INSTALLING SUSE LINUX 10.0

By Leslie Chong, Revised March 10, 2006

Notes:

1-This is an example installation that you can use as a reference when installing SUSE Linux 10.0 on your Windows computer, for your own use or for the Whistler Linux Camp.

2-The specific hardware used in this installation is cited. Your computer will most likely be different but you should be able to adjust the steps accordingly to suit your situation.

3-Before you proceed, you should back up your data on the hard drive to other media.

4-Before you proceed, you should also familiarise yourself with how to recover your Windows, if the need arises. You should have handy a Windows 98 boot disk with the fdisk program (in case in you need to fix the master boot record).

System:

Pentium-4 3.2GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, 80GB hard drive

Windows on first partition 60GB, second partition is primary NTFS with files.

Strategy:

To leave Windows intact and use the space in the second partition for SUSE.

You can back up your data first, and then use Windows disk management to delete the second partition to make free space available for Linux. However, I did something slightly different – I backed up the files in d: in Windows, and then deleted the second partition during SUSE installation.

Installation Steps

1-Insert the DVD or first CD into the optical drive. Start or reboot your computer, press Delete or other key to enter the computer BIOS. Make the optical drive boot before the hard drive.

2-It starts with a Welcome screen. On the next screen, select Installation quickly (if you do not do so, it boots to the hard drive). Once installation has started, you can observe the load sequence by pressing Esc. The installation will probe for the mouse, etc…

(Potentially, at this stage you can encounter a problem with your mouse. If it does not work, you have to use the Tab key to navigate the installation screens.)

3-In the Language screen, the default highlighted language is English (US). Click Next.

4-Choose to agree to the License Agreement on the next screen. Click Next.

5-The installation program starts analyzing the computer. For the Clock and Time Zone settings, choose Canada Region and Pacific Time Zone. (If the time is shown incorrectly, click Change… to set it.) Click Next.

6-Desktop Selection – select KDE and click Next.

7-Installation Settings. After the Overview window becomes available, click the Expert tab to further change the settings for your installation.

The items that you can change are listed.

Fix the partitioning and choose the software to install (instead of the default Standard System installation):

Partitioning

The installer recommends a partitioning scheme, which may involve shrinking the Windows partition.

In this lab installation, I am going to delete the second partition and create an extended partition in its place. In this extended partition, we will create the swap and root partitions and leave some free space available. Proposal: 1.5GB swap, 10GB root “/” and the rest free space.

Click on Partitioning. In the suggested Partitioning screen choose Create Custom partition setup, Click Next.

In the Preparing Hard Disk screen, choose Custom Partitioning (for experts). Click Next.

In the next screen (Expert Partitioner), firstly delete the second partition (/dev/hda2) by highlighting it and clicking Delete. Confirm deletion (Yes).

Create an extended partition on the hard drive by highlighting it, and clicking Create. Select Extended Partition and click OK. To use 12GB of the space, enter +12GB in the End: box and click OK. Click OK.

/dev/hda2 now shows 12GB and is highlighted. Click Create, select Logical partition, OK. Create the swap partition by clicking on the File system selector, choose Swap and type in +1.5GB in the End: box (creating 1.5GB swap partition). Click OK.

Highlight the Extended partition again, and click Create, select Logical Partition and click OK. Create the root “/” partition by entering +10GB in the End: box and click OK.

Click Finish to commit the partitioning.

Software

Back at Installation Settings, click Software to select to install other packages (other than default) if you want to do so.

Note: You do not have to add any package to the default package selection in this initial install. However, we will add the web server package to provide a fuller example.

Add web server:

Highlight Simple Web Server with Apache 2 in the Selection pane, check the apache packages on the right pane.

Click the Accept button at the bottom right corner.

Back at the Installation Settings window, click Accept.

8-Confirm Installation. The installer will proceed to format partitions and perform the installation. It takes about 15 minutes. The computer shuts down automatically and reboots.

9-The PC boots to SUSE Linux. Set your root password (don’t forget it), Next.

10-Network configuration detection: Click Next to use the configuration.

Note: You can configure the host name and DNS server addresses at this stage, or do it later.

11-Choose No to skip the Internet Connection test, Next

12-Click Next on Authentication Method (Local). Create a local use account for yourself. Check Receive System Mail and uncheck Automatic Login. Click Next.

13-Click Next to the SUSE Linux 10.0 Release Notes.

14-Hardware configuration: Check the configuration. You may set the monitor – click on Monitor, choose LCD, 800x600 @ 75Hz, click OK, Next.

15-Installation completes. Click Finish.

16-You will be prompted to login with your user account.

Further Installation Notes:

a)-If the GUI display on your LCD monitor looks odd, configure it in Control Center.

Go to the K Menu, Control Center, YaST2 Modules, Hardware, Graphics Card and Monitor. You need to login as root to go into Administrator Mode. Change Monitor or set it to LCD monitor and set the sync frequency. Click Test. Do an Auto Panel set adjust and click OK. Use the Arrows to position the display and Click Save. Click Yes. If you logoff and login again the GUI should look better.

b)-To have root available for login at the login screen, go to System Administration, Login Manager, Users tab, Administrator Mode, login as root and unhide root, Apply, OK.

Log out and you should be able to login as root.

c)-Network configuration. Since your computer is intended to be a server, you need to use YaST to configure a static IP address and hostname. For now, you can use DHCP on your home network and make sure you can ping other computers.