Installing Linux is easy, just watch

IN PART FOUR I broached Linux disk partitioning.

In this concluding article I'll touch on the few installation options of a major Linux distro popular with Linux desktop users, briefly review a list of advisable preparations, and walk through the install process.

However, before we get to those topics, I need to mention a correction to Part Four, plus a suggestion. Both are about partitioning details.

A reader correctly pointed out that any (or even all) of the first four partitions on a disk can be defined as either a Primary or an Extended Partition. Of course he's right and I hereby stand corrected on this.

Another reader, an experienced Linux user, mentioned that he makes it a practice to define a separate partition for the /usr/local directory.

His rationale is that /usr/local is where most additional software not included within a Linux distro itself typically resides: packages like Adobe Acrobat, RealAudio player, Sun's Java Runtime Environment, etc.

Having this distro independent software on a separate partition makes it easier to keep it intact across Linux re-installations, when one changes from one Linux distro to another or installs a new release. It is one of the major advantages of Linux, compared to legacy OS software, that installing a new version doesn't require reinstalling all software. He has a point that /usr/local is a candidate for a separate partition.

Install Options
I happen to use Mandrake, so that's the Linux distro I'll cover here. A recent review of Mandrake 9.0 is available at Desktop Linux.

If you'd like to read the Mandrake Linux install documentation, that's available here. Select your Language, Manual, and Format.

However, be aware that Mandrake's "Starter" installation manual doesn't accurately reflect its current install process, options, and screens.

The manual states that several steps aren't included in the Recommended install path, when in fact they are included now. It indicates that the Recommended install path includes the Package Selection step, whereas it does not. Worse, its treatment of partitioning is sparse, and confusing: the manual doesn't even address, much less attempt to explain well, the capabilities and controls of the DiskDrake disk partitioning utility.

However, most of the installation screens displayed in the manual are accurate (except for partitioning, and there it's more incomplete than wrong), so you might open the Mandrake manual in another browser window, or with PDF viewer if you choose that format, and follow along when we come to the installation walk-through. I won't link each of the pages.

Mandrake Linux gives you two basic Installation Classes to choose from: Recommended and Expert. In addition, it offers three options for each class: Install, Upgrade, and Upgrade Packages Only. Mandrake's early Installation Class and Option selection screen is viewable here.

The first time you install Linux, you will choose the Install option, rather than an Upgrade. While the overwhelming majority of Linux users regard Linux as a significant upgrade over their legacy OS, that's not the same sense of the term "upgrade" that the Linux installer means.

The Upgrade option assists transitioning from one release to the next. It can also be used to alter the basic system configuration settings.

The Upgrade Packages Only option can be used to install many additional software packages without changing the system configuration settings. It is similar to the Install Software utility seen in a Mandrake system.

Your only choice on this screen is between Recommended and Expert. You might assume, as the installer and documentation encourage, that a first time Linux user should always use the Recommended installation path.

But it's up to you which you choose, given your needs and objectives. I hope to give you enough information to decide which you want to use.

The differences between the Recommended and Expert options include the following installation steps that the Expert install includes, but the Recommended install skips, relying on defaults plus auto-detection:

* Hard drive detection
* Configure mouse
* Choose your keyboard
* Security
* Choose packages to install
* Configure services
* Exit install

If you aren't interested in selecting the software packages to install, you can choose the Recommended option. This is attractive to people who feel intimidated by the wide selection of software available for Linux. On the other hand, it can install types of applications that you don't want and will never use. And you don't see what software it installs.

On the other hand, if you want to select packages and have oversight and control over the installation process, select an Expert install. Expert installation also gives you the option to abort the installation process by clicking on Exit and confirming it. This can be useful if you think a mistaken choice has led the installation process astray, or you need to research a point of configuration, and decide to quit and start anew.

Review of Preparations
Below is a checklist of suggested preparations for installing Linux on a PC system for the first time. These steps will look familiar if you've read my previous articles in this series, but I've added a few details here and there. These steps should be performed in the sequence shown, because dependencies exist, and the final step must be done last.

Determine installation method (required)
* Buy CDs
* Download and Burn CDs
* Over a fast Network connection (not dial-up)

See Parts Two for installation method considerations. Part Three mentions additional installation methods.

