Selecting an Installation Method

What type of installation method do you wish to use? The following installation methods are available.

CD-ROM

If you have a CD-ROM drive and the Red Hat Linux CD-ROMs, you can use this method. You will need a boot diskette or a bootable CD-ROM. PCMCIA boot and driver diskettes may also be used. Refer to the “Installing from CD-ROM” section of this appendix for installation instructions.

Hard Drive

If you have copied the Red Hat Linux ISO images to a local hard drive, you can use this method. You will need a boot diskette. PCMCIA boot and driver diskettes may also be used. Refer to the “Installing from Hard Drive” section of this appendix for installation instructions.

NFS Image

If you are installing from an NFS server using ISO images or a mirror image of Red Hat Linux, you can use this method. You will need a network boot diskette. PCMCIA boot and driver diskettes may also be used. Refer to the “Installing from NFS” section of this appendix for installation instructions. NFS installations may also be performed in GUI mode.

FTP

If you are installing directly from an FTP server, use this method. You will need a network boot diskette. PCMCIA boot and driver diskettes may also be used. Refer to the “Installing from FTP” section of this appendix for installation instructions.

HTTP

If you are installing directly from an HTTP (Web) server, use this method. You will need a network boot diskette. PCMCIA boot and driver diskettes may also be used. Refer to the “Installing from HTTP” section of this appendix for installation instructions.

Installing from CD-ROM

To install Red Hat Linux from a CD-ROM, choose the CD-ROM option from the boot loader screen and select OK. When prompted, insert the Red Hat Linux CD in your CD-ROM drive (if you did not boot from the CD-ROM). Once the CD is in the CD-ROM drive, select OK and press Enter. The installation program will then probe your system and attempt to identify your CD-ROM drive. It will start by looking for an IDE (also known as an ATAPI) CD-ROM drive. If the drive is found, continue to the next stage of the installation process.

Note

If you already have another operating system installed and want to create a dual-boot system so that you can use both Red Hat Linux and the other operating system, see Chapter 1 for details.

Note

To abort the installation process at this time, reboot your machine and then eject the boot diskette or CD-ROM. You can safely cancel the installation at any point before the About to Install screen appears.

If your CD-ROM drive is not detected , and it is a SCSI CD-ROM, you can manually select the SCSI CD-ROM type when prompted. Select SCSI if your CD-ROM drive is attached to a supported SCSI adapter; the installation program will then ask you to choose a SCSI driver. Choose the driver that most closely resembles your adapter. You may specify options for the driver if necessary; however, most drivers will detect your SCSI adapter automatically.

What if the IDE CD-ROM Was Not Found?

If you have an IDE (ATAPI) CD-ROM, but the installation program fails to find your IDE (ATAPI) CD-ROM and asks you what type of CD-ROM drive you have, try the following.

Restart the installation, and at the boot: prompt enter linux hd X = cdrom . Replace the X with one of the following letters , depending on the interface the unit is connected to, and whether it is configured as master or slave (also known as primary and secondary):

a — first IDE controller, master
b — first IDE controller, slave
c — second IDE controller, master
d — second IDE controller, slave

If you have a third and/or fourth controller, continue assigning letters in alphabetical order, going from controller to controller, and master to slave.