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<chapter lang="en-US"> <title>Introduction</title> <para>This guide covers installation of &DISTRO;, a Linux distribution built on free and open source software. This manual helps you install &DISTRO; on desktops, laptops and servers. The installation system is flexible enough to use even if you have no previous knowledge of Linux or computer networks. If you select default options, &DISTRO; provides a complete desktop operating system, including productivity applications, Internet utilities, and desktop tools.</para> <para>This document does not detail all of the features of the installation system.</para> <section id="sn-background"> <title>Background</title> <section id="sn-about-fedora"> <title>About &DISTRO;</title> <para>To find out more about &DISTRO;, refer to <ulink url="http://fedoraproject.org/"/>. To read other documentation on &DISTRO; related topics, refer to <ulink url="http://docs.fedoraproject.org/"/>.</para> </section> <section id="sn-additional-help"> <title>Getting Additional Help</title> <para>For information on additional help resources for &DISTRO;, visit <ulink url="http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate"/>.</para> </section> </section> <section id="sn-about-document"> <title>About This Document</title> <section id="sn-goals"> <title>Goals</title> <para>This guide will help a reader:</para> <orderedlist> <listitem> <para>understand how to locate the &DISTRO; distribution online,</para> </listitem> <listitem> <para>create media and configuration data that allows a computer to boot &DISTRO;,</para> </listitem> <listitem> <para>understand and interact with the &DISTRO; installation program, and</para> </listitem> <listitem> <para>complete basic post-installation configuration of a &DISTRO; system.</para> </listitem> </orderedlist> <para>This guide does not cover use of &DISTRO;. To learn how to use an installed &DISTRO; system, refer to <ulink url="http://docs.fedoraproject.org/"/> for documents such as the &DISTRO; New Users Guide.</para> </section> <section id="sn-audience"> <title>Audience</title> <para>This guide is intended for new and intermediate &DISTRO; users. Advanced &DISTRO; users with questions about detailed operation of expert installation features should consult the Anaconda development mailing list at <ulink url="http://www.redhat.com/archives/anaconda-devel-list/"/>.</para> </section> <section id="sn-feedback"> <title>Feedback</title> <indexterm> <primary>FDP</primary> <see>&FDP;</see> </indexterm> <indexterm> <primary>&FDP;</primary> </indexterm> <para>The &FDP; (FDP) is a group of volunteer writers, editors, translators, and other contributors who create content for free and open source software. The FDP maintains this document and is always interested in reader feedback.</para> <para>To send feedback regarding this document, send email to <ulink url="mailto:docs@fedoraproject.org">docs@fedoraproject.org</ulink>, or visit <ulink url="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/"/> to file a bug in &BZ;. If you choose to file a bug, fill in "&BZ-PROD;" as the Product, choose the name of this document from the Component list, and choose "devel" as the version. FDP volunteers receive your feedback, and may contact you for additional information if necessary.</para> </section> </section> <section id="sn-experts-quickstart"> <title>Quick Start for Experts</title> <para>This section offers a very brief overview of installation tasks for experienced readers who are eager to get started. Note that many explanatory notes and helpful hints appear in the following chapters of this guide. If an issue arises during the installation process, consult the appropriate chapters in the full guide for help.</para> <important> <title>Experts Only</title> <para>This section is intended only for experts. Readers with less experience may not be familiar with some of the terms used herein. If you are confused by this section, move on to the full guide instead.</para> </important> <section id="sn-expert-overview"> <title>Overview</title> <para>The installation procedure is fairly simple, and consists of only a few steps:</para> <orderedlist> <listitem> <para>Download files to make media or another bootable configuration.</para> </listitem> <listitem> <para>Prepare system for installation.</para> </listitem> <listitem> <para>Boot the computer and run the installation process.