BIOS configuration (recommended)
* Noting all BIOS settings is A Good Idea
* Note if "Plug & Play" is YES (or set to NO)
* If you have a printer on a parallel port, set it to ECP/EPP
* If over-clocked, reset to stock values (voltage, multiplier, front side bus, memory, video card)
* If installing from CDs, set the boot sequence to Floppy, CD-ROM (or CD-R/RW), Hard Disk
* If booting from Diskette, set boot sequence to Floppy, Hard Disk.

Note system information (optional)
* Amount of memory
* SCSI controller (if present)
* Hard Disk(s) size(s) and partition(s)
* CD-ROM
* CD-R/RW
* IRQs (modem, Ethernet, sound, serial and parallel ports)
* Modem
* Ethernet NIC(s)
* Sound-card
* Video card
* Monitor
* Printer
* ISP dial-up number, user-name, password, and DNS addresses if not using DHCP with DDNS. (Some ISP's won't help you setup Linux connections.)

The installer should auto-detect all the supported hardware devices.

Create rescue / boot diskettes (recommended)
Optional if installing to an empty hard disk or planning to wipe a legacy OS (not recommended for the first time installing Linux unless you have a full recovery CD). Consult your legacy OS documentation. Create two of each diskette and check to verify they're readable.

Backup important data (recommended)
Optional if installing to an empty hard disk, but not if planning to wipe a legacy OS. You can backup to another disk, CD-R/RW, other PC.

If burning CDs, download and burn ISOs (required)
See Parts Three for links to ISO mirrors, plus procedures.

If booting from diskette, create diskette (required)
See Part Three for instructions on creating a Linux installation boot diskette.

If a NTFS partition exists, shrink it (required)
Not required if you plan to wipe it. See the link in Part Three.

Determine install option (recommended)
See the overview of install options above, or review the Quick-Start or Installation Guide documentation for the Linux distro you'll install.

Plan disk partitioning, if applicable (recommended)
See Part Four, which is about partitioning considerations. You might also want to read the Partition Sizes and Partition Layout sections in the Installation Walkthrough below before doing this.

Prepare your hard disk (required)
Unnecessary if installing to an empty hard disk or planning to wipe a legacy OS. Typically, you're going to be shrinking your existing legacy OS partition during Linux installation, so you'll need to make sure it's error-free and fully defragmented (compressed):
* Run a hard disk error-checking utility (ScanDisk under Windows)
* Compress the partition -- run this at least twice, until no further changes are made by the disk compression utility.

It's imperative that you perform this step last, just before starting the installation process. Otherwise the disk could get re-fragmented.

Installation Walkthrough
Okay, here we are at last! After all those preparations, I hope you're ready to install Linux, brand new shiny CDs or boot diskette in hand.

However you boot into the installation process (and several ways exist to do this, as I've outlined elsewhere in these articles) the very first screen you'll see offers you two choices: Press Enter, and Press F1. F1 outlines several alternative ways to start the installation in difficult circumstances, so just hit Enter here. This starts the installation.

Choose your language
Click on your language to highlight it. The Advanced button will let you choose additional language(s), which are termed "locales" in Linux. Click on OK to proceed.

License
Next the Mandrake Linux software license appears. Click on Accept.

Installation class
This is the step I reviewed above in the Install Options section. Click on either Recommended or Expert as you wish, then click on Install.

Hard drive detection
The installer will automatically detect any IDE hard disk(s) present and might detect a SCSI controller if one exists... but possibly not. This step can enable you to load the correct driver for and configure a SCSI controller that's not auto-detected. Most people will click on OK.

Configure mouse (Expert only)
Most mice will be detected properly in this step. But if you have an esoteric mouse, you can select that and test it before you click OK.

Configure your keyboard (Expert only)
Your expected keyboard layout is determined from your chosen language, but this step gives you a chance to adjust your keyboard layout or even select multiple key bindings. Most people will just click on OK.

Security (Expert only)
Your choice of security level will have implications for both security and ease of use and administration for your system. Unless you have a compelling reason (such as services running on ports connected to the Internet), I'd recommend leaving security at the Standard setting.

The reason for this is that Mandrake's security manager msec is still something of a work-in-progress and therefore somewhat of a pain. Unless you plan to run external servers on your PC, enter the user-id you plan to set up for yourself as the Security Administrator, click OK.

Setup file-systems
Mandrake's disk partitioning utility DiskDrake is excellent. It has two levels. A wizard appears first for a Recommended install, and it's also available from a Wizard button in the utility for the Expert install.

