2.3 Preparing to Install Preparing to Install 2.3.1 Creating the Boot and Supplemental Floppies Creating the Boot and Supplemental Floppies Your Red Hat Linux/Intel CD set may include a boot diskette and supplemental diskette. If so, you may skip to Section 2.3.2. If not, you must create them. You need only a boot diskette if you are installing Red Hat Linux from CD-ROM or via NFS. You also need a supplemental diskette if you are installing from a hard disk, via FTP, or from a PCMCIA device. To create the boot and supplemental floppies, you need two blank, formatted, high-density (1.44 MB), 3.5-inch diskettes. The diskette images are located in the images directory on the Red Hat Linux CD or the FTP site where you got Red Hat Linux. Each image is a ``snapshot'' of the appropriate floppy diskette, which you need to transfer onto an actual floppy; you can do this using either MS-DOS or Linux. 2.3.1.1 Making Floppies Under MS-DOS Making Floppies Under MS-DOS To make floppies under MS-DOS, use the rawrite utility included on the Red Hat Linux CD in the dosutils directory. First, label a formatted 3.5-inch floppy ``Boot Diskette'' or something similar and insert it into the floppy drive. Then, use the following commands (assuming your CD is drive d:): d: cd \images \dosutils\rawrite.exe rawrite first asks you for the filename of a diskette image; enter boot.img. Then it asks for a diskette drive to write the image to; enter a:. If you need to make a supplemental floppy, label a second diskette and then run rawrite again, using supp.img. 2.3.1.2 Making Floppies Under Linux Making Floppies Under Linux To make floppies under Linux, you must have permission to write to /dev/fd0 (the 3.5-inch floppy drive). Label a blank, formatted diskette ``Boot Diskette'' or something similar and insert it into the floppy drive (but don't mount it). After mounting the Red Hat Linux CD, change to the images directory and use the following command: dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k If you need to make a supplemental floppy, label a second diskette, insert it in the floppy drive, and then use the following command: dd if=supp.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k 2.3.1.3 Installing Without Using a Boot Floppy Installing Without Using a Boot Floppy Alternatively, if you have MS-DOS installed on your computer, you can boot the installation system directly from the CD without making floppies. To do this, use the following commands (assuming your CD is drive d:): d: cd \dosutils autoboot.bat 2.3.2 A Note About Virtual Consoles A Note About Virtual Consoles The Red Hat Linux installation system is more than simply the dialog boxes it presents as it guides you through the installation procedure. In fact, the installation system presents several different kinds of diagnostic messages while running, and it gives you a means to enter commands from a shell prompt. It presents the installation dialogs, shell prompt, and messages on five virtual consoles which you can switch between using a single keystroke. These virtual consoles can be very helpful if you encounter a problem while installing Red Hat Linux; messages displayed on the install log or system log can help to pinpoint the problem. Please see Figure 1 for a listing of the virtual consoles, the keystrokes to switch to them, and their contents. Console Keystroke Contents 1 [Alt]-[F1] installation dialog 2 [Alt]-[F2] shell prompt 3 [Alt]-[F3] install log (messages from install program) 4 [Alt]-[F4] system log (messages from kernel, etc.) 5 [Alt]-[F5] other messages Figure 1:Virtual Console Information 2.3.3 Using the Dialog Boxes Using the Dialog Boxes You can navigate around the installation dialogs using a simple set of keystrokes. In most dialog boxes there is a cursor or highlight which you can move using the arrow keys ([\leftarrow] [\rightarrow] [\uparrow] [\downarrow]), [Tab], and [Alt]-[Tab]. A summary of movement commands is presented at the bottom of each screen. To ``press'' a button (such as OK), [Tab] to the button and press [Space]. To select an item from a list of items, move the highlight to the item you wish to select and press [Enter]. To select any number of items from a checklist, move the highlight to the item you wish to select and press [Space] to select an item. To deselect an item, press [Space] a second time. Pressing [F12] accepts the current values and proceeds to the next dialog; it is usually equivalent to pressing the OK button. Please Note: Do not press random keys during the installation process; it may result in unpredictable behavior.
