Why do I do what I do? When I put together a Linux system, I might want some desktop stuff, so I put on X, KDE, and Gnome. If I think I might want to play videos or songs, I add multimedia support. DOS/Windows Connectivity = Samba (I think) so that goes on, and Printing Support goes on because (I think) that's needed for the Virtual PDF/Samba printer. HTTPD (Apache webserver) and SQL Database (Postgres) go on because I'm playing with that stuff a lot these days.

• Obtain Linux. For me, the best method is to go to an installfest and have someone there burn a copy for you. (Quick note for those new to Linux: Linux is distributed under a license that specifically allows unlimited redistribution.) Second best (if you have a fast Internet connection and a CD burner) is to download it. If all else fails, go buy it.
• Prepare for installation, part 1. Will you be installing it all alone or with another OS? Is it going to be an easy-going box with everything on one partition, or will it actually see some serious use (i.e., web or file server) and therefore require things like multiple partitions? Now is the time to figure that out.
• Prepare for installation, part 2. Once you know what you're going to do, start getting ready. Assemble the system and gather up a monitor, keyboard, and (optionally) mouse. Will the system boot to a CD? If not, use rawrite (Windows) or dd (Linux) to make a boot floppy. OK, are you all ready? Then pop in the disc, power up the system, and keep reading.
• Installation, part 1. This part is pretty easy. I'll have to rewrite this someday as I'm doing an installation to make sure I get all the steps correct, but I've done it a few times, it's pretty easy, and my memory's decent.
  • First question: High-res (default), low-res, or text. I've had a couple wierd experiences with the graphical installers (strange colors a couple times, I've got one monitor that doesn't work with the default GUI settings, and who knows what'll happen with a laptop) so I just run in text mode. It's not that scary.
  • The basics: English, US keyboard, mouse, etc.
  • Type: Your choices are Workstation, Server, or Custom (maybe others). I always do 'custom'.
  • Disk preparation: every box is different, and pages and pages have been written on partitioning schemes. For a basic home system, one big partition (/) is fine, plus swap. If you want to multiboot, that's a whole other ball of wax, and if your system is going to get some serious use, I recommend making separate partitions for /boot, /var, /tmp, and /home. I think the option "just take over my whole disk" is usually there; take it, if you want. It's as good as anything else.
  • Packages: If I think I'll ever sit down at the box locally, I put on KDE and Gnome. (Those also need XWindows in the first place, of course.) If I'm going to be doing Samba serving, I think it's included if you choose DOS/Windows connectivity. I don't print, but many people do, so Printer Support is usually good. Also, if you're going to do a virtual PDF printer with Samba, I think Printer Support covers that, too. HTTPD server (Apache) is good, Anonymous FTP server is something I don't use but it's a good way to get files onto your machine if you aren't familiar with other methods, and SQL Server (Postgres) is something else I really like. I don't use Emacs and I've gotten by OK (usually) without the Development stuff, but I usually throw Utilities on there—I'm not sure what it does, but it sounds useful and it's about 7 MB. If in doubt, throw it all on there--disk space is cheap. What I've listed above should take up less than 1 GB; an 'everything' install will be a good amount more.
  • Network: If applicable; season to taste.
• Installation, part 2. After that, it's pretty much yes, yes, add a user, yes, yes, yes, go. Next time I do an installation I'll do a detailed step-by-step writeup as I run the installer. For the most part, it is as quick and painless as a Windows 95 installation and usually faster than a Windows 98, NT, 2000, or XP installation.
• Installation, Part 3. Do you want a boot floppy? Only you can answer that question. Do you want to boot into text (init 3) or GUI (init 5)? Again, it's up to you. Once at the machine, it's a simple case of issuing init 3 as root to go from GUI mode to text, or init 5 to go from text mode to GUI. Changing the default is a simple matter of changing one line in one file, but the best way to go is to choose what you want the final state of the machine to be. Workstation, go with GUI. Server, go with text, and start the GUI manually as needed.
• First boot. Once the machine has booted up, I run setup as root and, under the 'system services' option, enable HTTP (almost always), SSH (always), SMB (if desired), and Postgres (if desired.) (What you're choosing here are the services you want to start when the machine boots.) Then, quit setup and reboot. Yes, they can all be turned on by hand, and you'll earn the ridicule of hardcore "reboots are for hardware upgrades and kernel rebuilds" types, so have this excuse ready if you encounter them: "There is no other way to be absolutely sure that the services I want will, indeed, be present after a reboot without testing." But, the reality is, it's the quickest and easiest way to turn them all on if you don't know all the commands yet, and yes, it is a good idea to make sure you have everything set up correctly and everything you want happens at boot time. Besides, if you do all this when the system is 3 minutes old, you won't chip into your uptime much. :-) Note that if you plan to work in more than one runlevel, you'll need to run setup in each.

[Brian Ashe's home page] [brianashe.com/linux]