Linux for n00bs, by n00bs!
by krazykrakr01

Linux Install:(continued)

Once the files have been checked it will go on to the swap partition section. If it goes straight to the root partition section that means that you didn't change the TYPE of the partition and should go back and do so by going to the fdisk (hitting cancel and navigating there). If you did it right and like I did there there should only be one choice on the menu. Make sure it is checked by using the space bar and press enter.

Once the swap is set it will ask you for the location of the root partition (the partition you want to install in). Then it will ask you if you want to mount any other partitions at boot. That is covered in another article on advanced partitioning. You could and should make a fat32 partition and store all your data in it so you could see it on both sides (windows and linux). This can help ease the learning curve. If you are having problems figuring out linux you can boot windows to search the internet. Save what you find to a text file (notepad) and put it on this partition and it will be there for you to use when you boot linux. You will choose the fat32 partition we made in fdisk and mount it to the win folder (the location in linux will be /mnt/win, the location in windows will be whatever drive letter it assigns it next time you boot windows).

Now that we have mounted all our folders that will mount at boot, it will ask us to pick the type of install and extra software you want. If you don't know much about this stuff, I would suggest installing everything. Linux doesn't normally take up that much harddrive space even with the extra software (less than 10 GB). Once you have picked your software it will start installing. Don't worry if your screen goes black during the install, that's just the monitors power saving feature. It will come back on if you move the mouse or push space on the keyboard. Now it's time for me to get some doughnuts (LOL). You can go do whatever you want for a while now, because the computer has a little bit of work to do. How long will depend on what the specs on your computer are. I installed on a 500 mHz processor and 384 MB of RAM and it took about 30-45 minutes. Then on a 3.3 gHz processor and 1 GB RAM and it took about 20 mins.

Once it is finished installing, it will ask us where we want to install lilo or grub. If you are installing next to xp or do not have windows on your machine, lilo will work fine. Put it on the mbr of the a harddrive. If you are installing beside vista, just tell it not to install lilo or grub, then boot the other linux install and show grub where the boot image and initrd file is (covered earlier).Next it will ask what kind of boot splash you want to use. I usually just use the standard. Then it will come to a technical screen that says it is ok just to leave it blank and I do. Tell it what the hardware clock is set to and what time zone your in. Now it's going to probe the hardware and set up the system. It will ask us what kind of mouse we have and probe for a modem. Then it will ask us for a computer name and ask you how you hook to the internet. Next it will set up the sound. If it finds more than one sound card it will ask you which one you want to use. The video hardware is probed next. I usually go with the default driver. 

It will check the config. and ask us what the default run level will be. This is the run level that lilo or grub will boot to if we let the timer run out. If you are coming from windows I suggest graphical desktop. Then it will ask which hardware we want to initialize at boot. Check, by using the space bar, whichever apply to our computer. Next we will set the root password. That is our admin password and should be a strong password containg capital and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols, and should be at least 10 characters. And make sure you write this down. If you lose this password, your pretty much screwed. Next make a user because you should never be logged on as root unless you absolutely have to. Always log on as your user account. Then it will ask us to reboot. Once we reboot, it will be time to configure our new operating system. In linux, you can configure just about every aspect of your computer. And you will gain a greater understanding of what is going on behind the scenes. Not to mention that it is more secure than windows and much more resource friendly.