Installation of Fedora 12 using Net Install CD · PDF fileInstallation of Fedora 12 with Net Install CD 2009 3 Preparation for Installation Choosing Between 32-bit / 64-bit Operating

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Installation of Fedora 12 with Net Install CD 2009

2

Contents Preparation for Installation ........................................................................................................................... 3

Choosing Between 32-bit / 64-bit Operating System ............................................................................... 3

Getting Fedora .......................................................................................................................................... 3

Hardware Requirement (x86) ................................................................................................................... 3

Getting Help .............................................................................................................................................. 4

Installation of Fedora 12 using Net Install CD (32-bit/64-bit) ....................................................................... 5

Start Installation using CD ......................................................................................................................... 5

Hard Disk Partition .................................................................................................................................... 9

Automatic Configuration of Disk Partition ............................................................................................ 9

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (without LVM) ...................................................................... 10

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (with LVM)............................................................................ 12

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (with encryption) ................................................................. 13

Setting Boot Loader (using Grub) ............................................................................................................ 15

Establish Internet Connection................................................................................................................. 16

Customize Installation Package .............................................................................................................. 17

Completion of the Installation ................................................................................................................ 19

Post Installation Setup ............................................................................................................................ 20

After the Installation ................................................................................................................................... 23

Text Mode Minimal Installation on Fedora 12 using Net Install CD ........................................................... 24

Alternative Installation Mode on Fedora 12 using Net Install CD .............................................................. 30


3

Preparation for Installation

Choosing Between 32-bit / 64-bit Operating System • When deciding to use 32-bit or 64-bit Fedora, you should consider the need and the usage of the

system. If you have proprietary hardware, the drivers and software are usually written in 32-bit. You

would have less problem with software installation such as Adobe products and most media players,

since most of these software were written in 32-bit.

• You could still install and use 32-bit software in a 64-bit operating environment. However, you need

to download all the 32-bit libraries, wrapper and component for installation and compilation. This

will increase your hard disk space since you need to maintain both 32-bit and 64-bit libraries.

• You should consider using 64-bit operating system if you need to use a particular software

application that requires speed and large amount of memory and this software is supported in 64-

bit Linux.

• If you have more than 3GB of RAM, you should consider using 64-bit operating system because the

32-bit operating system only recognizes 3GB of RAM.

• You could use 32-bit Fedora that addresses more than 3GB of RAM. This requires a different kernel

known as PAE (Physical Addressing Extension) kernel. This Fedora kernel makes use of PAE features

provided by Intel.

Getting Fedora • You can download the latest Fedora distribution at http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora

• Download the net install CD. For 32-bit version, the file name is ‘Fedora-12-i386-netinst.iso’ and for

64-bit version, the file name is ‘Fedora-12-x86_64-netinst.iso’. This ISO is the smallest in size; it

occupies only 350MB of CD space.

• Proceed to burn the ISO image to a CD. You can search the web on how to burn an ISO image to a

CD. You can use the ISO image if you are installing on a virtual machine.

Hardware Requirement (x86) Ensure that your hardware meets the minimum requirement:

• Recommended for text-mode: 200 MHz Pentium Pro or better

• Recommended for graphical: 400 MHz Pentium Pro or better

• Minimum RAM for text-mode: 256MB

• Minimum RAM for graphical: 512MB

• Recommended RAM for graphical: >512MB

• The hard disk space required is depend on what application you choose to install. You required a

minimum of 5GB with minimal installation that includes basic GNOME desktop application. You

need more space if you want to download everything.

• It is recommended you have a hard disk space of 6GB to 8GB for the operating system and

applications. You might need additional hard disk space for user data.

• At least 5% free space should be maintained for proper system operation.


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Getting Help • You can look for helpful HOWTO documents, installation guide and wikis at http://fedoraproject.org

• You can search the web for help to resolve Fedora issues.

• You can also check out the following Linux forum:

o http://fedoraforum.org/

o http://www.linuxquestions.org/

o http://www.linuxforums.org/


5

Installation of Fedora 12 using Net Install CD (32-bit/64-bit)

Start Installation using CD • This CD is the smallest in size because it does not contain any software packages. All it contains is

the installation program. The installation program is configured to download the latest software

directly from the Internet.

• This installation may take longer than usual because everything has to be downloaded from the web.

The advantage is that you will install the latest software with the latest kernel. There is no need for

kernel or software update. However, please beware to the download and installation time.

• It took 2 hours for a basic installation of Fedora with GNOME desktop excluding office and

productivity software (1072 packages).

• On the start of installation you are given the choice of checking your DVD media for corruption. You

may choose to skip it.


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• The installation program starts with the screen below.

• Then you proceed to select the language.


