance before hitting the [Apply] button. I found this to be such a nice feature.

FIRST EVER LINUX INSTALL

BUT, there's always a but isn't there. You do need to prepare a few things. DL Installer needs the partitions already created before you use it. So I recommend that you create at least 3 partitions on your HD, with your existing OS (Windows, MAC, etc.) to get things ready, or use "gparted" from the LiveCD, see below. They do NOT need to be formatted, as DL Installer will format them, in fact we are going to tell it to in this guide. If however your OS insists on formatting them that's OK, DL Installer will reformat and prepare the partitions for Linux when the time comes.

If you do not have an existing OS or prefer not to use it you can use "gparted" to modify your partitions directly from the LiveCD. If you have personal information you want to keep with your other OS, be safe: BACKUP!

You've got the LiveCD in and running Dreamlinux directly from the CD, now in "Terminal" start gparted with this command:

Code:

gksudo gparted

NOTE: For the LiveCD: Username: dreamer Password: dream

Once that's running you can create the partitions as discussed below.

Notes:

"gparted" will not actually make any changes until that final act: hitting [Apply], so go slow, be safe and make sure.
I recommend a separate /home partition, it makes backing up a lot easier and keeps your personal information, files and configuration away from the system files. However, if you do not want to do that just create a /(root) partition and a /linux-swap partition, your /home "directory" will be created in the /(root) partition. (However see EDIT #2 - not recommended)

EDIT:
1. Linux can be installed on primary partitions, logical partitions or both. It doesn't matter
2. You can install Linux system all on one partition if you choose to. I recommend 3; root ( / ), home (/home) and swap. Power users will also separate out more partitions. I've never done that simply because my computer is a desktop home computer and I don't install every program on the planet. Although, the next time I do an install that requires re-partitioning my drive I will create a /usr partition as I'm seeing the vale in that one

Here's a breakdown of the three partitions I recommend to have ready for DL Installer:

The first one is for the system, called "root" in Linux, and displayed thus: /
The second is for "home", where all your personal files go and is displayed in two ways: ~/name or /home/name

Let me explain:
~/ means "home" - it's a shortcut, that simple, and
/name is the name you give to the user for logging in.

Mine looks like: ~/bruloo or /home/bruloo

The third partition is for "swap", it acts like the swapfile in Windows.

NOTE: Linux is quite happy living on an Extended Partition and since Primary Partitions are at a prime on a Hard Drive, Create these partitions in an Extended Partition.

SIZING:

For /(root) I recommend 15GB. It's more than enough. My Xubuntu /(root) is 15GB and after two years only uses 3.54GB of that.

For /home nothing less than 20GB. This is where you are going to put all your files, music, videos, etc. So you be the judge.

For /swap I'd say 1 to 2GB is quite enough, I gave mine 2GB, quite possibly an overkill as I very seldom see it in use.

So if you have an 80GB drive, or 80GB to use on an existing drive it, would look like this: / = 15, /home = 63, /swap = 2

OK, that done and out of the way, you're ready to insert the LIVE-CD and get Dreamlinux installed. Make sure your BIOS is setup to boot from your CD Drive BEFORE your HD. Put it in and reboot your computer.

Welcome to the Live session of Dreamlinux. There are a few things you should prepare here before using DL Installer. It's not really necessary but makes things simpler later, and everything you do setup now, gets carried over into the installed version when you are done.

1. INTERNET CONNECTION: Wicd.

In the upper right hand corner if you see the dot with lines above then you are NOT connected to the Internet.

If you see something like the the lower image with two blue rectangles then you are connected.

I had to edit mine as I use eth1 and the default is eth0. So that's done, we are connected.

2. LANGUAGE

If you are a US citizen using a Standard "QWERTY" North American Keyboard, skip this, it is set up for you.

I, on the other hand, am a Canadian living in Argentina with a Spanish speaking wife. I needed to do some work here.

Open the DCP-Control Panel

and click on Language

I unchecked en_US (all) and selected en_CA ISO-8859-1 and en_CA.UTF-8 UTF-8 and down further es_AR ISO-8859-1 and es_AR.UTF-8 UTF-8. Hit [Forward] and I selected "en_CA.UTF-8" as the Default locale for the system environment. Select [Forward] again and that's done.

Your choices will obviously be different.

3. KEYBOARD

Again in DCP-Control Panel select Keyboard Settings. I unchecked Use X configuration and selected Keyboard model: and searched for mine: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro / Microsoft Internet Keyboard Pro. That's me: MIKP

Now select Keyboard layouts and find yours. Mine is Latin America (latam) and I deleted the US layout.

I have an [ñ] key where you have an [-] key and I have a degree symbol key [°]

4. TIME

Not everyone lives in England at GMT or UTC, so that clock might be off. So while we have DCP-Control panel open select Time/Date.

Here is where you select your Time Zone and tell Dreamlinux if you want it to get the time sync automatically or to do it manually.

