Another common installation problem crops up when you restart the PC and, instead of a graphical login screen, you get a text terminal or worse, the system seems to be hung. This means that there is something wrong with the X Window System (or X) configuration.
There is an alternate way to install Red Hat Linux so that you can force it to configure the network card and the SCSI controller (if you have one). You can also troubleshoot any problems with X by reconfiguring X.
Cross Ref If you have problems with X Window System, printer, sound, or network, consult Chapters 3 through 6 for more information. In particular, Chapter 3 shows you how to configure X, and Chapter 4 shows you how to set up printers.
Using Text Mode Installation
The Red Hat installation program attempts to use a minimal X server to display the GUI mode installation screens. If the program fails to detect a video card, X does not start. If—for this reason or any other reason—it fails to start X, you can always fall back on the text mode installation program.
To use text mode installation, type linux text at the boot: prompt after you start the PC from the Red Hat Linux boot floppy. From then on, the basic sequence is similar to that of the graphical installation described previously in this chapter. However, many small details are different. You should be able to respond to the prompts and perform the installation.
In text mode, when the installation program fails to detect the video card, it displays a list of video cards from which you can select one. By selecting the video card, X may work when you install in text mode. If it does not, you can configure X using the information in Chapter 3.
Using the linux noprobe Command
If the Red Hat installation program does not detect your SCSI controller or network card, you can specify these devices manually by typing the linux noprobe command at the boot prompt.
Look for any indication of SCSI or network devices in the messages the Linux kernel displays as it boots. To view these boot messages during installation, press Ctrl-Alt-F4. This switches to a text-mode virtual console on which the messages appear. (A virtual console is a screen of text or graphical information stored in memory that you can view on the physical screen by pressing the appropriate key sequence.)
Another sign of undetected hardware is when the installation program skips a step. For example, if the Linux kernel does not detect the network card, the installation program skips the network configuration step.
To manually install devices, type linux noprobe at the boot: prompt in the initial text screen. The installation program then displays a dialog box that gives you the opportunity to add devices. Press Tab to highlight the Add Device button, then press Enter. The installation program then displays a dialog box that prompts you to select a driver from a list. You can then select the driver and press Enter. Repeat the process for as many drivers as you want to load.
After you finish adding any SCSI controllers and network cards, the installation program switches to graphics mode and guides you through the rest of the installation, as described previously in this chapter.
Troubleshooting X at the First Reboot
Sometimes you may run into a curious installation problem. During installation, the X configuration step works fine. But when you reboot the PC for the first time after installation, the graphical login screen does not appear. Instead, the boot process seems to hang just as it starts something called firstboot. If this happens to you, here’s how you can troubleshoot the problem.
Secret
When the firstboot process runs during the first system startup, it can either be uneventful or an aggravation. If all goes well, firstboot runs the Red Hat Setup agent that enables you to perform one-time setups such as date and time configuration as well as install any other CDs. Unfortunately firstboot may get stuck if the X Window System is not working on your system. You have to get around the firstboot process to configure X again and continue with the normal course of events that Red Hat planned for you. Here’s how you can stop firstboot and configure X to tide you over this problem:
Press Ctrl-Alt-F1 to get back to the text-mode boot screen. You see the text display with the boot messages that stop at a line displaying information about firstboot.
Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot the PC. The PC starts to boot, and you get to a screen where the GRUB boot loader prompts you to press Enter to boot the Red Hat Linux (if you have GRUB password, you have to enter that password before you get to this point).
Press a to add an option for use by the Linux kernel. The GRUB boot loader then displays a command line for the Linux kernel and prompts you to add what you want.
Type a space followed by the word single and then press Enter. The Linux kernel boots in a single-user mode and displays a prompt that looks like the following:
sh-2.05b#
Now you can configure X.
X uses a configuration file, called XF86Config, to figure out the type of display card, monitor, and the kind of screen resolution you want. The Red Hat installer prepares the configuration file, but sometimes the configuration is not correct.
To quickly create a working XF86Config file, follow these steps:
Type the following command:
/usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86 -configure
The screen goes blank and then XFree86 exists after displaying some messages. The last line of the message says the following:
To test the server, run 'XFree86 -xf86config //XF86Config.new'
Try the new configuration file by typing the command:
/usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86 -xf86config //XF86Config.new
If you see a blank screen with a X-shaped cursor, the configuration file is probably working fine.
Press Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to kill the X server.
