Letting in Linux
Published: 12 Jul 2004
Step 7: Begin installation
To begin installation of Mandrakelinux 10.0, simply boot up with the first disc loaded in your PC. Most of the installation screens include a help button that leads to at least some information about the settings.
Pay close attention to any screens relating to partitioning your hard drive. With Mandrakelinux, the DrakX Partition wizard gives you several options. On the first screen, select Custom Disk Partitioning. If you used PartitionMagic to create your partitions beforehand, choose Use Existing partition. The next screen gives you a chance to select a partition to format. If you've used PartitionMagic, uncheck the box next to any partitions shown and move on. If you're installing Mandrakelinux on a second hard drive, choose either Erase Entire Disk or Custom Disk Partitioning from the DrakX partition-wizard options.
After Mandrakelinux copies the necessary files from your CDs, it will lead you through a few additional screens. The most important of these lets you specify the installation location of the bootloader -- the software that lets you choose which OS to load each time you boot. We got the best results by choosing the default setting with Mandrakelinux: 'First sector or drive (MBR)'.
The LILO bootloader appears shortly after you reboot. With Mandrakelinux, you'll see a few options for booting Linux and at least one item for booting Windows. Of the Linux options, the first, default choice will most likely produce the best results.
Once Linux has booted, do some exploring. With Mandrakelinux and KDE, click the yellow star at the lower corner to enter the Main Menu, which is a lot like Windows XP's Start menu. With most distributions, you'll find powerful office suites, image editors, Web browsers and other software. Choose the Documentation item of the Welcome to Mandrakelinux screen for an excellent introduction.
Step 10: Set up printing
To set up your printer in Mandrakelinux, choose System > Configuration > 'Configure from the main menu'. You'll be asked for your root password, which you must provide to change the system configuration. When the Mandrake Control Center appears, choose Hardware > Printers.
If any other devices aren't working, try configuring them within the desktop environment using available tools, such as the Mandrake Control Center or HardDrake. If you need to install a driver, consider it a project and a learning experience. Begin by searching the Internet for the appropriate driver, which should include at least some semblance of instructions.
TIP
To install your driver, you'll probably need the Linux command-line interface. From the Main Menu, choose System > Terminals and select among the available options.
Linux isn't for everyone, nor is it for every system. If you find yourself wishing you could make Linux go away, putting your system back the way it was should take only a few minutes. First, delete the Linux root and swap partitions that you created. If you used Norton PartitionMagic, boot it up again under Windows XP and delete just the Linux partitions. You can also take this opportunity to resize your primary Windows partition to fill the entire hard drive. Apply the changes. Now place your Windows XP installation disc in your optical drive and reboot. When the installation-disc menu appears, hit the R key to enter the rescue console, and type in 'fixmbr'. Your system should now boot as it did before you installed Linux.
Few topics inspire the volume of online resources that Linux does. The trick is to avoid the abundance of out-of-date resources and to focus on documents meant for newcomers. For a basic, well-written introduction to Linux, LinuxISO.org is a good place to start. When you're ready for a more in-depth introduction, hop over to The Linux Documentation Project site. Here you'll find a staggering amount of information, but the most useful source for newcomers is the introduction here. Want to learn more about open-source software and the major contributors to the many Linux distributions? Check out their Web sites at www.gnome.org, www.gnu.org, www.kde.org, www.opensource.org, and www.xfree86.org. The most useful online resource is a good search engine. To wade through the vast number of Linux groups, go to Google Groups and use the search term *linux*. You can conduct Linux-specific Web searches easily by going to www.google.com/linux.
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