Booting Fedora Core 4


If your computer has been a Windows-only computer thus far, you are probably used to switching on your computer and watching Windows load more or less immediately, without any intervention from you. Now that Linux is installed on your computer, things will change a little.

Fedora Core 4 has installed the GRUB boot loader to start your computer system. GRUB can start Linux or Windows; if you have both installed, it offers you a choice between the two each time you start. Switch on your computer now. If you followed along with the installation instructions in Chapter 2, "Installing Fedora Core 4," and installed the GRUB boot loader, within a few moments you should find yourself looking at the GRUB boot display, as shown in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1. The GRUB boot display presents you with the available list of boot options. This computer has both Windows (labeled DOS) and Linux on it.


At the GRUB display, you have five seconds to select which operating system you want to start. Use your up- and down-arrow keys to move the selection bar, and press Enter to select and start an operating system in the list.

Select DOS When You Want Windows

If you have Windows installed alongside Linux, you might find that Windows appears in the list of available operating systems as "DOS." The DOS label is used by Fedora Core 4 to refer to most MS-DOS or Microsoft Windows operating systems. Selecting DOS therefore starts your Windows operating system.


If you do not select an operating system yourself, GRUB automatically starts the selected operating system after five seconds.

When Fedora Core 4 starts, you first see a few lines of text scrolling across your display as Linux examines and adjusts to your CPU, mainboard and memory configuration, and to other hardware. Fedora Core 4 then displays a progress bar in the center of your screen to show its progress as it launches system services and performs other housekeeping tasks (see Figure 3.2). This process might take several minutes the first time you start Linux. On subsequent boots, it will go much more quickly. This process is repeated each time you start Linux. If you didn't choose to install the Workstation configuration in the previous chapter but installed the Server configuration instead, you will see a text display containing more detailed information instead of a progress bar.

Figure 3.2. Fedora Core 4 shows a progress bar as it starts system services.


After Fedora Core 4 starts all its components, the screen clears and you see the Welcome to Fedora Core banner.



    SAMS Teach Yourself Red Hat(r) Fedora(tm) 4 Linux(r) All in One
    Cisco ASA and PIX Firewall Handbook
    ISBN: N/A
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2006
    Pages: 311
    Authors: David Hucaby

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