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• Choose the type of keyboard to use

• If you have new hard disk which has not been initialized, you might get a message asking to initialize

the hard disk.

• The host name is the name of your computer. You need to supply the host name using the internet

format [email protected]. Local host is the name of the computer; domain name is use when

you have an Internet domain. For personal use and home use, you can use the defaults.


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• Select your time zone

• Enter the root password

• The next stage, which is the most important stage, is to designate the drive partition where Fedora

is to be installed.


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Hard Disk Partition

Automatic Configuration of Disk Partition

• If you have only one primary drive, you should let the system configure the drive.

• In Fedora 12, the default configuration creates a 200MB of hard disk using ext4 file system with

mount point “/boot”. The rest of the disk partition is configured using LVM.

• Within the LVM group, there are 2 logical partition volumes. The ‘lv_swap’ is configured using swap

file type having the disk size twice as much as your RAM (swap file size = RAM x 2). The ‘lv_root’ is

configured using the rest of the hard disk with ext4 file system using mount point “/” (root or first

level of the file system).

• Additionally, you have the option to encrypt the whole hard disk using a passphrase.


10

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (without LVM)

If you choose to configure the partition manually, you need to choose ‘Create custom layout’. This is

especially true if you are having mixed partition with the Windows file system.

Under Fedora 12, it is recommended that you create the following minimum partition:

• One main partition using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/”

• One swap partition using swap file system using a disk space of (RAM x 2)


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The procedure for configuring disk partition manually is as follows:

• First, select “Create Custom Layout”

• Click [New], select the file type (either ext4 or swap) and select the mount point. You need to

determine the size of the partition and the hard disk drive which the partition is to be created.


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For better management of disk space with multiple users or large data size, you might consider the

following:

• You might consider adding one or more partition using ext3 or ext4 with mount point “/usr” or

“/home”. For a computer system with multiple users or computer system with large user data; it is

better for user data to be place in a separate partition.

• If you have multiple hard disks, it is faster for the swap partition to be located in separate hard disk.

• LVM is designed for large hard disk space spanning into multiple hard disk. If you require more hard

disk space and would like to combine multiple hard disk into a single logical volume; then you should

configure the partition with LVM. For home user with a single hard disk, LVM is not necessary. This is

the reason we do not use LVM for manual configuration.

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (with LVM)

Under Fedora 12, it is recommended that you create the following minimum partition using LVM:

• One boot partition of 200 – 300MB, using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/boot”. (Boot

partition does not work with LVM)

• The rest of partition format using LVM with group name of your choice such as “VolGroup”. To

create logical partition in LVM. Click LVM button. Within LVM you can set the following:

o One main partition using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/”

o One swap partition using swap file system using a disk space of RAM size x 2


13

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (with encryption)

Under Fedora 12, it is recommended that you create the following minimum partition:

• One boot partition of 200 – 300MB, using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/boot”. (Boot

partition cannot be encrypted)

• One swap partition using swap file system using a disk space of RAM size x 2 (Swap file can be

encrypted)

• The rest of partition using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/” with encryption.

Note: Make sure you check the “Encrypt” checkbox at the bottom


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• You will be given an opportunity to create a passphrase for the encryption.

• For laptop user, it is better to encrypt the whole hard disk except the boot partition.


15

Setting Boot Loader (using Grub) • Fedora uses Grub as boot loader. You can choose to set up Grub as the default boot loader (in sda or

hd0, 0 or 1st partition in 1st drive) in a multiple OS environment. You can choose not to install Grub if

you have other boot loader installed. This means that you must configure your current boot loader

before you could boot up Fedora.

• By default Grub is set to be installed in MBR which is usually the first partition in the first hard disk.

• Alternatively you can set the Grub on your Linux partition. Using this option, the system assumes

that you have another boot loader in the MBR. This option allows you to use another boot loader to

point to your Grub boot loader to load Fedora. You need to modify other boot loader to point to the

Grub in your Linux partition or you won’t be able to boot up Fedora.

• For any boot option used during the installation, you need to permanently include them in the boot

loader. The configuration file is located at /boot/grub/grub.conf.

• If you have multiple hard disk but you intend to create MBR in every drive, the best way is to unplug

all other drive in your system. This ensures that Fedora can install Grub at the MBR. You may

proceed to plug in other drives after the installation. Note: You must physically unplug the drive

because disabling the drives in BIOS does work. Linux can still see the partition information even the

drive is disabled in the BIOS.

• For encrypted drive, the device will not be shown.


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Establish Internet Connection • At this stage you are given a choice to configure your network settings so that you can connect to

the Fedora repository to retrieve installation file. you can supply your own IP address, gateway and

DNS.