Copy the new XF86Config file to the /etc/X11 directory with the following command:
cp //XF86Xonfig.new /etc/X11/XF86Config
That should provide a working X configuration file. Now, you can reboot the PC by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del or typing reboot.
Cross Ref The XF86Config file created by using the -configure option of the X server is not displayed at the best resolution possible. To fine-tune the configuration file, you should turn to Chapter 3, where you can learn more about configuring the X Window System and editing the /etc/X11/XF86Config file further.
Resolving Other Installation Problems
I am sure I have not covered all the installation problems that at least someone out there may encounter. There are so many different combinations of components in Intel x86 PCs that there is bound to be some combination of hardware that the installation program cannot handle. This section lists a few known problems. For others, I would advise you to go to Google Groups (groups.google.com) and type in some of the symptoms of the trouble. Assuming that others are running into similar problems, you should get some indication of how to troubleshoot out of your particular predicament.
Not Being Able to Boot from Boot Disk
Sometimes the PC does not seem to boot with the Red Hat installation boot disk. If this happens to you, try creating another boot disk using a fresh floppy disk and see if that takes care of the problem. Otherwise, you may need updated boot images. New boot images, if any, should be available at Red Hat’s support website (http://www.redhat.com/apps/support/errata/). After you download the image file, save it on your Windows system, give it a short name such as new.img. Then, create a new boot disk by following the steps explained in the “Creating the Red Hat Boot Disk” section. Remember to specify the new boot image file in response to the question that asks for the image source filename.
Understanding the Fatal Signal 11 Error
Some people get a fatal signal 11 error during installation. This usually happens past the initial boot screen as the anaconda installer is starting its GUI or text interface. The most likely cause of a signal 11 error during installation is a hardware error related to memory or the cache associated with the CPU (microprocessor).
Secret
Signal 11, also known as SIGSEGV (short for Segment Violation Signal), can occur in other Linux applications. A segment violation occurs when a process tries to access a memory location that it is not supposed to access. The operating system catches the problem before it happens and stops the offending process by sending it a signal 11. When it happens during installation, it means that anaconda had error accessing memory, and the most likely reason is some hardware problem.
A commonly suggested cure for the signal 11 problem is to turn off CPU cache in the BIOS. To do this, you have to enter setup as the PC boots (by pressing a function key such as F2) and then turn off CPU cache from the BIOS setup menus.
If the problem is due to hardware error in memory (in other words, the result of bad memory chips), you could try swapping the memory modules around in their slots. You may also consider replacing an existing memory module with another memory module, if you have it handy.
You can read more about the signal 11 problem at the following website:
http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/
Using Boot Commands during Installation
When you boot the PC for installation, either from a boot disk or directly from the first CD-ROM, you get a text screen with the boot: prompt. Typically, you press Enter at that prompt or do nothing and the installation begins shortly. You can, however, type quite a variety of commands at the boot prompt. The commands can provide options to the Linux kernel that takes care of the installation and controls various aspects of the installation such as whether the kernel should probe for hardware or whether to use GUI screens for the installation. Some of these commands can be helpful in bypassing problems that you may encounter during installation.
To use these boot commands, you type the word linux followed by the boot command. For example, to perform text-mode installation and tell the kernel that your PC has 256MB of memory, you’d type the following at the boot prompt:
linux text mem=256M
Consult Table 2-3 for a brief summary of the boot commands.
Insider Insight A few of the boot commands do not require you to type linux first. You can simply type text to enter text-mode installation and expert to run the installation in expert mode.
Table 2-3: Linux Boot Commands for Red Hat Linux Installation Command
Description
askmethod
Prompts you for other installation methods such as install over the network using NFS, FTP, or HTTP
apic
Works around a bug commonly encountered in the Intel 440GX chipset BIOS and should only be executed with the installation program kernel
apm=allow_ints
Changes how the laptop can be suspended
apm=off
Disables APM (Advanced Power Management) in case a BIOS has a buggy APM
apm=power_off
Causes Red Hat Linux to power off the system (useful for symmetric multiprocessing—SMP—systems that do not shut down by default)
apm=realmode_power_off
Causes APM to work the way it does in Windows 95 instead of how it works in Windows NT (useful if BIOS crashes when trying to shut down the machine)
dd
Prompts for a driver disk during the installation of Red Hat Linux
display=IP_address:0
Causes installer GUI to appear on the remote system identified by the IP address (make sure that you run the command xhost +hostname on the remote system where hostname is the host where you are running the installer)
driverdisk
Performs the same function as the dd command
expert
Enables you to partition removable media and prompts for a driver disk
ide=nodma
Disables DMA (direct memory access) on all IDE devices and can be useful when you are having IDE-related problems
isa
Prompts you for the configuration of older ISA devices—the older IBM-compatible PC architecture) devices
ks
Configures the Ethernet card using DHCP and then runs a kickstart installation by using a kickstart file from an NFS server identified by the bootServer parameters provided by the DHCP server
ks=kickstartfile
Runs a kickstart installation by using the kickstart file specified by kickstartfile (see the “Using kickstart Installation” section for the format of the kickstartfile specification)
lowres
Forces the installer GUI to run at a lower resolution (640x480)
mediacheck
Prompts you if you want to check the integrity of the CD image (also called ISO image). This is done by computing the MD5 checksum and comparing that with the official Red Hat provided value. It can take a few minutes to check a CD-ROM.
