Introduction

Welcome to the Official Red Hat Linux x86 Installation Guide. This guide contains useful information

to assist you during the installation of Red Hat Linux. From fundamental concepts such as installation

preparation to the step by step installation procedure, this book will be a valuable resource as you

install Red Hat Linux.

This manual will walk you through a typical installation using the Red Hat Linux CD ROMs. Once

you have completed the installation as outlined in this manual, you will have a fully functioning

system.

1. Document Conventions

When you read this manual, you will see that certain words are represented in different fonts, type 

faces, sizes, and weights. This highlighting is systematic; different words are represented in the same

style to indicate their inclusion in a specific category. The types of words that are represented this way

include the following:

command

Linux commands (and other operating system commands, when used) are represented this way.

This style should indicate to you that you can type the word or phrase on the command line

and press [Enter] to invoke a command. Sometimes a command contains words that would be

displayed in a different style on their own (such as filenames). In these cases, they are considered

to be part of the command, so the entire phrase will be displayed as a command. For example:

Use the

cat testfile

command to view the contents of a file, named

testfile

, in the current

working directory.

filename

Filenames, directory names, paths, and RPM package names are represented this way. This style

should indicate that a particular file or directory exists by that name on your Red Hat Linux

system. Examples:

The

.bashrc

file in your home directory contains bash shell definitions and aliases for your own

use.

The

/etc/fstab

file contains information about different system devices and filesystems.

Install the

webalizer

RPM if you want to use a Web server log file analysis program.

application

This style should indicate to you that the program named is an end user application (as opposed

to system software). For example:

Use Mozilla to browse the Web.

[key]

A key on the keyboard is shown in this style. For example:

To use [Tab] completion, type in a character and then press the [Tab] key. Your terminal will

display the list of files in the directory that start with that letter.

[key] [combination]

A combination of keystrokes is represented in this way. For example:

The [Ctrl] [Alt] [Backspace] key combination will exit your graphical session and return you to

the graphical login screen or the console.