Drakx Partitioning Wizard
The wizard has four selections, depending on the install option. In the Recommended install, these selection are:
* Use existing partitions
* Erase entire disk (Dangerous!)
* Use the free space on the Windows partition
* Custom partitioning

The fourth selection of the wizard for the Expert install is unique:
* Use the Windows partition for loopback
I won't address this here.

If you already have your disk partitioned in the layout you want to use, you can use the wizard selection: Use existing partitions. This might be the case if you are reinstalling Linux or upgrading to a new release.

Do NOT use the wizard selection: Erase entire disk. That is, not unless you really want to wipe your Windows partition and lose all of its data. You'd usually choose this selection to reclaim a used or spare drive.

If you have a hard disk occupied by one Windows partition, you will use the wizard selection: Use the free space on the Windows partition. This will shrink the Windows partition, freeing space after it for Linux. Do not do this yet, however. You backup the disk partition table first.

Selecting Custom partitioning and clicking on OK in the wizard for the Recommended install brings up the Expert partitioning utility dialog. If I were doing a Recommended install, I would select this and click OK.

DiskDrake Utility
The Expert installation path enters this disk partitioning utility right away, without presenting the wizard screen first to slow the process.

There are six button at the bottom of the (Expert) DiskDrake dialog:
* Clear all (Dangerous!)
* Autoallocate
* More
* Wizard
* Toggle to expert/normal mode
* Done (Careful!)

To clear the partition table press: Clear all. You'll want backups, not only of the partition table itself but also all the data on the disk.

To see three default allocation alternatives press: Autoallocate. A new dialog opens with the following selections:
* With /usr -- / (root) swap /usr /home
* Simple -- / (root) swap /home
* Server -- / (root) swap /usr /var /home /tmp

I'm not going to use any of these default layouts because I want to go through an explicit partition definition process. But if one of these default layouts looks good to you, there's no reason not to use that.

The More button brings up a set of four partition table management items that can make the difference between saving and losing a whole disk:
* Save -- write the partition table to diskette
* Restore -- read the partition table from diskette
* Rescue -- attempt to recover the partition table
* Reload -- reset the partition table to initial state
The Wizard button returns to the wizard already described just above.

The Toggle button switches back and forth between expert and normal mode in the DiskDrake partitioning utility dialog. Expert mode allows you to specify file-system Type and Options characteristics that are complex.

The Done button writes the new partition table to the disk. Until then, it's been built in memory. Do NOT click on Done until you're really sure that you're finished defining partitions. After you click on Done you'll have to restore the original partition table from one saved previously on a diskette to recover it. Check things twice before clicking Done.

Defining Partitions
We'll proceed to shrink the Windows partition and partition the disk.

The first thing to do (after getting to the DiskDrake utility by using the Custom partitioning wizard selection, if doing Recommended install) is to click on the More button, select Save, place a new diskette in the floppy drive, and click OK. This backs up the disk partition table. To be sure of keeping a readable backup, you might create two diskettes.

Next, click on the Wizard button. When the Wizard appears, click on the selection: Use the free space on the Windows partition. This will shrink the Windows partition leaving free space at the high end of the disk.

In the DiskDrake utility you'll see a visual representation of the disk, portrayed as a horizontal bar with a vertical lines depicting partition boundaries. The partition types are color-coded: blue for FAT (Windows), green for Linux Swap, dark red for Journalized FS, bright red for Linux Ext2. You'll see the blue chunk of the Windows FAT partition at the left end of the horizontal bar. The right side of the horizontal bar will be white, i.e., free space. You can now start defining Linux partitions.

Define A Partition
Select and Resize the Partition: Click on the white free space in the horizontal bar. The Details pane contains information about the area selected. In the Actions pane, click on the Resize button, click OK to the warning dialog, and either drag the bar or use the left/right arrow keys in the Resize dialog to set the size of the partition, click OK (I'll make partition size suggestions below).

Set the Partition Type: With the new partition you just resized still selected, click on Action button Type. The Type dialog will then appear. Click on the down arrow at the right of the selection window, then click on one of the Journalized FS types, say... Ext3. If you're defining the Swap partition, click on the Linux Swap type instead. If you don't like journalized file-systems (but you should!), click Linux Native, Ext2.

Set the Partition Mount Point: With the partition still selected, click on the Action button Mount Point. The Mount Point dialog will appear and you can select one of the entries or type in another mount point. Click OK in the Mount Point dialog. Congratulations, you have a partition!

