7. Post installation configuration
In this chapter we will boot our fresh installed system for the
first time, and learn how to finnish the post-installation
configuration of the various systems.
7.1. The Boot Prompt
If everything worked, you should now be able to reboot you're
system, and start your freshly installed Linux system for the
first time. Reinsert the boot floppy disk in the floppy drive,
and switch the machine on again. If it won't boot, try to hit
F5 at the splash screen while the system check icons pop up in
the bottom of the screen. At the boot prompt, ("Linux/PPC
load:") you must add a boot parameter to make the system find
your root partition. (That's usually the main system
partition.) Press backspace to remove what's already there, and
add something like this:
I use sda3 as sda3 is where I have installed my root partition,
that is, the partition mounted at "/". You might
have something different, and you should have written it down
when you partitioned you harddisk(s). Luckily we did this, of course.
Note that we have to use this routine every time we boot
machine, until we make our own kernel that suits the
installation we just finished. This is described in Section 9
The system should boot up and maybe even doing some post
configuration, see below.
7.2. Post installation configuration of Debian
The post installation configuration of Debian is described in
detail in the document ch-init-config-en.html at your favourite Debian
mirror. If you have cleared all previous stages, you get 400
bonus points, and can skip directly to paragraph 8.3.
By some strange reason, the Debian installer doesn't set up
the network according to the fixes in the installer. If you
want to use apt over a network connection, you should jump to
a virtual screen (Alt+F2), log in as root, and set up
networking. This is done by editing the file
/etc/networking/interfaces , but the syntax of that file is
way out of scope for this document. More information should be
found in the Debian documentationm. Use the command
to get the manual page. When you are done, run
to take the link up. Then jump back to the installer screen by
pressing Alt+F1.
7.3. Post configuration of SuSE
The post installation configuration of SuSE should be quite
painless. Make up a root password and enter it twice. Done.
The rest should run automagically. Nice, eh?
7.4. Post configuration of Yellow Dog
YellowDog Linux does not have any post installation issues at
all, except the expected kernel errors caused by lacking
module directories. What a cool operating system! Look in
Section 9 for detailed instructions on how to
compile and install a working kernel.
There is some info at this
url if we want to dig into more configuration. But we want
to read the following chapters first.
Before taking another step you should go to a silent chamber
and think: "I've got Yellow Dog 2.3. YES! But should I be
content with that, now when YellowDog 3.0 is out? Should I
really?" If the answer to that question is "No" then skip to
Section 14. If you pass over the start field in
the movement, you'll receive $2000 and a hotel.
7.5. Post configuration of Mandrake
Not much to mention here. The system should work more or less
out of the box. Wow! You will probably get some errors on
lacking kernel files. You will learn how to compile and
install a complete kernel in Section 9. You may
want to (re)configure your network. There does exist a tool
called "drakconnect" that should be able to do this, but I
never got it to behave. Configuring the local network is easy
though. Just fire up your favourite editor (at least vi is
installed) and edit the files mentioned below. This example
describes a static ip configuration. Generally, this is the
"RedHat" way to do things, so examples and documentation
should be easy to find.
/etc/sysconfig/network
NETWORKING=YES
HOSTNAME=barky
GATEWAY=192.168.0.1 |
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=static
BROADCAST=192.168.0.255
IPADDR=192.168.0.5
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
ONBOOT=YES |
/etc/resolv.conf
For a DHCP configuration, change BOOTPROTO to "dhcp", and skip
the BROADCAST, IPADDR, NETMASK, GATEWAY and nameserver
options.
I'm no Mandrake Guru. I actually never use Mandrake, and fixed
the installer just for the exercise. By some reason, eth0
doesn't get active at boot time with the configuration above,
though it does after a 'ifdown eth0; ifup eth0', so I just
put that in my rc.local. Go figure.
7.6. Installation: Done!
After the post installation configuration, the system should
boot up to a ready state, and greet you with a login
prompt. Congratulations, you have installed GNU/Linux on your
7248. You are dismissed to have a beer or a cup of tea. Or
even coffee. From here, you have to know how to use
linux. This is absolutely outside the scope of this document,
but if you are a complete newbie, you could for example check
out Introduction
to Linux - A Hands on Guide by Machtelt Garrels.