General :

Installation of Linux is a really Simple task once you know what to do. Its like same in other operating systems, creating hard disc partitions and fromatting them and sorts.

 

There are numerous ways to use Linux with a computer. The most common method is to allocate part of your hard disk to Linux and put all the software you need on it. It's also possible to use Linux without touching your hard disk at all, either by getting the software from another computer on a network(vnc sessions) or by using a cd or dvd(known as Live CD / Live DVD). When people talk of installing Linux though, they invariably mean using the hard disk to store all their required software.

To install Linux on your hard disk, you first need to be able to allocate a section of the hard disk to Linux. Thankfully all sorts of computer systems understand the methods of dividing hard disks(nothing but partioning) so two or more operating systems (e.g. versions of Linux and /or Windows) can reside on just one hard disk. 

 

 

Once that is done, you need to get a startup/install disk mostly a installation CD /DVD. IT can also be an Install image in the network provided that you have PXE/LAN bootable machine.  The startup disk also contains info on accessing the hardware it needs to complete the installation and the complete install system itself. Most Linux installations are done from either CD-ROM or DVD-ROM install disks. It contains all the necessary drivers and softwares and during installation appropriate software is installed into your machine.

 

 

 

There might be some problems in case if your hardware uses  proprietary software, but mostly nowadays the concerned companies themselves release patches or drivers , so that should not be a problem anymore.

 

Dual Booting : Having both Windows and Linux in the same machine

 

 

  You have heard so much about Linux, it's faster, more stable, cheaper, more efficient. You say, " I want to learn more but I don't want to loose my Windows files and applications... Well good news. Don't despair. You can have both Linux, and Windows9* (and other operating systems as well, see farther down) living on the same computer, even better, living on the same hard drive. This is really useful if you DO want to learn, and take the bother of switching to a better OS.

 

Windows and Linux can live comfortably on the same the same machine, even the same harddrive. The choice of operating systems can be made at the boot-up sequence when you thro the power switch. This configuration is known as the "dual-boot" configuration. This is how most linux users start off.

 

 

Preparation before the Installation:

There are a few things that we need to have before we can start. Obviously, we need a copy of both Windows XP  and Linux installation discs.

Then you might have to back up the files in those part of the hard discs which you are going to use for installation of linux.

 

Partitioning, Formatting, and Installing XP:

Once, you’ve backed up all of your files that you wish to save, you’re ready to begin. It is good practice to install Windows XP first since it does not have the level of customization that Linux does.

 

Pop in the XP installation CD and restart. When your Computer’s start up screen comes up, enter the BIOS setup by pressing the necessary key(s). Set it up to have your computer boot from your CD drive. When the CD boots up, you’ll be greeted with the standard Windows XP set-up screen.

 

The next step is to use the fdisk partitioning utility and carve your hard drive into partitions. Fdisk comes with XP. After you ok the installation for the first time it willlet you delete your current hard disk and partition it. How you partition your hard disk is up to you and what your system can handle.

Assuming a 80 GB hard drive(which means i will have effective 72Gb) and starting fresh i mean blank hard disc:

 

15 Gb partition NTFS - c: - for installing windows (always have 15gb minimum for windows c drive irrespective of your hard disc space)

 

remaining 55+ Gb as a FAT partition as D drive. Important thing is it should be FAT partition. This will be changed once we start installing Linux and Some of the linux distros dont have drivers for ntfs file system.

 

Now ,Continue with the XP setup and finish installing.

Once you’re done, you can reformat the D partition to install  Linux. This is done by going to Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management->Disc Management.

 

Now delete thd D drive, then repartition as follows :

25 Gb -FAT 32 - d:  - for data files

 

and leave the remaining part as unpartitioned space, we shall format them while installing Linux

 

Data and Files partition is to be FAT32, because that way both Linux and XP can read and write to it (Linux can read from NTFS, but writing to it is still “experimental” and not suggested). After you partition the hard drive you format the partition XP on using NTFS (make sure that your XP partition is the FIRST partition).

 

 

Partitioning, Formatting, and Installing Linux:

The Linux install is only slighty more complicated, but is faster ( ~20min). Pop-in the Linux CD/DVD and restart again. Your system should still be set to boot from CD, so the Linux installation screen should come up. You want to do just an install.  When it asks you what kind of installation you would like to perform you want to select “custom” or “expert” (custom is the easier of the two, only use expert if you are sure that you know what you are doing!), since you’ll need to tell Linux what partition to install on.

 

Setup will eventually ask you what program you want to use to partition your hard drive. Select Manually Set the partition table or a similar option.

WARNING: Dont select default partitoning.

Once you get into the manual partition setup,  Linux will recognize your Windows partitions and show them. It will also show you the unpartitioned space on the hard disc. Now create a new partition for double the size of your RAM, say 1 Gb for a 512 Mb ram and select the file foramt as SWAP. We will see what SWAP is sooner. Now remaining you will have around 30 Gb. divide into 2 partitions : 15 Gb each

 

 

 

 

Once this is done, you can continue through the rest of the setup, just make sure that when you reach the point of what Boot loader you want to use, pick GRUB and make sure it installs to the MBR(Master Boot Record). This will cause Linux to boot instead of XP the next time your computer boots from the hard disk.

 

Once your done picking and choosing what you want installed along with the Linux OS, setup will do the rest for you. Make sure you make a user account for yourself other than “root” when prompted by the Linux setup, because when you are logged into the “root” account you can do anything and everything to the partition Linux resides on, including DELETING THE WHOLE PARTITION by accident.

 

Post Linux Installation:

Ok, so now we have both OSs installed. Once Linux is finished setting up you can remove the CD, and restart. This time go back into the BIOS setup and set the computer to boot from the hard drive again. GRUB will appear and give you a choice between either Linux and DOS or just Linux to boot to. Select Linux with your keyboard. Linux will boot and bring you to a login screen. Login under the “root” account, using the login name “root” and your “root” password. - This is the only way to modify the necessary file to get Windows XP to boot from GRUB.

 

Once Linux is finished loading, bring up the Command Line Shell (In Redhat 7.2 this is the computer monitor Icon with a shell on it located in the taskbar, if you can’t find it in either Mandrake or Redhat just hover over each icon with your mouse and the name of the program will appear as “Command Shell”, “Command Line”, or something to that effect.). Once the Command Shell appears, you need to navigate to the following directory and file:

 

/etc/grub.conf

 

If you’ve never used the command line interface in Linux before(like me), go to the “Sessions” button and click on the “Root Midnight Commander” (the non-“Root” version won’t allow you to edit the file). This will bring up a very basic GUI(similar to the BIOS setup in use) that will allow you to easily navigate your Linux files.

 

Once you open up the file, either through the command line or through Midnight Commander, go all the way down to the bottom of the file and add the following lines after the rest of the lines in the file:

 

title Windows XP

[TAB]root (hd0,0)

[TAB]makeactive

[TAB]chainloader +1

 

PLEASE NOTE that the word TAB inside the brackets indicates where you should indent with a TAB. Make sure that you type the bolded lines in EXACTLY as written above with the spaces and capitalizations all correct. Save it and exit. The next time you restart and the GRUB boot loader comes up, Windows XP should be listed under Linux. Just select it with the keyboard and hit enter. Windows XP should boot up and your system is now dual-booting Windows XP and Linux!! If the Windows XP title does not appear on your GRUB boot loader screen then you know that you did it wrong (real simple test, right? ;-) ). Just go into Linux under your root account, and make sure the added lines look EXACTLY like the bolded lines above. There are NO semi-colons or anything ending the lines.