Define More Partitions
Follow the Define A Partition procedure above until you've completed all the partitions you wish to define. If your disk is small (under ~10 GB), you should use all available free space. Check your work, click Done.

Partition Sizes
Here are some recommendations for partition sizes, taken from a running Mandrake Linux system, i.e., mine. Don't regard these sizes as set into stone or any indication that you lack enough disk space to install Linux successfully. You can install a minimal Mandrake system within less than 100 MB, or you can substantially fill up a 10 GB disk or larger, if you install all the software packages and source files you can find. So take these partition sizes as merely indicative of a typical Linux system.

Listing all the potential partitions shown below isn't meant to suggest that you define all of them. You will probably use fewer partitions. See the default partition layouts of the Autoallocate tool in DiskDrake.

The more partitions you define, the more space you'll need to reserve as free space over all the partitions combined. If available disk space is tight, define fewer partitions to use the space more efficiently. If you define fewer partitions than listed below, add the sizes of the ones you don't define separately to the root ("/") partition, all except for the /usr/local partition, which should be added on to the /usr partition.

/ (root) -- 450 MB to 600 MB
/boot -- 25 MB to 50 MB
/var -- 75 MB to 300 MB
/tmp -- 50 MB to 150 MB
/home -- 300 MB to 1 GB per user
/usr -- 1 GB to 4.5 GB
/usr/local -- 100 MB to 400MB

Totals -- 2GB (slim) to 7GB (generous) for one user plus swap space

You should define a swap partition with one to several times the amount of memory in your system, using a higher multiple for smaller memory.

Based on these estimates, here are a few simpler partition layouts that assume 256 MB memory and a swap multiplier of one:

Simple
/ (root) -- 1.7 GB to 6 GB
swap -- 256 MB
/home -- 300 MB to 1 GB per user

With /usr
/ (root) -- 600 MB to 1.1 GB
swap -- 256 MB
/usr -- 1.1 GB to 4.9 GB
/home -- 300 MB to 1 GB per user

With /usr and /var
/ (root) -- 525 MB to 800 MB
/var -- 75 MB to 300 MB
swap -- 256 MB
/usr -- 1.1 GB to 4.9 GB
/home -- 300 MB to 1 GB per user

Well, you get the idea. I'll leave splitting out a /usr/local partition as an exercise for the reader, if that's something you decide to do.

Don't forget that you can also define your own working partition (I use /data) if you don't want to keep all your personal files in the /home/me directory. Your home directory sees lots of activity from applications, so you may want to keep your personal files elsewhere out of the way.

Partition Layout
If your system is memory constrained (128 MB or less), it's a good idea to place your swap partition nearer the front the disk. The default is to define it just after the / (root) partition and before /var or /usr or /home. If you have 256 MB or more memory, you can put the swap partition higher up the disk where access is a little slower. The /usr partition and any user defined partition can be defined after /home on the disk, or you can define the /home partition higher (the default).

I've spent a lot of time on partitioning because Mandrake's installation manual doesn't address it very well, and disk partitioning is the thing that most new Linux users find mysterious and somewhat frightening. I do hope you'll conclude it's not very difficult, there's little to fear.

Now, back to the installation steps, resuming at the formatting step.

Format partitions
During a first Linux installation, you'll want to format all of the new partitions. Click on all of those Linux partitions you just defined to highlight them for formatting, unless they're already highlighted, in which case don't click on them since that will deselect them. Got it?

Do NOT click on any legacy OS partitions unless you want to clear their contents, that is, nuke 'em. If you saved them, you likely want them.

Checking for bad blocks while formatting is a good idea, though it will slow down the process a little. Click on Advanced, then Check for Bad Blocks, and click OK. The selected partitions will then be formatted.

Choose packages to install (Expert only)
Selecting the Mandrake and generic Linux software components to install is perhaps the most important step of the installation process. This is where you determine what kind of system will be constructed for you.

Software package selection is done in two stages: choosing groups, then selecting individual packages. Take your time in selecting packages.

Package group selection
Package groups are divided into three categories: Workstation, Server and Graphical Environment. Here are the groups within each category:

Workstation
* Office Workstation
* Game Station
* Multimedia Station
* Internet Station
* Network Computer (client)
* Scientific Workstation
* Console Tools
* Development
* Documentation
* LSB

Server
* Web/FTP
* Mail/Groupware/News
* Database
* Firewall/Router
* DNS/NIS
* Network Computer Server

Graphical Environment
* KDE Workstation
* Gnome Workstation
* Other Graphical Environments

Mouse-over on the individual groups will display brief descriptions. You can select none, some, or all of the groups.

