Fedora Core 1 Install Guide

Getting Started Obviously the ideal situation would be to have Linux installed by OEM's so the end user would not have to go through the actuall install process. Unfortunately that is currently not the case most of the time. The install process is seen by many as the most daunting obstcale for new users thinking about making the switch to Linux. To, hopefully, help eleviate some of the fear and uncertainty of installing Linux (particularly Fedora) I have created this Step-by-Step guide. One of the first things you might want to do is check out the official Release Notes for Fedora Core 1 which can be found at the following web address: http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/release-notes/ There are many ways to initiate the Fedora install process: booting from the CD, over FTP, HTTP, off of another Hard drive or partition, hard drive ISO images, NFS ISO images and probably many others. The most common install method is probably by simply inserting the install CD into the computer and rebooting. During this guide we will assume you are Installing Fedora by booting off of the install cd, though most of it will apply to all of the install mediums. Before we begin you will need to grab the ISO images and burn them to CD. You can find the ISO's at any one of the mirrors listed at the Fedora site here: http://fedora.redhat.com/download/mirrors.html Alternatively you can download the ISO's with bitTorrent, you can find the relevent bitTorrent information for Fedora Core 1 release here: http://torrent.dulug.duke.edu/ Be sure to get all Three of the ISO files: yarrow-i386-disc1.iso yarrow-i386-disc2.iso yarrow-i386-disc3.iso Also take note that there will be 3 other ISO files labeled with SRPM instead of i386. SRPM's are basically packages with the source code of the applications available on the i386 CD's. As a beginner you will not need the SRPM ISO images, so just make sure you download the i386 ISO's. You will then need to burn them to CD. For Windows users this means using something like Easy CD Creator or Nero. Current Linux users can use any one of the cdrecord frontends (like my favorite K3b) or simply use cdrecord via the command line. Once you have CD's simply place the install CD in the appropriate drive on your machine and reboot. After the computer reboots you will be presented with a command prompt. Here you are able to enter various install options or simply press enter to continue with the default settings. To view what options you can give the installer you can press the F2 key to see a list of what is available. The default settings will work for most people so we will continue as is. After the installer loads it will ask you if you want to check the integrity of the cd's. This is usually a good idea, especially if you are using cd's made from downloaded ISO images. Doing this helps prevent you from getting partially through the install only to find that you have a corrupt cd. This can be caused by many things: corrupt downloaded files, problems during the cd burning process, and flawed cd's among others. Once the installer has verified your cd's you will be good to go...
screenshot-0000.png	Welcome To Fedora This is where the fun begins! This is the first screen of the graphical installer. As you will see, all of the install screens will have the same layout. Things to take note of are the "Hide Help", and "Release Notes" buttons on the bottom left. Every step in the install has very helpful Help text describing options for that stage of the install, one of the reasons I feel Anaconda beats out Mandrakes installer hands down. To hide the help text at anytime simply press the "Hide Help" button. You can also review the Release Notes at anytime durning the install as well by pressing the "Release Notes" button and a new window will pop up on the screen for your view pleasure. To continue press "Next"
screenshot-0001.png	Language Selection First you need to select the language you will use during the install, it is also the default language installed for the later installed operating system as well. Later you will be able to select additional languages to install.
screenshot-0002.png	Keyboard Layout Next you will need to select the keyboard layout to be used.
screenshot-0003.png	Mouse Configuration In most cases the installer does a good job of auto-selecting the type of mouse you are using. If the mouse has worked up to this point it's probably okay to leave the settings as they are.
screenshot-0004.png	The Search Begins... After hitting the "Next" button on the Mouse Configuration screen the installer will then look for previous versions of Fedora (and probably Red Hat Linux) installations.