</para> </listitem> <listitem> <para>Reboot and perform post-installation configuration.</para> </listitem> </orderedlist> </section> <section id="sn-expert-download"> <title>Download Files</title> <para>Do any one of the following:</para> <orderedlist> <listitem> <indexterm> <primary>ISO images</primary> <secondary>downloading</secondary> </indexterm> <para>Download the ISO image for the Live CD. Create CD media from the ISO file using your preferred application.</para> </listitem> <listitem> <para>Download the ISO images for the full distribution on CD or DVD. Create CD or DVD media from the ISO files using your preferred application, or put the images on a Windows FAT32 or Linux ext2/ext3 partition.</para> </listitem> <listitem> <para>Download the <filename>boot.iso</filename> image for a minimal boot CD or <filename>bootdisk.img</filename> file for a minimal boot USB flash drive. Write the image to the approriate physical media to create bootable media.</para> </listitem> <listitem> <para>Download the <filename>vmlinuz</filename> kernel file and the <filename>initrd.img</filename> ramdisk image from the distribution's <filename class="directory">isolinux/</filename> directory. Configure your operating system to boot the kernel and load the ramdisk image.</para> </listitem> </orderedlist> </section> <section id="sn-expert-prepare"> <title>Prepare for Installation</title> <indexterm> <primary>Knoppix</primary> </indexterm> <indexterm> <primary>NTFS partitions</primary> <secondary>resizing</secondary> </indexterm> <para>Back up any user data you need to preserve, and if necessary, resize existing partitiong to make room for &DISTRO;. You may need to use Knoppix or another third-party application to resize NTFS partitions, since the &DISTRO; boot media does not support NTFS.</para> </section> <section id="sn-expert-install"> <title>Install &DISTRO;</title> <para>Boot from the desired media, with any options appropriate for your hardware and installation mode. If you boot from the Live CD, select the "Install to Hard Disk" option from the menu to run the installation program. If you boot from minimal media or a downloaded kernel, select a network or hard disk resource from which to install. </para> <para>Proceed through all the steps of the installation program. The installation program does not change your system until you make a final confirmation to proceed. When installation is finished, reboot your system.</para> </section> <section id="sn-expert-post-install"> <title>Perform Post-installation Steps</title> <para>After the system reboots, it displays additional configuration options. Make appropriate changes to your system and proceed to the login prompt.</para> </section> </section> <section id="sn-new-users"> <title>New Users</title> <section id="sn-howto-download"> <title>How to Download Installation Files</title> <para>The &FP; distributes &DISTRO; in many ways, most of which are free of cost and downloadable over the Internet. The most common distribution method is CD and DVD media. There are several types of CD and DVD media available, including:</para> <itemizedlist> <listitem> <para>A Live CD that you can use to try &DISTRO;, and install it to your system if you like it</para> </listitem> <listitem> <para>A full set of the installable software on CD or DVD media</para> </listitem> <listitem> <para>Source code on CD or DVD media</para> </listitem> </itemizedlist> <para>Most users want either the Live CD or the full set of installable software on CD or DVD. Source code is always available, but is intended for use by experience users.</para> <tip> <title>Downloading CDs and DVDs</title> <indexterm> <primary>CD/DVD media</primary> <secondary>downloading</secondary> <seealso>ISO images</seealso> </indexterm> <indexterm> <primary>ISO images</primary> <secondary>downloading</secondary> </indexterm> <para>Users with a broadband Internet connection can download <firstterm>ISO images</firstterm> of CD and DVD media. An ISO image is a full copy of an entire disc in a format that can be written directly to a CD or DVD.</para> <para>For more information on burning CDs and DVDs, refer to <ulink url="http://docs.fedoraproject.org/readme-burning-isos/"/>.