If you select none of the groups, a dialog will offer three choices for a minimal Linux installation:
* With X -- minimal Linux and X-windows graphical environment
* With basic documentation -- minimal Linux server installation
* Truly minimal install -- bare-bones Linux, command-line only, 65 MB

Selecting none of the groups -- either with or without X-windows -- can be useful if you have a severe disk space constraint. You can later add some carefully selected packages within space limitations by running an Upgrade Packages Only installation and/or downloading small packages.

This way you can build a "low-fat" Linux system, following the guidance that's available here.

Most people select some groups -- most or all of the groups from the Workstation category, maybe the Firewall/Router group in the Server category, at least one group from the Graphical Environment category.

Selecting all groups is not recommended. It presents a security risk and just fills up your hard disk with software. You can add things later.

Click on the groups you want to install. If you want to browse for more packages in addition to the groups' defaults, select: Individual package selection. Click OK to proceed.

Individual package selection
If you chose Individual Package Selection on the previous screen, you'll be presented with a tree list of all packages organized by group:
* Workstation
* Graphical Environment
* Development
* Server

If not already highlighted, click: Show automatically selected packages. This will turn off dialogs on packages added to resolve dependencies.

Starting at the bottom of the list, click on the plus-signs (+) in each of the tiny boxes next to each group. This will expand the package tree to reveal all the software packages available, with selection boxes. A check-mark in the box next to a package means it will be installed.

Clicking on the name of a package displays its description and size.

How you approach selecting and/or deselecting individual packages will depend on how much disk space you have, how you use your system, whether you do development (or want to learn), and your attitude about exploring new software. Make your selections. You can always change them later.

If your disk space is tight, you'll want to look for large packages that you won't get around to using right away: things like Emacs, GIMP, maybe *nix publishing toolsets, Gnome and/or KDE if space is severely lacking (in that case, be sure to select one or more lightweight desktop(s)).

On the other hand, if you have lots of disk space, you might keep all or most of the default packages and add others: development tools, various multimedia software, etc. Just avoid packages well-known to be insecure or requiring real skill to configure properly in order to run securely, i.e.: telnet, rlogin, other remote access, as well as most servers.

You can pick and choose. As a general rule, if a package is selected by default and you don't know what it does, keep it. Then again, several packages might be selected for some function(s) you doubt you'll want to use. For example, I don't use IRC or ICQ, so I deselect all of those. In other areas, you might want to select only one or two of many available alternatives: I only use ncftp and wget, but many other FTP clients are available. Some packages aren't selected by default, yet are useful: the gkrellm monitor and tcpdump fall into this category, at least for me.

If you deselect a package that other packages depend upon, a dialog will pop up giving you a chance to think better of it. In most cases you will want to keep a package that satisfies such dependencies... unless you're sure you don't want the other applications: you make judgment calls.

Go through the list methodically, top to bottom, at least once and maybe twice. Once you are satisfied with your selections, click on Install.

Install system
The installer will think over your selections for a moment then begin to load packages in the sequence determined by dependencies and inscrutable logic. Get some tea (or a stiff drink). But keep one eye on the install, if you're installing from CDs: it's going to request that second one.

How long the actual installation processing takes will depend upon how many packages you selected, the installation source (CDs, network, disk) and it's I/O speed, the speed of your hard disk and, to a lesser extent, your processor speed. It can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more. Be patient. The install progress will be displayed for you.

Set root password
When software installation is finished, you'll see a dialog requesting a root password. Choose a root password that's impossible to guess (names and words that can be found in a dictionary are simply insecure, as are passwords based on such guessable words). Your root password should be at least eight (8) characters and include upper and lower case, letters and numbers. Write it down and keep it on or close to your person until you've burned it into your memory, then throw away the slip of paper.

Never use your root password as another password for anything you may do online. Never send it to anyone in an email. Never give it to anyone who you don't want to have complete access to your entire system, including all your data files (which may contain identity and financial data).

Add a user
Next you'll see a dialog where you can add yourself as a non-privileged user. Enter your real name, a short user name like your initials, and a password (twice). Select a different password from root, click on OK.

You can also enter added user names for others, e.g., family members.

Configure networking
Here you can attempt to set up your network interfaces. I say "attempt" because the network auto-detection wizards don't seem to be working well at this point in Mandrake's development. You can use Mandrake's Control Center following installation to set up networking, so click Cancel.

