Completing the Installation

You will be asked to set the current time zone. This is relatively easy; there is a list of major cities around the world, and you should pick the one closest to you. You also can select your time zone from a map of the world. You will be asked if you want to create a boot disk. This is highly recommended. This is an emergency disk that can get your machine up and running in the event of a catastrophic failure. You also will be asked whether you want Linux to boot to graphical mode automatically or to a shell. You should choose graphical mode. Finally, you will be prompted to remove any disks from your system, and the PC will restart. You have successfully installed Linux and are ready to start using it.

Summary

This chapter walked you through the installation of Red Hat 9.0 Linux. You were shown the steps needed to install Linux successfully. This chapter also explained the concept of partitioning and gave suggestions as to how you should partition your drive. Finally, each of the major packages was explained, and you were given a list of what packages you should consider installing. It is recommended that you read this chapter carefully before attempting to install Linux on your PC.

The installation process requires some practice. The chances are that once your PC is up and running with Linux, you will not have occasion to install Linux again for quite some time. In fact, you may not install Linux again unless someone asks you to help him install it. For this reason, it is a good idea for you to repeat the entire installation process once or twice. Once your PC is in use, you will have data on it that would be wiped out by a reinstallation. If you want to practice the installation a few more times, do it now, before you personalize your PC or begin to save any data. If you choose not to practice the installation, you should at least read this chapter once thoroughly before you install and review it again after the installation. This will help to ensure that you have a firm understanding of the installation process.