Linux Installation and Getting Started

by Matt Welsh

Version 2.2.2, 12 February 1995

(c)1992-1994 by Matt Welsh, mdw@sunsite.unc.edu

Notes on this book

This HTML version of the book was provided by Ken Edwards (edwards@xon.cuug.ab.ca), and was generated using latex2html. As such, there are several technical glitches in the book---the index isn't perfect, and anything which latex2html doesn't understand appears as a small inline image. If you don't want to get all of these images, tell your WWW client not to load inline images.

This site is very loaded. You can download the HTML version of this book for yourself (gzipped tar file) by clicking here.

This book is available in various formats, such as PostScript, .dvi, LaTeX source, and plain ASCII from sunsite.unc.edu. There are also several publishing companies distributing printed and bound copies of the book; see the README file for details.

Blatant sales pitch: My newest book, Running Linux, has been published by O'Reilly and Associates. It's 600 pages full of everything you need to know to run and use Linux. More information can be found here.

If you have any questions about this book, please feel free to contact the author at mdw@sunsite.unc.edu.

About the author.

• Contents
• Preface
  • Audience
  • Organization
  • Acknowledgments
  • Credits and Legalese
  • Documentation Conventions
• 1 Introduction to Linux
  • 1.1 About This Book
  • 1.2 A Brief History of Linux
  • 1.3 System Features
  • 1.4 Software Features
    • 1.4.1 Basic commands and utilities
    • 1.4.2 Text processing and word processing
    • 1.4.3 Programming languages and utilities
    • 1.4.4 The X Window System
    • 1.4.5 Networking
    • 1.4.6 Telecommunications and BBS software
    • 1.4.7 Interfacing with MS-DOS
    • 1.4.8 Other applications
  • 1.5 About Linux's Copyright
  • 1.6 The Design and Philosophy of Linux
    • 1.6.1 Hints for UNIX novices
    • 1.6.2 Hints for UNIX gurus
  • 1.7 Differences Between Linux and Other Operating Systems
    • 1.7.1 Why use Linux?
    • 1.7.2 Linux vs. MS-DOS
    • 1.7.3 Linux vs. The Other Guys
    • 1.7.4 Other implementations of UNIX
  • 1.8 Hardware Requirements
    • 1.8.1 Motherboard and CPU requirements
    • 1.8.2 Memory requirements
    • 1.8.3 Hard drive controller requirements
    • 1.8.4 Hard drive space requirements
    • 1.8.5 Monitor and video adapator requirements
    • 1.8.6 Miscellaneous hardware
      • 1.8.6.1 Mice and other pointing devices
      • 1.8.6.2 CD-ROM storage
      • 1.8.6.3 Tape drives
      • 1.8.6.4 Printers
      • 1.8.6.5 Modems
    • 1.8.7 Ethernet cards
  • 1.9 Sources of Linux Information
    • 1.9.1 Online documents
    • 1.9.2 Linux on the World Wide Web
    • 1.9.3 Books and other published works
    • 1.9.4 USENET newsgroups
    • 1.9.5 Internet mailing lists
  • 1.10 Getting Help
• 2 Obtaining and Installing Linux
  • 2.1 Distributions of Linux
    • 2.1.1 Getting Linux from the Internet
    • 2.1.2 Getting Linux from other online sources
    • 2.1.3 Getting Linux via mail order
    • 2.1.4 Getting Slackware
      • 2.1.4.1 Slackware disk sets
      • 2.1.4.2 Getting Slackware from the Internet
      • 2.1.4.3 Getting Slackware on CD-ROM
      • 2.1.4.4 Installation methods
  • 2.2 Preparing to Install Linux
    • 2.2.1 Installation overview
    • 2.2.2 Repartitioning concepts
    • 2.2.3 Linux partition requirements
    • 2.2.4 Repartitioning your drives
  • 2.3 Installing the Linux software
    • 2.3.1 Booting Linux
    • 2.3.2 Drives and partitions under Linux
    • 2.3.3 Creating Linux partitions
    • 2.3.4 Creating the swap space
    • 2.3.5 Creating the filesystems
    • 2.3.6 Installing the software
      • 2.3.6.1 Installing Slackware with setup
    • 2.3.7 Creating the boot floppy or installing LILO
    • 2.3.8 Additional installation procedures
  • 2.4 Postinstallation procedures
  • 2.5 Running Into Trouble
    • 2.5.1 Problems with booting the installation media
    • 2.5.2 Hardware problems
      • 2.5.2.1 Isolating hardware problems
      • 2.5.2.2 Problems recognizing hard drive or controller
      • 2.5.2.3 Problems with SCSI controllers and devices
    • 2.5.3 Problems installing the software
    • 2.5.4 Problems after installing Linux
      • 2.5.4.1 Problems booting Linux from floppy
      • 2.5.4.2 Problems booting Linux from the hard drive
      • 2.5.4.3 Problems logging in
      • 2.5.4.4 Problems using the system
• 3 Linux Tutorial
  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 Basic UNIX Concepts
    • 3.2.1 Creating an account
    • 3.2.2 Logging in
    • 3.2.3 Virtual consoles
    • 3.2.4 Shells and commands
    • 3.2.5 Logging out
    • 3.2.6 Changing your password
    • 3.2.7 Files and directories
    • 3.2.8 The directory tree
    • 3.2.9 The current working directory
