Installation step by step

NOTE Before starting, please make sure that the BIOS of your computer is properly configured so that your PC can boot from a Zenwalk installation CD. (Please consult the user manual for your PC on how to configure its boot options).

1. Zenwalk Linux Boot Screen
   Booting from the CD, you will be greeted with the boot screen of the Zenwalk installation CD. On the first line, the version number of your Zenwalk installation CD is written.
   • Press enter to accept the default boot option if you use a standard IDE pata/sata controler - or not sure.
   • Type the kernel name, e.g. "SCSI " for the SCSI controller, and press enter
   • Press F2 for viewing the complete list of boot options.

2. Zenwalk Setup Under the setup screen, there are:

      KEYMAP
      PARTITION
      AUTOINSTALL
      INSTALL
      EXIT
   

   Select options using up/down keys and press enter to choose. Choose KEYMAP to select the keyboard map of your PC. Select PARTITION if you wish to rewrite your partition table. Select AUTOINSTALL if you have a dedicated hard drive for Zenwalk and if you do not wish to partition it manually. Select INSTALL if you wish to set up target partitions manually and install Zenwalk packages on your box. Select EXIT if you want to quit this Zenwalk Setup program.

3. KEYBOARD MAP SELECTION
   Please select one of available keyboard maps in the list. You may have to know which to choose in advance, but normally, it is straight forward to see (e.g. fr.map for a French keyboard map).

4. PARTITION EDITOR
   If you choose to manually write/rewrite the partition table of your hard drive, you have to choose a disk you want to partition first. Press space to select a disk, then select Go with left/right keys and press enter to proceed to cfdisk interface. If you wish to cancel/finish partitioning, select Exit and press enter.

5. cfdisk PARTITIONING TOOL
   On the first line, you will see the disk drive you are going to partition. On the second, the size of the disk. The third line is not very important to a normal user.
   On the main table, from the left, you see Name, Flags, Part Type, FS Type, Label and Size. On the bottom of the table, you see available operations: Help, New, Print, Quit, Units and Write. You can move around your selection cursor only by up, down, left and right keys, and choosing a selection by pressing enter.
   Select a Free Space on the main table, and choose New. You will be asked if you want to create a Primary or a Logical partition. Choose whichever, but you cannot have more than 4 Primary partitions, in which case, you might want to create a logical partition. Select yes to create the first linux partition. Make it Bootable, which appears on the manu under the table.
   Now, create another partition for swap. Select New, as before, choose a partition type and its partition size. Selct yes, to create the partition. Then select Type from the menu, enter 82 for Linux swap partition type. If you don't choose the "autopartition" tool, Your hard-disk must be partitioned properly to install Zenwalk. You may not want to create a large swap partition if you have a large amount of RAM on your PC. Otherwise, twice the size of your RAM may be a good guide line for the size of your swap partition.
   If you wish to create more partitions, you can repeat by selecting a free space and choosing New from the menu.
   When you are happy with your new partition layout, select Write to write the partition table, then select Quit to exit cfdisk.

6. AUTOINSTALL
   To install Zenwalk automatically, you can choose AUTOINSTALL tool, which automatically partitions your hard drive. However, it is necessary to reboot after this auto-partitioning. If your hard disk is larger that 10 GB , 3 partitions will be created (swap, / and /home). If the hard disk size is between 3 and 10 GB, 2 partitions will be made (swap and /). If the hard disk size is less than 3 GB, then you will have to create the partitions manually.
   NOTE Choosing this option will wipe the chosen harddrive. So be careful. This is an easy option to take but all the data on the entire harddrive you choose, and any previous partition settings will be deleted.
   AUTOINSTALL is great for new users who has bought a disk for Linux exclusively. It is also great for testers who has a disk reserved for testing distos.
   If you only have one hardddrive and you intend to keep Windows on one fo the partitions, and if you want to prepare partitions for Linux on the same harddrive, then AUTOINSTALL is NOT the way to go.

7. INSTALL
   INSTALL will set up target partitions manually and install Zenwalk packages on your box.
   1. SWAP SPACE DETECTED
      Select INSTALL next to continue with the installation. You will be asked to set up a swap partition. This should be automatically detected. Select OK to continue.

   2. SELECT FILESYSTEM FOR /
      You will be asked to choose a partition for / directory. After selecting a partition, you need to choose a file system. Select one of the four available file systems: ext2, ext3, reiserfs and xfs, then format (or not format/check+format) the partition. Press OK to proceed.

