install-guide/devel/en_US new-intro.xml,NONE,1.1
Paul W. Frields (pfrields)
fedora-docs-commits at redhat.com
Sun Apr 29 14:04:12 UTC 2007
Author: pfrields
Update of /cvs/docs/install-guide/devel/en_US
In directory cvs-int.fedora.redhat.com:/tmp/cvs-serv25743
Added Files:
new-intro.xml
Log Message:
Add new introduction material, unfinished
--- NEW FILE new-intro.xml ---
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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"http://www.docbook.org/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
<!ENTITY % FDP-ENTITIES SYSTEM "fdp-entities.ent">
%FDP-ENTITIES;
]>
<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 at fedoraproject.org">docs at 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.â€</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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