mem=xxxM
Overrides the amount of memory the kernel detects in the PC (some older machines could detect only 16MB of memory, and on some new machines the video card may use a portion of the main memory). Replace xxx with the number representing the megabytes of memory in your PC.
nmi_watchdog=1
Enables the built-in kernel deadlock detector that makes use of Non Maskable Interrupt (NMI)
noapic
Prevents the kernel from using the Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) chip (use this on motherboards known to have a bad APIC)
nofirewire
Does not load support for FireWire
noht
Disables hyperthreading (a feature available in some SMP systems)
nomce
Disables self-diagnosis checks performed on the CPU by using Machine Check Exception (MCE). On some machines these checks are performed too often and need to be disabled.
nomount
Does not automatically mount any installed Linux partitions in rescue mode
nopass
Does not pass the keyboard and mouse information to stage 2 of the installation program
nopcmcia
Ignores any PCMCIA controllers in system
noprobe
Disables automatic hardware detection and instead prompts the user for information about SCSI and network hardware installed on the PC. You can pass parameters to modules by using this approach.
noshell
Disables shell access on virtual console 2 (the one you get by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F2) during installation
nousb
Disables the loading of USB support during the installation (may be useful if the installation program hangs early in the process)
nousbstorage
Disables the loading of the usbstorage module in the installation program’s loader. It may help with device ordering on SCSI systems.
reboot=b
Changes the way the kernel tries to reboot the PC so that it can reboot even if the kernel hands during system shutdown
rescue
Starts the kernel in rescue mode where you get a shell prompt and can try to fix problems
resolution=HHHxVVV
Causes the installer GUI to run in the specified video mode (replace HHH and VVV with standard resolution numbers, such as 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, and so on)
serial
Turns on serial console support during installation
skipddc
Skips the Display Data Channel (DDC) probe of monitors (useful if the probing causes problems)
text
Runs the installation program in text mode
updates
Prompts for a floppy disk containing updates (bug fixes)
Learning Other Installation Methods
anaconda, the Red Hat installer, supports a number of installation methods. The CD-ROM method is one that you see described in this chapter. The other methods involve installing from different types of servers or even a hard disk partition that holds exact copy of the Red Hat Linux CD-ROMs. These images of a CD-ROM are known as ISO images.
Here are all the installation methods that anaconda supports:
CD-ROM: This method installs Red Hat Linux from CD-ROMs. You can either boot from the CD-ROM or by using a boot disk with the bootdisk.img boot image. For laptop installations, use the boot disk together with a PCMCIA driver disk containing the pcmciadd.img image. This chapter describes the CD-ROM installation method in detail.
Hard Drive: If you have copied the Red Hat Linux ISO images to a local hard drive with either FAT or Linux (ext2 or ext3) file systems, you can use this method to install Red Hat Linux. You have to boot from a boot disk and then identify the hard drive partition and the directory that contains the ISO images.
NFS: This method installs from ISO images made available on a Network File System (NFS) server on the network. You have to boot the PC with a boor disk and then specify the NFS server and the directory as the source of the ISO images.
FTP: This method installs Red Hat Linux from ISO images located on an FTP server. You have to boot from a boor disk and then specify the FTP server and the directory that contains the ISO images.
HTTP: In this method, the Red Hat Linux ISO images are on a Web server and anaconda gets them by using HTTP (the Web server protocol). You have to boot the PC using a boot disk and then identify the Web server the directory where the ISO images are located.
Using kickstart Installation
If you need to install Red Hat Linux on many PCs, you need a way to automate the process so that you do not have to respond to the GUI installer prompts for each PC. kickstart is the answer to this need. It’s an automated installation method that enables you to install Red Hat Linux with very little interaction from you.