• Once the network connection is establish, the installer will automatically access the nearest

repository the installer could find. There is no need to configure Fedora repository or entering URL.


17

Customize Installation Package • At this stage you can select what type of application packages you want to install.

• To facilitate the selection, you are given 3 types of packages. They are office and productivity,

software development and web server. You select the package that fits the intended use of your

system.

• Please be aware that you are installing the files directly from the Internet, installation time will be

lengthen if you selected more packages.

• You may select customize now to select the individual packages.


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• After the selection, the installer will check for software dependencies over the web.

• Then it initiates the installation process.


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Completion of the Installation • The installation program proceeds with the installation of the operating system by downloading the

files from the Internet and install it to the hard disk.

• This process may take hours, depends on the amount of software you have selected for installation.

• Once the installation files are copied to the hard disk and boot loader is configured, you will be

asked to reboot the OS.

• At this stage the installation is 90% complete. However, you still need to complete the final phase of

installation after system reboot.


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Post Installation Setup

• First you need to accept the license agreement.


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• Then you need to register a user

• Next, configures the system date and time


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• And finally you are asked to send hardware profile.

• The installation is completed when the system prompt the user for login ID.

• The advantage for installing Fedora directly over the web is that you do not need to perform system

update after installation. You might need to get the drivers ready for any device that was missed

during the installation.


23

After the Installation

• Firefox is installed in Fedora by default. However, you need to install Google Toolbar and any other

plug-in such as Adobe Flash Player manually.

• You can choose to install more programs by selecting System � Administration � Add/Remove

Program.

• You can also choose to use terminal command with root privilege and run $yum install <name of

software packages>

• If you are using 64-bit Fedora, there isn’t much software that is 64-bit. You can install 32-bit

software such as OpenOffice etc on 64-bit Fedora. Alternatively, you can download the source code

and recompile it into 64-bit program.


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Text Mode Minimal Installation on Fedora 12 using Net Install CD

• Text mode install is the most minimal installation under Fedora installation. It provides a total of 200

packages to keep the system running. It uses about 800MB of hard disk space. Please note that

using this installation mode gives you the most minimal packages, which means that a lot of

commands or utilities are not working. You need to install them manually.

• For text mode installation over the Internet, it took 20 minutes for 200 packages.

• To install from text mode, append “text” under the boot option.

• On the start of installation you are given the choice of checking your DVD media for corruption. You

may choose to skip it.


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• The installation program starts with the welcome screen below.

• Then you proceed to select the language.

• Choose the type of keyboard to use

• At this stage, you might need to reinitialize your hard disk if you have a brand new hard disk

installed.


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• Select your time zone

• Enter the root password

• Text mode installation provides limited option for disk partition. You can select any auto-

configuration option but you are not allowed to perform customized disk partition.


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• Please not that you are not given a choice of configuring Grub, the boot loader. The system

automatically configures Grub at the MBR.

• After configuration of disk partition, you are allowed to configure the network settings so that you

are able to establish an Internet connection to the Fedora repository. Make sure the network card

eth0 is checked with *.

• After you have configured your network card, the installer will connect to Fedora repository and

retrieve installation information.


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• The system will proceed to check for software dependencies.

• Then, the system will proceed to start its installation process

• The installation program proceeds to install a minimum of 200 packages.

• Once the installation files are copied to the hard disk and boot loader is configured, you will be

asked to reboot the OS.


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• Please note that although network drivers are installed in the system, the network is not configured

automatically. You need to configure the network manually and activates them.

• In addition, a lot of basic utilities such as man page etc are not available; you need to install them

manually.

• There is no post installation setup for text install. You login using root access.


30

Alternative Installation Mode on Fedora 12 using Net Install CD

• You can perform alternative mode of installation using the Net Install CD. You can configure the

installer to install Fedora from CD/DVD, another hard disk, Network File System (NFS) or via Internet

using specific URL. This URL mode of installation is different from the normal installation method

use in the Net Install CD. Net Install CD points automatically to Fedora repository where as this URL

method allows you to point to any URL, most likely your own web server.

• To perform alternative installation, boot up the DVD. Press [Tab] key to edit the boot option and

append ‘askmethod’ at the end of boot command.

• After that, you will be asked to enter language and keyboard types as shown below.


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• Then you are given the option to install Fedora using DVD, or Hard Drive or NFS or via Internet (URL).

After this, the installation procedure is different using the different installation mode.

• Please refer to a separate guide: Alternative Method of Installing Fedora 12.

*** End ***

Documents

Installation of Fedora 12 using Net Install CD · PDF fileInstallation of Fedora 12 with Net Install CD 2009 3 Preparation for Installation Choosing Between 32-bit / 64-bit Operating