easys v2.1

Installation

easys installer is said to be simplified Slackware installer. Although not the easiest of all for the beginners, it is still simple and understandable enough to help you install easys successfully. The novices worst nightmare: partitioning, might not be as scary as thought. If you are installing easys on a clean hard disk you can use cfdisk to partition your drive.

You can find instructions to use cfdisk at

http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/IBM7248-HOWTO/cfdisk.htm
http://www.linux101.org/cfdisk

This is what cfdisk interface looks like:

If you have Windows installed on your computer and no free disk space you can use GParted LiveCD to resize your Windows partitions. Download iso image (small, about 30MB), burn it on a CD, put it in CD drive and restart computer. You'll be presented with graphical interface for managing your partitions. On this web page:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

you can find more info about downloading and using it.

easys setup process starts after you restart your computer with easys installation CD in CD drive. Setup has menu driven frontend which uses cursor keys, tab key and enter to navigate through menus or to select one of the options or commands. Setup uses main menu divided in a few parts, which take several steps to complete. Each step contains couple of options that are explained to help you decide which option to use. If you are not certain what to choose you are offered with default one (safest choice).

First you must choose which kernel to boot. “The kernel is the central part in most computer operating systems because of its task, which is the management of the system's resources and the communication between hardware and software components” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(computer_science)).

If you are uncertain, use the default (bare.i). Just press ENTER.

After that you are greeted with “option to select language environment”. You can enter 1 to select one of the installation languages: English, German or French. Move cursor keys to highlight your choice and press ENTER to confirm <OK>. If you would like to cancel press TAB key to mark <Cancel> and then ENTER to confirm. Now you must login to computer with root account:

easys login: root

Root account has unlimited access rights to all programs, files and resources on computer.

You got command prompt with instruction to type setup to start the installation process.

root@easys:/#setup

I'll try to cover installation with as much details as possible. To present it clearly I will lay it down step by step.

1. setup starts installation menu

CFDISK     partition hard disk
ADDSWAP    activate swap space
TARGET     choose target
INSTALL    transfer data
CREDITS    easys GNU/Linux credits
EXIT       exit setup

If your disk is not partitioned you must start with CFDISK.

2. Partition hard disk

If you have only one drive just hit ENTER. Otherwise choose which drive you want to partition.

3. cfdisk is started

If your disk is empty or you have a free space first you must create new partitions. Select free space (up and down arrow keys) and choose New from the menu (left or right arrow key and then ENTER). Select Primary and enter the partition size.

It is not a good idea to use all disk for one partition. Leave some free space. You will need at least one more partition - swap partition. What size to allocate to partitions? Depending on a size of your hard disk, you can find many references on Internet how to partition it, how many partitions, what size... If you are uncertain and want to play it safe make just two: one root (/) and swap.

Swap partition comes useful if you don't have much RAM. The programs you may have started, but not using right now are temporarily placed in swap partition on hard disk to make room for some others programs you want to start in RAM. You also need more swap space if you want to remaster some linux distributions. Some say it is recommended to use swap space with size that is double your RAM. If you have bigger disk use more.

For the testing purposes I used 37GB for hda1 (which will become root (/), or the main partition) and 2,5 for hda2 (which will become swap). You must make one bootable.

Select hda1 and then select Bootable <Enter>. After that select type for your partitions. Highlight hda1 and select Type. I selected 83 Linux for hda1 and 82 Swap for hda2.

My cfdisk table looks something like this:

Name     Flags    Part Type     FS Type  Label    Size
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
hda1     Boot     Primary       Linux             37000
hda2              Primary       Linux Swap         2500

When you're done choose Write to write this to your hard disk.
You must confirm with yes.

Select Quit to leave cfdisk.

4. Partition Another HardDisk

If you don't have more disks to partition choose No.

5. Swap space found

Should the swap space be initialized?
Choose <Yes>.

6. Setup is formatting Swap Partition

Wait a moment

7. Swap space successfully configured

Choose <Exit>

8. Continue with installation?

Choose <Yes>

9. Select Root Partition

select /dev/hda1 and than choose <Select>

10. Format Partition

Select FORMAT for quick formatting or select Check for format and check.
Choose <OK>.

11. Choose a File system

If uncertain choose default (reiserfs).
Choose <OK>.

12. Formatting

Wait a moment

13. Adding Partition(s) to /etc/fstab

Choose <OK>

14. Continue With Installation?

Choose <OK>

15. Transmitting Data

Wait a moment

16. Linux Kernel Installation

You may choose:
cdrom use a kernel image from the installation CD
Choose <OK>

17. Choose Linux Kernel

You may select default:  /cdrom/kernels/bare.i/bzImage
Choose <OK>

18. Copying Kernel Image

Wait a moment

19. Install Lilo

Lilo is a linux loader. It helps load linux or some other operating systems you may have. If not sure choose:

install              Install Lilo automatically
Choose <OK>

20. Use Framebuffer Console

You may select:

standard          Use the standard console
Choose <OK>

21. Lilo Kernel Parameters

If there is any extra parameters to pass to kernel you may enter them, otherwise just
Choose <OK>

22. Select Lilo Destination

choose the default:

MBR               Install to Master Boot Record
Choose <OK>

23.  Warning: No Root Password

root password is password for root account which has the most privileges to access your computer programs, files and resources.

Do you want to set a root password right now?
Choose <OK>

New password: type your password here
Re-enter new password: type your password here again
Press Enter to continue

If you get a warning that your password is weak, you may choose another password or insist on a weak one and enter it again.

24. easys GNU/Linux Credits

A few words about easys GNU/Linux and Marcus Moeller, the author.
We may thank him and his collegues for their work and go to main menu.
Choose <OK>

25. easys GNU/Linux Installation

Select Exit to exit setup
Choose <OK>

The installation CD is ejected and we are returned to command prompt.
Now we can remove installation CD and restart the computer by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL.