4.2 Linux Install Topic

4.2.1 Preparation

1. Read the Debian installation read-me file.
2. Read chapter 2 of Running Linux by Welsh, Dalheimer, & Kaufman. "Preparing to Install Linux".
3. Read chapter 3 of Running Linux by Welsh, Dalheimer, & Kaufman. "Installation and Initial Configuration".
4. Read chapter 4 of Running Linux by Welsh, Dalheimer, & Kaufman. "Essential System Management".
5. Locate a Debian distribution CD-ROM.
6. If necessary, prepare a bootable floppy disk.
7. Understand hard disk partitioning. Some items to consider:
   1. Try to minimize the activity on the root partition and on the root device. Failures here are difficult to recover from.
   2. Have all necessary file to boot the system on the root partition.
   3. Have twice as much swap space as real memory.
   4. Place the swap space on the least busy fastest device. Place a swap partition near the center of the disk.
   5. If /usr runs out of space, the system should still have space on /.
   6. If a daemon logs too much, it should not prevent a user from saving its work. This and temp files are usually placed in /var and on a separate partition.
   7. If a user fills up the partition he/she is using, this should not upset the whole system. (It will probably upset a bunch of other users though.)
   8. UNIX systems fail VERY badly if they run out of space on root "/" and need some. It may not be possible to re-boot the system.
8. Find & review the systems hardware configuration.
9. Obtain the primary IP address for the system.

4.2.2 Group Task

1. Install and configure a system with a Debian distribution.
2. Install and configure a second system with a non Debian distribution.
3. Telnet from one system to the other.
4. ftp files from one system to the other
5. Add user accounts to both systems for each member of your group.
6. Get pine & pico working. For Debian you may want to grab pine-pico.tgz from the anonymous ftp server on red.cscwc.pima.edu.
7. Mail your report from your Debian system.

4.2.3 Report

• To: ltaber@pima.edu
• Subject: CSC225 Topic: 4.2: Install
• Attach:
  1. Output of ifconfig eth0 for each system.
  2. Output of fdisk -l for each system.
  3. /etc/fstab.
• Message text:
  1. Group membership.
  2. Name of the second distribution used.
  3. Relative merits of each distribution.
  4. Suggestions on this topic.