% Linux Installation and Getting Started    -*- TeX -*-
% install.tex
% Copyright (c) 1992-1994 by Matt Welsh <mdw@sunsite.unc.edu>
%
% This file is freely redistributable, but you must preserve this copyright 
% notice on all copies, and it must be distributed only as part of "Linux 
% Installation and Getting Started". This file's use is covered by the 
% copyright for the entire document, in the file "copyright.tex".

\subsection{Installing the software}
\namedlabel{sec-install-installing}{Installing the software}

Finally, you are ready to install the software on your system. Every
distribution has a different mechanism for doing this. Many 
distributions have a self-contained program which will step you through
the installation.  On other distributions, you will have to {\bf mount}
your filesystems in a certain subdirectory (such as {\tt /mnt}) and 
copy the software to them by hand. On CD-ROM distributions, you may be
given the option to
install a portion of the software on your hard drives, and leave most of
the software on the CD-ROM. 

Some distributions offer several different ways to install the software. For 
example, you may be able to install the software directly from an MS-DOS
partition on your hard drive, instead of from floppies. Or, you may be able
to install over a TCP/IP network via FTP or NFS. See your distribution's 
documentation for details.

For example, the Slackware distribution only requires you to 
create partitions with {\tt fdisk}, optionally create swap space
with {\tt mkswap} and {\tt swapon} (if you have 4 megs or less
of RAM), and then run the {\tt setup} program. {\tt setup} leads
you through a very self-explanatory menu system to install the software. 
\ifodd\igsslack
Use of {\tt setup} is described in detail below.
\fi

The exact method used to install the Linux software differs greatly with 
each distribution. We're hoping that installing the Linux software should 
be self-explanatory, as it is with most distributions.

\ifodd\igsslack
\input{install/slack/setup}
\fi