OK, at this point we are still in a LiveCD session and Wicd is working, our language selected, the keyboard configured and the time is correct. What else can we do? Just about anything you want, the idea here is what you configure in this LiveCD Session gets carried over into the DL Installer. So lets open that now and install Dreamlinux to your system.

DL INSTALLER

Start it and you will see I was NOT kidding when I said earlier: Everything you need is on one screen!

This is what it looks like when you start it. Nice, compact, everything you need to tell DL to install properly is right there, you can see everything all the time. That was one very intelligent programmer that wrote that installer, my heart felt thanks goes out to you.

OK lets get started here, there are some areas of "CAUTION" so go slow, or you'll be quoting me: "Oops, that's a boo-boo!"

Upper left: Box, Root & User Management.

Box Name: DL - change it to what ever you want your computer called. I left it as DL, can be anything,except dreamer (the username for the LiveCD). Although I'd like to make a suggestion here: do NOT use blank spaces in the Linux world. Some commands do NOT like them and you'll get an "Oops!" sooner or later. So if you want a space like "My PC" use the underscore: "My_PC", it will save you from heartaches later if you get into this habit now.

Root passwd: Root is the equivalent of the Windows "Administrator" account, all powerful, and can destroy your system with a simple mistake. You do NOT log into Dreamlinux with this account. You are a user, and as you learn things, you will find you can ask Root for privileges to do things as the Administrator for a limited time using the password you put here. Put it in a second time in the Again box.

User name: Like Box Name, can be anything. see above. This is the name you'll use when you log in.

User passwd: this is your login password ... simple. CAUTION!: DO NOT hit the [Add new user button] unless you are planning of having two accounts. Leave it as you see it for one user.

Next we see: Where to install

(o) Internal partitioned disk - probably most people will choose this for their first time Linux install. This guide is based on that aspect. If you have an External Disk, you still need the partitions already created as described above. If that is the case, back out now and do it.

Detected partitions:

Here you can see my partitions in my system in the image above and the completed image below. You will be "clicking on them as needed".

Select where to install.
Click on any partition on the left.

The first one I clicked on was: /dev/hda5 20 GB ext3 (as you see mine are already formated by Linux. Yours might say FAT, FAT32, NTFS or "unknown" if not formatted.)

Filesystem type: ext3 (like formatting a DOS disk, FAT, HPFS, and NTFS in Windows) CAUTION!: DO NOT select ext4, it's not completely supported yet, so wait a year or so.

Mount Point: /(root) - this is the Operating System heart.

(o) Format partition? - Yes, you need to format it.

Partition Label: Like it says, optional, I left mine blank - "Root" would be good.

Now you hit [Add] and you'll see the information appear on the right.

OK let do your /home partition, start again and click on the large partition you created for all you personal files. Again select Filesystem type and select: ext3, and Mounting Point: /home and (o) Format Partition with an optional label if you want. HIT [Add], very important that you do that, you MUST see it appear on the right.

Last comes that little 2GB partition you created for /swap. Repeat the process as above, partition, file system type: /swap and STOP! CAUTION! DO NOT CHANGE MOUNTING POINT: if it already says: linux-swap! If not select Mounting Point and select: linux-swap STOP! CAUTION! DO NOT SELECT: format partition. HIT [Add]

You should see three entries on the right, one for / about 20GB - ext3 - format: yes, another for /home xxGB - ext3 format: yes and a final one linux-swap linux-swap format: no.

If you see those lets continue.

Next you see Install Grub to/or

and if you are new you are probably asking yourself; "What's Grub?" - GRUB is a Multiboot boot loader. Still have no idea, check it out: GRUB. basically, it's a program that loads first and lets you select between various OS's you have installed; Windows, Linux, etc., which one you want to run.

If this is your first Linux OS and you have Windows on your computer, install Grub to MBR, and as a suggestion leave the title as Dreamlinux.

Check everything you see on your screen, make sure it is correct, go slow, take your time or do what I did the first time. [Quit] and start again, I really did.

It should look something like this:

When you are sure you have things as you want them, hit the [Apply] button and wait. It may not look like anything is happening but if you check your HD light on your box you'll see action. "DL Install" is formatting the partitions you asked it to format.

Soon enough you'll see a bar appear between the [Quit] and [Apply] buttons giving you the blow by blow of the progress being made. Watch it carefully, because when it's finished there are no fireworks, just a nice message in that bar telling you it's done, reboot and enjoy.

Oh, and it may seem like, let me repeat that, seem like things get hung up around the 43% level. Wait for it, it's still working. Different distros have different % values for this, "Is this still working!" feeling. RELAX, read a book while watching your monitor. Or do like I do, grab your Palm and open a game of Sudoku!

That's it, Dreamlinux is installed.

Now it's time for both you and I to start using the system, have fun!

Have a nice day
Bruce

EDIT:
1. corrected a few "Oops! those are typos!" and one - "OH! I didn't know that!"
2. thanks to blackhawkover, I fixed another "Oops!", +1 for you!
3. Added info regarding Live Session use of "gparted" - that was a big omission!