CVS: lunar-doc/elaine elaine_draft.txt,NONE,1.1

[elaine at lunar-linux.org]

Update of /var/cvs/lunar/lunar-doc/elaine
In directory dbguin.lunar-linux.org:/tmp/cvs-serv5650

Added Files:
	elaine_draft.txt 
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--- NEW FILE: elaine_draft.txt ---
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN">
<article>
<artheader>
	<title>Lunar Linux Installation Manual</title>
</artheader>

<para>{Introduction blah blah blah}</para>

<bridgehead><emphasis>1. Getting the ISO</emphasis></bridgehead>

<para>The primary site for retrieving the ISO is www.lunar-linux.org.  There, you will find links to our US, EU, and Internet2 mirrors.  Locate and retrieve the file lunar-x.x.iso.bz2.  After downloading this file, you will need to unpack the ISO using bzip2.  Windows users will need a program like WinZip.  Mac should unzip the file by itself.  All that's left to do is use your favorite program to burn the ISO to a cdrom.</para>

// Note: The stock lunar installation iso/cd uses the device filesystem (devfs) 
kernel feature and devfsd. There is an alternate iso image available at:
http://thing.fwsystems.com/public/build/lunar/lunar-1.3_stddev.iso.bz2. This 
cd offers some different options, and the install script is named 'lunar.install.stddev'
instead of lunar.install. 

<bridgehead><emphasis>2. Usual Warnings</emphasis></bridgehead>

<para>We are assuming the you are installing Lunar as your primary OS.  Make sure you have a backup of any important data that you need to retain.  The Lunar Linux Project and its developers are not responsible in any way for any loss of data on your system!</para>

<bridgehead><emphasis>3. Beginning the install</emphasis></bridgehead>

<para>Upon booting the ISO, the first thing you will see are options for booting the ISO kernel, or for performing RAM tests.  There is even a safe mode which will disable DMA, MTRR, RAID, LVM, USB keyboards, NTFS, HPFS, Advanced Partitions, and Firewire.  Most folks, however, will be just fine pressing enter at the boot prompt and loading the default kernel.</para>

<para>After loading the kernel, the first screen presents you with a few options.  If there are extra modules you need to load in order continue with the install, they can be loaded here.  There is also a shell option, however, if you are using this ISO for rescue purposes, you do not want to shell out here; rather continue booting and shell out in the next section.  Most people will select "continue booting" here.</para>

<para>Next, we have some customization settings to set up.  Select the option "Native Language Support", where you will be presented with options for choosing the proper font, keymap, and language for your install.  You will also need to choose an editor, as you are going to need one later on in the installation for setting up either your lilo or grub configuration.  The three choices available are vi, joe, and nano.  If you have never used a text editor in linux before, nano is the best choice for you.  When you have finished setting up your options, press cancel to return to the main setup menu.</para>

<para>Next, you need to set up partitions on your hard drive.  Select the "Partition Drive" option.  You will be shown a list of all the discs the kernel detected.  For this guide, we will assume that you have one hard drive connected via an IDE channel, which will show up in the menu as "disc0".  After selecting the disc to partition, you are given the option of using one of three partitioning programs.  They are:</para>

<itemizedlist>
  <listitem>
    <para>cfdisk -- A menu driven partitioner, and very easy to use.  If you unfamiliar with various partitioning programs, this is the best option for you.</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>fdisk -- Text based partitioner that requires a little more know how that cfdisk.  More experienced users will probably use this program, however new users should not be daunted by it, as it does have help offered at every step.</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>parted -- Text based partitioner that is good for advanced users.  Parted is excellent for resizing current partitions on your hard disk, however be forewarned that resizing partitions is an excellent way to hose your entire disc.</para>
  </listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>For our example, we have a 40GB IDE drive and we'll set up five partitions; /, /boot, /home, /usr, and /var.  Here's our partition scheme:

<simplelist>
  <member>1 /boot  100MB</member>
  <member>2 /        5GB</member>
  <member>3 /usr    10GB</member>
  <member>5 /var    10GB</member>
  <member>6 /home   15GB</member>
</simplelist>

// (Optionally) create a swap partition (fdisk type '82')

// Suggested edit for below // "we recommend using a swap partition, both 
(c)fdisk and the 'mount' menus allow this and it will usually give bettter
performance than filesystem swapping, however we offer setup of a filesystem
swap for those who want this.

You'll notice that we didn't set up a swap partition.  Lunar uses a swapfile in the / partition that we will set up in the next step.  This doesn't mean, however, that you <emphasis>must</emphasis> use the swapfile.  You can still set up a standard swap partition, and the lunar install will activate it when it begins compiling the kernel later on in the install.  You also probably noticed that there is no 4th partition.  On any disc, you can have up to for</para>

<para>After setting up your partitions, you need to mount them and create file systems.  Select the menu option "Mount Filesystems" and verify that you are indeed done creating partitions.  The installer will warn you at this point that the root partition (as in "/", not "/root") needs to be mounted first.  Select the disc that the root partition should be on.  In our example, we are going to use disc0.  Our root partition is going to be on disc0/part2, so we select part2 and then select which filesystem we would like to use.</para>

<itemizedlist>
  <listitem>
    <para>ext2</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>ext3</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>reiserfs</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>jfs</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>xfs</para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>ufs</para>
  </listitem>
</itemizedlist>


</article>