The idea behind kickstart is to create a text file with all the installation options and then “kick start” the installation by booting and then providing the kickstart file as input.
Starting a kickstart Installation
Setting aside for the moment how to prepare a kickstart file, I want to briefly explain how you can start a kickstart installation. The common use of kickstart installation is to place the Red Hat Linux ISO images on a server on the network and then perform kickstart installations at all the PCs. Let’s assume that you have the ISO images on a Web server and you want to install over the network using the HTTP installation method, but do this under the control of a kickstart file. Here’s what you would do:
Prepare a boot disk with the bootdisk.img file (located in the images directory of the first Red Hat Linux CD-ROM).
Prepare a network driver disk with the drvnet.img file.
Place the ISO images and the kickstart file on the Web server and make note of the directory where the kickstart file is located.
Boot the PC using the boot disk. At the boot prompt, type the following command:
linux ks=http://
where
linux ks=http://mycompany.com/redhat8/ks.cfg
After that the installation should proceed under the control of the kickstart file.
If the kickstart file is on an NFS server, all you have to do is specify the kickstart file appropriately. The kickstart syntax for NFS is
linux ks=nfs:
Thus, if the NFS server is someserver.com and the location of the kickstart file is /somedir/ks.cfg, then you type the following command at the boot prompt:
linux ks=nfs:someserver.com:/somedir/ks.cfg
You can also place a kickstart file named ks.cfg on a floppy (type mcopy ks.cfg a: to copy the file to a floppy), and then install it with the following command at the boot prompt:
linux ks=floppy
You can also use a very simple form of the kickstart installation command that looks like this:
linux ks
In this case, the installation program configures the Ethernet card using DHCP and then uses the bootServer item from the DHCP response as the NFS server from which to get the kickstart file. The name and location of the kickstart file depends on the bootfile specified by DHCP. If the DHCP server does not specify a bootfile, the installler tries to read the file /kickstart/A.B.C.D-kickstart, where A.B.C.D is the numeric IP address of the PC on which you are installing Red Hat Linux.
Preparing the kickstart File
One way to get a kickstart file is to perform the installation on one PC. The Red Hat installer saves the installation options in the /root/anaconda-ks.cfg kickstart file. You can then use this kickstart file to repeat the installation on other PCs. You can also use this kickstart file as a starting point and edit it to create a custom kickstart file suitable for your situation.
Here’s a typical anaconda-generated kickstart file:
# Kickstart file automatically generated by anaconda.
install
lang en_US.UTF-8
langsupport --default en_US.UTF-8 en_US.UTF-8
keyboard us
mouse generic3ps/2 --device psaux
xconfig --card "nVidia GeForce 2 Go" --videoram 16384 --hsync 31.5-48.5 --vsync
40-70 --resolution 1024x768 --depth 24 --startxonboot --defaultdesktop gnome
network --device eth0 --bootproto dhcp
rootpw --iscrypted $1$7oGAOtge$Q7PC0e2sIRSwRouqxlyMS.
firewall --disabled
authconfig --enableshadow --enablemd5
timezone America/New_York
bootloader --location=mbr
... other kickstart options deleted ...
%packages
@ Administration Tools
@ GNOME Desktop Environment
@ Office/Productivity
@ Printing Support
.... other package groups...
@ X Window System
gnome-audio
tk
... other individual packages...
xmms
firstboot
%post
As you can see, the file starts with a long list of kickstart options that essentially mirrors the installation steps that you normally go through when you install Red Hat Linux interactively. After the kickstart options comes a %packages section that lists the package groups and individual packages to install. Finally, you see a %post section that contains any commands to execute after the installation is complete. For example, you could add commands in the %post section to add one or more user accounts.
As this example illustrates, a kickstart file has the following sections, in the exact order shown:
Command section—This section lists all the kickstart options that control various aspects of the installation
%packages section—This section lists the package groups (with names that have an @ prefix) and individual package names.
%pre and %post sections—These two sections are optional, and they can appear in any order.
The command section of the kickstart file contains, at minimum, all the required options shown in Table 2-4. That table shows all the kickstart options and briefly describes each option.