</para> </tip> </section> <section id="sn-which-download"> <title>Download Methods</title> <para>&DISTRO; software is available for download at no cost in a variety of ways. </para> <section id="sn-which-download-mirror"> <title>Option 1: From a Mirror</title> <para>To find the freely downloadable distributions of &DISTRO;, look for a <firstterm>mirror</firstterm>. A mirror is a computer server that is open to the public for free downloads of software, including &DISTRO; and often other free and open source software. To locate a mirror, visit <ulink url="http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mirrors"/> using a Web browser, and choose a server from the list. The web page lists mirrors by geographic location. You may want to choose a mirror that is geographically close to you for faster speed.</para> <para>Mirrors publish &DISTRO; software under a well-organized hierarchy of folders. For example, the &DISTRO; 7 distribution normally appears in the directory fedora/linux/core/7/. This directory contains a folder for each architecture supported by that release of &DISTRO;. CD and DVD media files appear inside that folder, in a folder called iso/. For example, you can find the file for the DVD distribution of &DISTRO; 7 for x86_64 at fedora/linux/core/7/x86_64/iso/F-7-x86_64-DVD.iso.</para> </section> <section id="sn-which-download-bt"> <title>Option 2: From BitTorrent</title> <para>BitTorrent is a way to download information in cooperation with other computers. Each computer cooperating in the group downloads pieces of the information in a particular torrent from other peers in the group. Computers that have finished downloading all the data in a torrent remain in the swarm to seed, or provide data to other peers. If you download using BitTorrent, as a courtesy you should seed the torrent at least until you have uploaded at least the same amount of data you downloaded.</para> <para>You do not need to find a special mirror for BitTorrent files. The BitTorrent protocol ensures that your computer participates in a nearby group. To download and use the &DISTRO; BitTorrent files, visit <ulink url="http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/"/>.</para> <para>If your computer does not have software installed for BitTorrent, visit the BitTorrent home page at <ulink url="http://bitconjurer.org/bittorrent/"/> to download it. BitTorrent client software is available for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and many other operating systems.</para> </section> </section> <section id="sn-which-arch"> <title>Which Architecture Is My Computer?</title> <para>Releases are separated by architecture, or type of computer processor. Use the following table to determine the architecture of your computer according to the type of processor. Consult your manufacturer���s documentation for details on the processor if necessary.</para> <segmentedlist> <title>Processor and Architecture Types</title> <segtitle>Processor Manufacturer and Model</segtitle> <segtitle>Architecture Type for &DISTRO;</segtitle> <seglistitem> <seg>Intel (except Xeon, Core 2 Duo, or Centrino Core 2 Duo), AMD (except 64 or x2 dual-core), VIA C4, Apple MacBook Pro</seg> <seg><systemitem>i386</systemitem></seg> </seglistitem> <seglistitem> <seg>Intel Xeon, Core 2 Duo, and Centrino Core 2 Duo; AMD Athlon64/x2, Sempron64/x2, Duron64</seg> <seg><systemitem>x86_64</systemitem></seg> </seglistitem> <seglistitem> <seg>Apple Macintosh G3, G4, G5, PowerBook, and other non-Intel models</seg> <seg><systemitem>ppc</systemitem></seg> </seglistitem> </segmentedlist> <para>If you are unsure what type of processor your computer has, and you are not using an Apple Macintosh, choose <systemitem>i386</systemitem>.</para> </section> <section id="sn-which-files"> <title>Which Files Do I Download?</title> <para>You have several options to download &DISTRO;. Read the options below to decide which is best for you.</para> <para>The architecture type appears in the name of the downloadable files for each &DISTRO; distribution. For example, the file for the DVD distribution of &DISTRO; 7 for x86_64 is named F-7-x86_64-DVD.iso. Refer to <xref linkend="sn-which-arch"/> if you are unsure of your computer's architecture.</para> <note> <title>No Live Images for <systemitem>ppc</systemitem></title> <para>&DISTRO; does not offer Live CD images available for the <systemitem>ppc</systemitem> architecture due to resource constraints.