   3. Select other Linux partitions for /etc/fstab
      You can add more partitions to the system, and mount them during boot. Select a partition you want to mount during boot. Available partitions are listed but unmounted unless labelled (IN USE).
      Once again, you will be asked to choose a file system format and to format the partition. In the next screen, you need to provide a target mount point directory for the partition - i.e. a directory name for the partition. Two of the most commonly used directories are: /home (where all your personal data and files are kept) and /usr (where all the installed programs are).
      TIP Choosing a separate partition for /home protects your user files from your root partition. This means that you can test other distros, upgrade (or reinstall) Zenwalk, etc. without having to backup your yser data. This is quite convenient.
      Choose Continue, once you finish adding all the partitions you want to add and mount during boot. You will be also asked if you want to add FAT and NTFS partitions from Windows if you have them in your hard drive. Choose yes and name the partitions if you wish to mount them during boot.
      Note that both FAT and NTFS are read-only partitions by default though both of them can be made writable by modifying the fstab file later.
      In the following screen, you can confirm the status of the partitions you mounted on the system, and the locations of their mount point directories.

   4. SOURCE SELECTION
      Now you are asked to select the installation source. Normally, it is your Zenwalk CD if you are installing Zenwalk from CD. Select the first option, Install from the Zenwalk CD.
      If you choose the second option, Install from a pre-mounted directory, you will be asked which directory you want to use as a source.
      Once selected, the setup will start installing packages, which takes about 15-30 minutes. No package selection is needed because this is a "one application/one task" system. And Linux beginners also avoid obtaining a corrupt system.

   5. INSTALL LILO
      After installing all the packages, you will be asked to install a boot loader. Select simple if you wish to install LILO automatically or if you are not sure. For more experienced users, expert mode will provide a way to modify lilo.conf. You can also skip this step if you wish to install GRUB, another popular boot loader.

   6. Optional Kernel Parameters
      Some systems might require extra parameters to be passed to the kernel. If you know you need extra parameters, then enter them here. In most system, this is not required. Choose OK.

   7. CONFIGURE LILO TO USE FRAME BUFFER CONSOLE?
      standard is a safe choice, unless you’re sure that your video card supports frame buffering (FB). You can select a resolution you want during boot. Options are with a lovely Zenwalk splash screen, with a boot logo or with nothing (standard).

   8. SELECT LILO DESTINATION
      MBR (Master Boot Record) is generally a good place to install LILO, so select MBR, unless you have a reason not to do so.

   9. HARDWARE CLOCK SET TO UTC?
      Set the hardware clock to either local time or UTC. If you choose a local time, you will be asked to choose the place/time zone you wish to set.

   10. Startup services
       Select on-boot services by using up/down keys, and hit the space to select/deselect the desired start-up items. (For details, take a look at the dedicated section in the manual.)

   11. Setting Up Systems
       It's time now to quit the install process and reboot, your disk will be automatically ejected, you will have to press Ctrl+alt+delete to reboot.
       ***
       If all is ok and if LILO is successfully installed, you will see the beautiful Zenwalk bootsplash. Select Zenwalk and press enter.
       Then you need to read through some licence agreements. If you agree with them, then select OK.
       ALSA Configurator will detect your sound system. Keep pressing OK.
       You will also asked to select the system language. Please select your prefered system language (locale). It is preferable to select a utf8 code, e.g. en_GB.utf8. UTF-8 is a widely supported format, which is also usable in MS Windows drives.
       In the following screen, you will be asked to set up your root password. This is your super user password, and should only be used when you wish to carry out a system wide change on your box. The password must be a very secure one becasue it protects your computer and system wide settings from intruders, who can explore everything on your computer and take advantage of it for other hacks should the system be compromised. Please do prepare a strong password - the minimum is 6 characters.

   12. User management
       Now it's time to add a user. Select Create User and follow the wizard (see the dedicated section of the manual).
       It is a good idea to create at least one user, which you can use for everyday use. To keep the system secure, it is advisable not to use the root account unless you need to change something in the system. Use the created user account for any other purpose.
       Fill in the details for the new account. The ones you have to be aware of are: expiry date (choose Never, if you don't want to set an expiry date.), user group and password for the account. Once done, you can exit from UserConfig by entering Done (see the didicated part of the manual for more details).
       Select done and then exit.

   13. X11 configuration
       Videoconfig will setup your videocard or your graphic chipset. Write the change to xorg.conf as suggested, and choose the option for the graphical login.

   14. Welcome to Zenwalk Linux!
       You will be welcome by the Graphical Desktop Manager. In the centre, you have a box to type in your user name and password. You may select another language by selecting language or change a different session manager from xfce4 by selecting Session. Actions menu will let you select to restart/shutdown your PC.

8. EXIT Select EXIT if you prefer to enter the console mode. This is particularly useful if the installation failed somehow and need to fix something or if you experience some trouble entering Zenwalk.