Table 2-4: kickstart Options Option
Optional (O) or Required (R)
Description
autostep
O
Similar to interactive, except that it goes to the next screen for you. It is used mostly for debugging.
auth or authconfig
R
Specifies the authentication options. Use one or more of following arguments after this option:
—enablemd5 (use MD5 encryption for passwords)
—enablenis (turns on NIS support)
—nisdomain=
—nisserver=
—useshadow or —enableshadow (turns on shadow passwords)
—enableldap (turns on LDAP support in /etc/nsswitch.conf and requires the nss_ldap package)
—enableldapauth (enables LDAP as an authentication method)
—ldapserver=
—ldapbasedn=
—enableldaptls (uses transport layer security during LDAP lookups)
—enablekrb5 (turns on Kerberos 5 for authenticating users)
—krb5realm=
—krb5kdc=
—krb5adminserver=
—enablehesiod (enables Hesiod support for looking up user information)
—hesiodlhs (specifies the Hesiod left-hand side)
—hesiodrhs (specifies the Hesiod right-hand side)
—enablesmbauth (enables authentication of users by an SMB server)
—smbservers=
—smbworkgroup=
—enablecache (enables the nscd service that caches user information)
bootloader
R
Specifies where the boot loader is installed and, optionally, which boot loader to install. Use one or more of following arguments after this option:
—append=
—location=[mbr|partition|none] (tells where to write the boot loader,: one of mbr, part, or none)
—password=
—md5pass=
—useLilo (forces installation of LILO instead of GRUB)
—lba32 (when using LILO, force use of LBA32 mode of hard disk access)
—upgrade (upgrades existing boot loader configuration)
clearpart
O
Removes partitions from the system before creating new partitions. Use one or more of following arguments after this option:
—linux (erases all existing Linux partitions)
—all (erases all existing partitions)
—drives=
—initlabel (initializes the disk label to the default for PC’s architecture)
device
O
Instructs installer to load extra device driver modules. Use the following arguments: —opts=
—opts=
deviceprobe
O
Probes the PCI bus for devices and loads modules for all the devices found (assuming that a module is available for the device)
driverdisk
O
Instructs the installer to look for driver disks in the specified disk partition. Use the following arguments:
—type=
firewall
O
Configures the firewall based on the arguments:
—trust=
—port=
install
O
Indicates that you want to do a fresh install. Specify the install method with one of the following arguments:
cdrom (installs from the first CD-ROM drive)
harddrive —partition=
nfs —server=
url —url http://
url —url ftp://
interactive
O
Allows you to view and modify options as kickstart install progresses
keyboard
R
Sets the keyboard type. Here is the list of available keyboards on i386, Itanium, and Alpha machines: be-latin1, be-latin2, bg, br-abnt2, cf, cz-lat2, cz-us-qwertz, de, de-latin1, de-latin1-nodeadkeys, dk, dk-latin1, dvorak, es, et, fi, i-latin1, fr, fr-latin0, fr-latin1, fr-pc, fr_CH, fr_CH-latin1, gr, hu, hu101, is-latin1, it, it-ibm, it2, jp106, no, no-latin1, pl, pt-latin1, ro, ru, ru-cp1251, ru-ms, ru1, ru2, ru_win, se-latin1, sg, sg-latin1, sk-qwerty, slovene, speakup, speakup-lt, trq, ua, uk, us
lang
R
Sets the language to use during installation. Valid language codes are cs_CZ, da_DK, en_US, fr_FR, de_DE, is_IS, it_IT, ja_JP.eucJP, ko_KR.eucKR, no_NO, pt_PT, ru_RU.koi8r, sl_SI, es_ES, sv_SE, uk_UA, zh_CN.GB18030, zh_TW.Big5
langsupport
R
Sets the languages to install on the system. Use the same language codes as the ones for the lang option. If you install more than one language, indicate the default with the following argument:
—default=
logvol
O
Creates a logical volume for Logical Volume Management (LVM). Provide the following arguments:
—vgname=
—size=
—name=
mouse
R
Specifies the mouse type and configures it. Use the following arguments:
—device=
—emulthree (enable emulation of a three-button mouse)
network
O
Configures the local area network information. For installations over network, the installation uses the first Ethernet card (eth0) and configures is dynamically using DHCP. Use the following arguments to configure network:
—bootproto=
—device=
—ip=
—netmask=
—gateway=
—nameserver=
—nodns (do not configure any DNS server)
—hostname=
part or partition
R
Creates a partition on the hard drive. Use the following arguments to specify details:
—recommended (use with swap to size the partition automatically)
raid.
pv.