</para> </note> <section id="sn-which-files-livecd"> <title>Option 1: Live CD</title> <para>If you want to try &DISTRO; before you install it on your computer, download the ���Live CD��� version. If your computer supports booting from CD, you can boot the operating system without making any changes to your hard disk. The Live CD also provides an ���Install to Hard Disk��� menu option. If you decide you like what you see, and want to install it, simply activate the selection to copy &DISTRO; to your hard disk. You can then customize the software as needed after you reboot from your system���s hard disk.</para> <para>The Live CD is a single file in the ISO image format. An ISO image is a file that represents an entire disc from beginning to end. Use your favorite CD or DVD creation program to create the disc directly from the image. This option is often labeled ���Burn ISO to disc��� or ���Create disc from image.���</para> <para>You can download the Live CD directly from a mirror, or using BitTorrent.</para> </section> <section id="sn-which-files-distro"> <title>Option 2: Full Distribution on CD or DVD</title> <para>If you have plenty of time and a fast Internet connection, and want to be able to install a broader choice of software, download the full CD or DVD version. Both types of media are bootable, and include an installation program as well as a mode to perform rescue operations on your &DISTRO; system in an emergency. The CD version of the full distribution is only available via BitTorrent. You can download the DVD version directly from a mirror, or via BitTorrent.</para> </section> <section id="sn-which-files-boot"> <title>Option 3: Minimal Boot Media</title> <para>If you have a fast Internet connection but do not want to download the entire distribution, you can download a small boot image. &DISTRO; offers images for a minimal boot environment on CD or USB flash disk. Once you boot your system with the minimal media, you can install &DISTRO; directly over the Internet. Although this method still involves downloading a significant amount of data over the Internet, it is almost always much less than the size of the full distribution media. Once you have finished installation, you can add or remove software to your system as desired.</para> <para>The following table explains where to find the desired files on a mirror site.</para> <segmentedlist> <title>Locating Files</title> <segtitle>Media Type</segtitle> <segtitle>File Locations</segtitle> <segtitle>Installation Sources Recommended</segtitle> <seglistitem> <seg>Live CD</seg> <seg><filename>fedora/linux/core/7/Live/<replaceable>arch</replaceable>/F-7-<replaceable>arch</replaceable>-Live.iso</filename>, <filename>fedora/linux/core/7/Live/<replaceable>arch</replaceable>/F-7-KDE-<replaceable>arch</replaceable>-Live.iso</filename></seg> <seg>Direct copy to hard disk</seg> </seglistitem> <seglistitem> <seg>Full distribution on CD or DVD</seg> <seg><filename>fedora/linux/core/7/Live/<replaceable>arch</replaceable>/F-7-<replaceable>arch</replaceable>-DVD.iso</filename> (or use BitTorrent for CD version)</seg> <seg>CD/DVD, ISO file(s) on hard disk, network</seg> </seglistitem> <seglistitem> <seg>Minimal CD boot media</seg> <seg><filename>fedora/linux/core/7/Fedora/<replaceable>arch</replaceable>/os/images/boot.iso</filename></seg> <seg>Network</seg> </seglistitem> <seglistitem> <seg>Minimal USB boot media</seg> <seg><filename>fedora/linux/core/7/Fedora/<replaceable>arch</replaceable>/os/images/bootdisk.img</filename></seg> <seg>Network</seg> </seglistitem> <seglistitem> <seg>Minimal PXE boot media</seg> <seg><filename>fedora/linux/core/7/Fedora/<replaceable>arch</replaceable>/os/images/pxelinux/vmlinuz</filename>, <filename>fedora/linux/core/7/Fedora/<replaceable>arch</replaceable>/os/images/pxelinux/initrd.img</filename></seg> <seg>Network</seg> </seglistitem> </segmentedlist> </section> </section> <section id="sn-cannot-download"> <title>What If I Can't Download &DISTRO;?</title> <para>If you do not have a fast Internet connection, or if you have a problem creating boot media, downloading may not be an option. &DISTRO; DVD and CD distribution media is available from a number of online sources around the world at a minimal cost. Use your favorite Web search engine to locate a vendor, or refer to <ulink url="http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/SponsoredMedia"/>.</para> </section> </section> </chapter>
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