Your Red Hat Linux/Intel CD set may include a boot diskette and supplemental diskette. If so, you may skip to Section 2.3.2. If not, you must create them.
You need only a boot diskette if you are installing Red Hat Linux from
CD-ROM or via NFS. You also
need a supplemental diskette if you are installing from a hard
disk, via FTP, or from a
PCMCIA device.
To create the boot and supplemental floppies, you need two blank,
formatted, high-density (1.44 MB), 3.5-inch diskettes. The diskette
images are located in the images directory on the
Red Hat Linux CD or the FTP site where you got Red Hat Linux. Each image is a
``snapshot'' of the appropriate floppy diskette, which you need to
transfer onto an actual floppy; you can do this using either MS-DOS or
Linux.
To make floppies under MS-DOS, use the rawrite utility included
on the Red Hat Linux CD in the dosutils directory. First, label a
formatted 3.5-inch floppy ``Boot Diskette'' or something similar and
insert it into the floppy drive. Then, use the following commands
(assuming your CD is drive d:):
rawrite first asks you for the filename of a diskette image;
enter boot.img. Then it asks for a diskette drive to write the
image to; enter a:. If you need to make a
supplemental floppy, label a second diskette
and then run rawrite again, using supp.img.
To make floppies under Linux, you must have permission to write to
/dev/fd0 (the 3.5-inch floppy drive). Label a blank, formatted
diskette ``Boot Diskette'' or something similar and insert it into the
floppy drive (but don't mount it). After mounting the Red Hat Linux CD,
change to the images directory and use the following command:
If you need to make a supplemental floppy,
label a second diskette, insert it in the floppy drive, and then use
the following command:
Alternatively, if you have MS-DOS installed on your computer, you can
boot the installation system directly from the CD without making
floppies. To do this, use the following commands (assuming your CD is
drive d:):
The Red Hat Linux installation system is more than simply the dialog boxes it
presents as it guides you through the installation procedure. In fact,
the installation system presents several different kinds of diagnostic
messages while running, and it gives you a means to enter commands from
a shell prompt. It presents the installation dialogs, shell prompt,
and messages on five virtual consoles which you can switch
between using a single keystroke. These virtual consoles can be very
helpful if you encounter a problem while installing Red Hat Linux; messages
displayed on the install log or system log can help to pinpoint the
problem. Please see Figure 1 for a listing of the
virtual consoles, the keystrokes to switch to them, and their contents.
You can navigate around the installation dialogs using a simple set of
keystrokes. In most dialog boxes there is a cursor or
highlight which you can move using the arrow keys
([\leftarrow] [\rightarrow] [\uparrow]
[\downarrow]), [Tab], and [Alt]-[Tab]. A summary of
movement commands is presented at the bottom of each screen.
To ``press'' a button (such as OK), [Tab] to the button
and press [Space]. To select an item from a list of items, move
the highlight to the item you wish to select and press [Enter]. To
select any number of items from a checklist, move the
highlight to the item you wish to select and press [Space] to
select an item. To deselect an item, press [Space] a second time.
Pressing [F12] accepts the current values and proceeds
to the next dialog; it is usually equivalent to pressing the
OK button.
Please Note: Do not press random keys during the installation process;
it may result in unpredictable behavior.
2.3.1.1 Making Floppies Under MS-DOS
d:
cd \images
\dosutils\rawrite.exe
2.3.1.2 Making Floppies Under Linux
dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k
dd if=supp.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k
2.3.1.3 Installing Without Using a Boot Floppy
d:
cd \dosutils
autoboot.bat
2.3.2 A Note About Virtual Consoles
Console
Keystroke
Contents
1
[Alt]-[F1]
installation dialog
2
[Alt]-[F2]
shell prompt
3
[Alt]-[F3]
install log (messages from install program)
4
[Alt]-[F4]
system log (messages from kernel, etc.)
5
[Alt]-[F5]
other messages
2.3.3 Using the Dialog Boxes