    • 3.2.10 Referring to home directories
  • 3.3 First Steps into UNIX
    • 3.3.1 Moving around
    • 3.3.2 Looking at the contents of directories
    • 3.3.3 Creating new directories
    • 3.3.4 Copying files
    • 3.3.5 Moving files
    • 3.3.6 Deleting files and directories
    • 3.3.7 Looking at files
    • 3.3.8 Getting online help
  • 3.4 Summary of Basic Commands
  • 3.5 Exploring the File System
  • 3.6 Types of shells
  • 3.7 Wildcards
  • 3.8 UNIX Plumbing
    • 3.8.1 Standard input and output
    • 3.8.2 Redirecting input and output
    • 3.8.3 Using pipes
    • 3.8.4 Non-destructive redirection
  • 3.9 File Permissions
    • 3.9.1 Concepts of file permissions
    • 3.9.2 Interpreting file permissions
    • 3.9.3 Dependencies
    • 3.9.4 Changing permissions
  • 3.10 Managing file links
    • 3.10.1 Hard links
    • 3.10.2 Symbolic links
  • 3.11 Job Control
    • 3.11.1 Jobs and processes
    • 3.11.2 Foreground and background
    • 3.11.3 Backgrounding and killing jobs
    • 3.11.4 Stopping and restarting jobs
  • 3.12 Using the vi Editor
    • 3.12.1 Concepts
    • 3.12.2 Starting vi
    • 3.12.3 Inserting text
    • 3.12.4 Deleting text
    • 3.12.5 Changing text
    • 3.12.6 Moving commands
    • 3.12.7 Saving files and quitting vi
    • 3.12.8 Editing another file
    • 3.12.9 Including other files
    • 3.12.10 Running shell commands
    • 3.12.11 Getting help
  • 3.13 Customizing your Environment
    • 3.13.1 Shell scripts
    • 3.13.2 Shell variables and the environment
      • 3.13.2.1 The PATH environment variable
    • 3.13.3 Shell initialization scripts
  • 3.14 So You Want to Strike Out on Your Own?
• 4 System Administration
  • 4.1 About Root, Hats, and the Feeling of Power
    • 4.1.1 The root account
    • 4.1.2 Abusing the system
    • 4.1.3 Dealing with users
    • 4.1.4 Setting the rules
    • 4.1.5 What it all means
  • 4.2 Booting the System
    • 4.2.1 Using a boot floppy
    • 4.2.2 Using LILO
  • 4.3 Shutting Down
  • 4.4 Managing Users
    • 4.4.1 User management concepts
    • 4.4.2 Adding users
    • 4.4.3 Deleting users
    • 4.4.4 Setting user attributes
    • 4.4.5 Groups
  • 4.5 Archiving and Compressing Files
    • 4.5.1 Using tar
    • 4.5.2 gzip and compress
    • 4.5.3 Putting them together
  • 4.6 Using Floppies and Making Backups
    • 4.6.1 Using floppies for backups
    • 4.6.2 Using floppies as filesystems
  • 4.7 Upgrading and Installing New Software
    • 4.7.1 Upgrading the kernel
    • 4.7.2 Upgrading the libraries
    • 4.7.3 Upgrading gcc
    • 4.7.4 Upgrading other software
  • 4.8 Managing Filesystems
    • 4.8.1 Mounting filesystems
    • 4.8.2 Checking filesystems
  • 4.9 Using a swap file
  • 4.10 Miscellaneous Tasks
    • 4.10.1 System startup files
    • 4.10.2 Setting the hostname
  • 4.11 What To Do In An Emergency
    • 4.11.1 Recovering using a maintenance diskette
    • 4.11.2 Fixing the root password
    • 4.11.3 Fixing trashed filesystems
    • 4.11.4 Recovering lost files
    • 4.11.5 Fixing trashed libraries
• 5 Advanced Features
  • 5.1 The X Window System
    • 5.1.1 Hardware requirements
    • 5.1.2 Installing XFree86
    • 5.1.3 Configuring XFree86
    • 5.1.4 Filling in video card information
    • 5.1.5 Running XFree86
    • 5.1.6 Running into trouble
  • 5.2 Accessing MS-DOS Files
  • 5.3 Networking with TCP/IP
    • 5.3.1 Hardware Requirements
    • 5.3.2 Configuring TCP/IP on your system
      • 5.3.2.1 Your network configuration
      • 5.3.2.2 The networking rc files
      • 5.3.2.3 /etc/hosts
      • 5.3.2.4 /etc/networks
      • 5.3.2.5 /etc/host.conf
      • 5.3.2.6 /etc/resolv.conf
      • 5.3.2.7 Setting your hostname
      • 5.3.2.8 Trying it out
    • 5.3.3 SLIP Configuration
      • 5.3.3.1 Static IP address SLIP connections using dip
      • 5.3.3.2 Static IP address SLIP connections using slattach
      • 5.3.3.3 Dynamic IP address SLIP connections using dip
    • 5.3.4 Using dip
  • 5.4 Networking with UUCP
  • 5.5 Electronic Mail
  • 5.6 News and USENET
• A Sources of Linux Information
  • A.1 Online Documents
  • A.2 Linux Documentation Project Manuals
  • A.3 Books and Other Published Works
    • A.3.1 Using UNIX
    • A.3.2 Systems Administration
    • A.3.3 The X Window System
    • A.3.4 Programming
    • A.3.5 Kernel Hacking
• B Linux Vendor List
• C FTP Tutorial and Site List
  • C.1 Starting ftp
  • C.2 Logging In
  • C.3 Poking Around
  • C.4 Downloading files
  • C.5 Quitting FTP
  • C.6 Using ftpmail
  • C.7 Linux FTP Site List
• D Linux BBS List
  • D.1 United States
  • D.2 Outside of the United States
• E The GNU General Public License
  • E.1 Preamble
  • E.2 Terms and Conditions for Copying, Distribution, and Modification
  • E.3 Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
• Index
• About this document ...