Startup and Login

When you start your computer, you get different kinds of status messages. If you are dual-booting, you should first see your boot loader. Choose your Linux installation and press Enter.

In Fedora, you see a graphic of a computer, a status bar moving along, and a series of messages to let you know what is going on. If the startup encounters a problem or outputs a message that it thinks you should see, the screen switches to showing you line-by-line output of what is going on. Usually there is no reason to panic if you are looking at the Show Details output. If your computer doesn't start, then you can safely panic.

UNDER THE HOOD

DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR

Yes, you know the root password. You're in charge. No one will challenge you on your status of being the administrator of your computer. However, you need to know again that logging in and runningyour machine as the root user is not secure. Log in as a regular user, and then enter your root password when you need to do something grand and wonderful.

Mandrake shows you a blue screen, but not a blue screen of death. The blue screen has a progress bar on it. The more verbose output of what is going on during startup is accessible to see or pops up on its own if Mandrake thinks you should see it, such as when new hardware is detected, when your network cable is unplugged, or when there is an error.

The login screen is your next stop in both distros. Simply put in your username and password. Enter the information for the regular user you created, not the information for the root user. After that, your next stop is your desktop. That's where I'm going next, too. Well, I'm going to my desktop, not to yours, but you get the idea.