Chris Tyler: Fedora Linux

Fedora Core can be configured for dual booting , as long as you have sufficient disk space for both operating systems. You will be given the opportunity to select the default operating system during the Fedora installation, and you can override this default during the boot process, selecting the operating system you wish to use from a menu.

If Windows is currently using your entire hard disk, you will need to resize the Windows partition (see Lab 10.1, "Resizing a Windows Partition ") or add an extra disk drive. If Windows is not yet installed on your computer, you should install it before Fedora; otherwise, it may overwrite your Fedora bootloader (or, in some cases, the entire Fedora installation).

There are dozens and dozens of Linux distributions, each aimed at a different audience. For details about specific distributions, visit http://distrowatch.com .

Visit http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/6/i386/os/repodata/ , and you'll see a browsable display of all of the packages in Fedora Core. Click on a package name to see a detailed description of the package.

 The Fedora Project: http://fedora.redhat.com/ and http://fedoraproject.org

 The Fedora Legacy Project: http://www.fedoralegacy.org/

 The Open Source Initiative: http://www.opensource.org/

 About Fedora: http://fedora.redhat.com/About

 Red Hat Enterprise Linux: http://redhat.com/rhel

 CentOS: http://www.centos.org/

 Linux distributions: http://distrowatch.com/

The Fedora software exists in two parts: Fedora Core , a Linux distribution that includes base applications for desktop and server systems, and Fedora Extras , a repository of additional applications that can be added easily to a Fedora Core system.

The first step is to obtain a copy of the Fedora Core software itself.

The Fedora Core installer is a bare-bones configuration of Linux designed specifically for the installation process. Once the installer is running, it configures and installs the Fedora Core software on your system.

There are, therefore, two parts to the software: the software used to boot up the system for the installation session, and the software that is installed on your system. These may be on the same media, or they may be separated into boot media and installation media .

Before selecting the media and obtaining the software, you must determine which architecture (machine type) you are using. Fedora Core is available for three different architectures:

i386

All Intel-compatible 32-bit systems with a standard BIOS, including all Intel 32-bit Celeron, Pentium, Centrino, and Core systems; AMD 32-bit Athlon, Duron, and Turion systems; and VIA CPUs such as the C3 and Eden processors. Older processors such as 80386, 80486, and K6 processors will also work. Fedora Core may be installed on Apple Mac systems with an Intel processor by using Apple's Boot Camp software (included in Mac OS X 10.5 and available in beta form for Mac OS X 10.4).

x86_64

All AMD-compatible 64-bit systems, including Opteron, Athlon 64, Duron 64, and Turion 64 systems, and Intel 64-bit Pentium 4, Xeon, and Core 2 systems. These systems can also run the i386 version but will do so in 32-bit mode.

PPC

Systems based on the PowerPC G3/POWER4 and later PowerPC processors, including recent PPC-based Apple Macs (manufactured between 1999 and 2006), IBM eServer pSeries, and IBM RS/6000 systems.

This chapter focuses on the i386 and x86_64 platforms, but the PPC installation procedure is quite similar.

The Fedora Core installation boot software is usually started from a CD or DVD disc. It's also possible to boot from a USB flash disk drive if the system's BIOS supports it, or to boot from a network boot server using the PXE protocol. Table 1-1 outlines the boot media requirements.

Table 1-1. Boot media requirements for installing Fedora Core 6

Once the system has been booted, the rest of the installation software can be on a DVD, several CDs, an existing hard drive partition on the computer (or an external hard disk drive), or an FTP, NFS, or HTTP server. Table 1-2 outlines the requirements.

Table 1-2. Installation media requirements for Fedora Core 6

To create a Fedora Core CD or DVD set, you must obtain the ISO image files .

To download the entire Fedora Core distribution for installation direct from disc, use one of these two procedures:

 Go to the web page http://fedora.redhat.com/Download/mirrors.html and select an HTTP or FTP site for direct download. Select the directory for the desired Fedora Core version number (6), then the directory for your machine architecture (i386, PPC, or x86_64), and then select the iso directory. You will probably not need the files containing "SRPM" in the name. If you want the CD images, get the files containing "disc1," "disc2," and so forth in the name; to obtain the DVD image, get the file containing "DVD" in the name.

 Use BitTorrent ( http://www.bittorrent.com ) to obtain the files from one of the Fedora torrents listed on http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/ .