—size=
—grow (causes partition to grow up to available space)
—maxsize=
—noformat (do not format partition)
—onpart=
—usepart=
—ondisk=
—ondrive=
—asprimary (creates a primary partition)
—bytes-per-inode=
—fstype=
—start=
—end=
—badblocks (checks partition for bad blocks)
raid
O
Creates a software RAID device. Use the following arguments:
—level=
—device=
—spares=
—fstype=
—noformat (does not format the RAID array)
reboot
O
Reboots after the installation is complete
rootpw
R
Sets the system’s root password. Use the following arguments:
—iscrypted (password is already encrypted)
skipx
O
Skips configuration of X Window System.
text
O
Performs the installation in text mode (instead of the default graphical mode).
timezone
R
Sets the system time zone. Use the following arguments:
—utc (indicates that hardware clock is set to UTC—Greenwich Mean Time)
upgrade
O
Upgrades an existing system rather than installing a fresh system
xconfig
O
Configures the X Window System. Use the following arguments:
—noprobe (does not probe the monitor)
—card=
—videoram=
—monitor=
—hsync=
—vsync=
—defaultdesktop=
—startxonboot (provides a graphical login screen)
—resolution=
—depth=
volgroup
O
Creates a Logical Volume Management (LVM) group. Use following arguments:
zerombr
O
Initializes any invalid partition tables found on disks. Use the following argument:
yes (destroy disks with invalid partition tables)
%include
O
Includes the content of another file into this kickstart file. Use the following arguments:
The package group names listed in the %package section are defined in the RedHat/base/comps.xml file on the first Red Hat Linux CD-ROM. The comps.xml file uses XML to define the package database. Each package group contains one or more packages. The comps.xml file also defines the dependencies for each package—the other packages that a package needs in order to work properly.
The %pre section includes commands to be executed immediately after the kickstart file has been processed but before any installation steps are performed. In the %pre section, you can place a shell script to perform any preparatory tasks that have to be performed before installation can begin.
The %post section contains the commands to be executed after installation complete. In this section, you can place commands to turn services on or off and add user accounts.
Insider Insight If you have a working Red Hat Linux system with a GUI desktop, you can use a GUI tool, called Kickstart Configurator, to create the kickstart file. To use the tool, select Main Menu>System Tools>Kickstart. You can also start the tool by typing the redhat-config-kickstart command in a terminal window.
Installing Red Hat Linux on a Laptop
Laptops (also called notebook computers) are more integrated than desktops are; a laptop’s video card, monitor, and hard disk are all built into a compact package. In other words, you cannot easily mix and match components with laptops as you do with desktop systems, so you have to make sure that Linux supports all components of your laptop system.
Laptops typically have a PCMCIA adapter where you can plug in many peripherals such as a wireless Ethernet network card or a modem. When installing Red Hat Linux on a laptop with a CD-ROM drive, you can either boot from the CD-ROM or prepare an additional driver disk for PCMCIA support. To prepare the PCMCIA driver disk, follow the same steps used for the Red Hat boot disk, but specify \images\pcmcia.img as the image filename. As with desktop PCs, you do not have to worry about the boot disk if you can boot the laptop directly from the CD-ROM drive.
If your laptop does not have a CD-ROM drive, then you have to use one of the other installation methods. See the “Learning Other Installation Methods” section of this chapter for brief descriptions of these other methods. Typically, you’d need a network interface and would then install using one of the network installation methods from another system on your local area network.
Most laptops with Intel 80386 or better processors should be able to run plain Linux without any problems. If you want to install XFree86, however, you may have some trouble if XFree86 does not support the video card (on a laptop, video circuitry is built into the motherboard) and the pointing device. With the Linux kernel versions 2.4 and later, you can use the VESA driver to get X working on most laptops even if XFree86 doesn’t natively support the laptop’s graphics chipset. Also, nowadays, most laptop pointing devices can at least emulate a standard PS/2 Mouse, so all pointing devices should work with XFree86.
Secret
This section barely touches upon the subject of how to run Linux on laptops. Installing Linux on a specific laptop model is a unique experience, and there are simply too many different models to describe here. As users install and run Linux on a variety of laptops, the user community’s cumulative experience of Linux on laptops continues to grow. Much of this information is summarized and made available on the Web. For detailed information on how to install and run Linux on laptops, point your Web browser to the Linux on Laptops Home Page: http://www.linux-laptop.net/.
This page includes links to many more Web pages, each documenting the details of how to install and run Linux on a specific laptop model. In particular, you will find out if you have to do anything special to get Linux and X running on your laptop.
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