You can try to configure your network connection here, especially if you use dial-up. However, if it is not successful, you either might or might not be able to repair it later using Mandrake Control Center. If not, it might require re-installation to reset networking. Just so you know...

Summary
This dialog reviews your mouse and keyboard, lets you set your timezone, and provides an opportunity to configure your printer (and perhaps other devices, but I've never seen this). If you live in a different timezone than the one displayed, click on the button, select the correct one, and click OK. Then you can configure your printer, if you have a printer.

To configure a printer, click the Printer button. Name the printer (just "printer" works), type in a description, and select a printer connection (local, LAN, etc.), then click OK. Select your printer spooler (CUPS is great, or Ghostscript works), click OK. You can change it all, later.

The installer will load packages needed to install the print spooler.

You can choose to print a test page, which is recommended. If it doesn't work, go back and check your printer definition, then choose a different print spooler. Even if one doesn't work, another probably will work.

Configure services (Expert only)
A list of services will be displayed. You'll want to keep most of these except for maybe rawdevices (if you're not using any database that needs it) and usb (if you don't have USB devices connected, for example). Look over the list of services. If you click on a service, a description will be displayed. You can click on selection boxes to turn off services.

If you followed my strong recommendation not to install any servers, you are done here and can click OK. Otherwise, make sure to turn off servers that you'd installed but not firewalled and configured yet. Click OK.

Install bootloader
This dialog sets up your boot menu. If you will dual-boot Linux and some legacy OS, that OS partition will be auto-detected. You have a choice of either LILO or GRUB, with either text or graphical menu. I use LILO with a graphical menu, but it's up to you -- both work. You can click on the Advanced button to select Compact if you have a recent hard disk, and to add boot parameters you might need, etc. Make your choices, click OK.

Create a bootdisk
Here I'd strongly encourage you to go ahead and create a Linux bootdisk. In fact, create two just in case one happens to go bad when you need it. Click Yes. Place a diskette in the floppy drive and click OK. Do this at least twice. Label your Linux boot disks. Keep them in a safe place.

Installing a Linux bootloader will overwrite the boot track of a legacy OS (track 0 on the first hard disk, the Master Boot Record (MBR)). If it happens to get corrupted (such as by reinstalling that legacy OS) you'll need a Linux bootdisk to get Linux up, then reinstall the bootloader.

Configure X
Nearing the end of Linux installation, just about the last thing you'll do is configure the X graphical server for your video card and monitor. This used to be difficult, involving the editing of text configuration files and recourse to reams of complex technical X-Windows documents.

Not any longer. All you need to do here is select the screen resolution and color depth you want, then click OK. A test screen will be displayed and ask you if you can see it. If so, click OK. It's usually so easy.

In a Recommended install, that's it. But an Expert install path asks you to choose your video card and monitor manufacturer and model. You should have found this information during your preparations for Expert install. Select the video card, click OK. Then select your monitor, click OK.

The Expert install will give you a choice of X-Windows versions. If you have a high-end video card that can handle 3D Acceleration well, you can try that. Otherwise, you'll want to use a 2D Acceleration. Click OK.

If you don't like your X-Windows choices of version, resolution, etc., a trip to Mandrake's Control Center after installation allows changes.

The Expert install will then drop back into the Recommended install, and there you'll choose your screen resolution and color depth, see the test page, and click OK. You've just configured X-Windows by mouse clicks.

In Expert install, a dialog will appear asking whether you want to start X at boot. Unless you're a command-line freak or have some other reason, click on Yes. Mandrake's KDE, Gnome, and other desktop managers all have several different command-line terminals, so I can't imagine why not.

Install system updates
If you successfully configured your network connection earlier, you can click Yes in this dialog and follow the prompts to install the upgrades that Mandrake makes available. If your network's not up yet Click No.

Finished! You are done, completed, finis! Click OK to exit the install, reboot.

You have an option now to capture your configuration choices and package selections to a diskette. This is a good idea, just in case you have to reinstall. Click Advanced, put a diskette in the drive, and click OK.

Finally, don't forget to remove any diskette from the floppy drive, and, if you installed from CDs, eject the CD. You don't want to reboot it.

Congratulations! You've just installed Linux. May it serve you well. µ

See Also:
Installing Linux is easy, really!
Installing Linux is easy, continued
Installing Linux is easy, with care
Installing Linux is easy, flexible