7. Installation

Reboot using your Linux Installation CD – I use Redhat 6.2 which is fairly straight forward and I will focus on it. Most Linux distributions have really worked on their installation programs and you shouldn't have a problem. Just have the details about your hardware in hand, the horizontal and vertical refresh rate of your monitor in case the installation program doesn't automatically detect it ( you will find the exact figures in the manual ), the video card, its memory type ( SDRAM or SGRAM ) and size, and your mouse type – PS2 or Serial. As I mentioned earlier you will have to make about 3 partitions for Linux, you can make more but 3 is the recommended number. There are 3 main installation types, Workstation, Server and Custom. The Server class install erases everything in the hard disk so beware. The workstation and custom installs have sub-classes but that's for you to explore.

Loadlin users have to select custom installation and dump Lilo when given the oppurtunity because the other types of installations install Lilo by default and without asking and we dont want that do we? Lilo users have no restrictions; you can opt for whichever install type you like.