Prepared by investech.wordpress.

com
.wordpress.com

Installation of Fedora
12 with Full DVD
Version 1.0

investech.wordpress.com
07-12-09
This document is produced under Creative Common License (Attribution No
Derivatives). Attribution will be given to invest
investech.wordpress.com.
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Contents
Preparation for Installation........................................................................................................................... 3
Choosing Between 32-bit / 64-bit Operating System ............................................................................... 3
Getting Fedora .......................................................................................................................................... 3
Hardware Requirement (x86) ................................................................................................................... 3
Getting Help .............................................................................................................................................. 4
Installation of Fedora 12 using Full DVD (32-bit/64-bit) ............................................................................... 5
Start Installation using DVD ...................................................................................................................... 5
Hard Disk Partition .................................................................................................................................... 9
Automatic Configuration of Disk Partition ............................................................................................ 9
Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (without LVM) ...................................................................... 10
Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (with LVM)............................................................................ 12
Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (with encryption) ................................................................. 13
Setting Boot Loader (using Grub)............................................................................................................ 15
Customize Installation Package .............................................................................................................. 16
Completion of the Installation ................................................................................................................ 18
Post Installation Setup ............................................................................................................................ 19
Installation Everything on Fedora 12 using DVD ........................................................................................ 22
Installation the Minimal on Fedora 12 using DVD ...................................................................................... 23
After the Installation ................................................................................................................................... 24
Text Mode Minimal Installation on Fedora 12 using DVD .......................................................................... 27
Alternative Installation Mode on Fedora 12 using DVD ............................................................................. 31

2
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Preparation for Installation

Choosing Between 32-bit / 64-bit Operating System

• When deciding to use 32-bit or 64-bit Fedora, you should consider the need and the usage of the
system. If you have proprietary hardware, the drivers and software are usually written in 32-bit. You
would have less problem with software installation such as Adobe products and most media players,
since most of these software were written in 32-bit.
• You could still install and use 32-bit software in a 64-bit operating environment. However, you need
to download all the 32-bit libraries, wrapper and component for installation and compilation. This
will increase your hard disk space since you need to maintain both 32-bit and 64-bit libraries.
• You should consider using 64-bit operating system if you need to use a particular software
application that requires speed and large amount of memory and this software is supported in 64-
bit Linux.
• If you have more than 3GB of RAM, you should consider using 64-bit operating system because the
32-bit operating system only recognizes 3GB of RAM.
• You could use 32-bit Fedora that addresses more than 3GB of RAM. This requires a different kernel
known as PAE (Physical Addressing Extension) kernel. This Fedora kernel makes use of PAE features
provided by Intel.

Getting Fedora
• You can download the latest Fedora distribution at http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora
• Download the full DVD. For 32-bit version, the file name is ‘Fedora-12-i386-DVD.iso’ and for 64-bit
version, the file name is ‘Fedora-12-x86_64-DVD.iso’.
• Proceed to burn the ISO image to DVD. You can search the web on how to burn an ISO image to a
DVD. You can use the ISO image if you are installing on a virtual machine.

Hardware Requirement (x86)

Ensure that your hardware meets the minimum requirement:
• Recommended for text-mode: 200 MHz Pentium Pro or better
• Recommended for graphical: 400 MHz Pentium Pro or better
• Minimum RAM for text-mode: 256MB
• Minimum RAM for graphical: 512MB
• Recommended RAM for graphical: >512MB
• The hard disk space required is depend on what application you choose to install. For normal
installation including office and productivity software, you will require 5-7GB of hard disk space. You
might need additional space for software updates and installation of additional applications.
• It is recommended you have a hard disk space of 6GB to 8GB for the operating system and
applications. You might need 10-12GB if you are going to install everything from the DVD. Additional
hard disk space should be considered for user data.
• At least 5% free space should be maintained for proper system operation.

3
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Getting Help
• You can look for helpful HOWTO documents, installation guide and wikis at http://fedoraproject.org
• You can search the web for help to resolve Fedora issues.
• You can also check out the following Linux forum:
o http://fedoraforum.org/
o http://www.linuxquestions.org/
o http://www.linuxforums.org/

4
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Installation of Fedora 12 using Full DVD (32-bit/64-bit)

Start Installation using DVD
• Boot up the DVD. At the boot loader, you have the choice of install or upgrade existing system. You
also given a choice of installing the system with basic video driver or rescue installed system.

• On the start of installation you are given the choice of checking your DVD media for corruption. You
may choose to skip it.

5
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• The installation program starts with the screen below.

• Then you proceed to select the language.

6
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• Choose the type of keyboard to use

• If you have new hard disk which has not been initialized, you might get a message asking to initialize
the hard disk.
• The host name is the name of your computer. You need to supply the host name using the internet
format localhost@domain.com. Local host is the name of the computer; domain name is use when
you have an Internet domain. For personal use and home use, you can use the defaults.

7
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• Select your time zone

• Enter the root password

• The next stage, which is the most important stage, is to designate the drive partition where Fedora
is to be installed.

8
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Hard Disk Partition

Automatic Configuration of Disk Partition
• If you have only one primary drive, you should let the system configure the drive.
• In Fedora 12, the default configuration creates a 200MB of hard disk using ext4 file system with
mount point “/boot”. The rest of the disk partition is configured using LVM.
• Within the LVM group, there are 2 logical partition volumes. The ‘lv_swap’ is configured using swap
file type having the disk size twice as much as your RAM (swap file size = RAM x 2). The ‘lv_root’ is
configured using the rest of the hard disk with ext4 file system using mount point “/” (root or first
level of the file system).
• Additionally, you have the option to encrypt the whole hard disk using a passphrase.

9
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (without LVM)

If you choose to configure the partition manually, you need to choose ‘Create custom layout’. This is
especially true if you are having mixed partition with the Windows file system.

Under Fedora 12, it is recommended that you create the following minimum partition:
• One main partition using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/”
• One swap partition using swap file system using a disk space of (RAM x 2)

10
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

The procedure for configuring disk partition manually is as follows:

• First, select “Create Custom Layout”

• Click [New], select the file type (either ext4 or swap) and select the mount point. You need to
determine the size of the partition and the hard disk drive which the partition is to be created.

11
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

For better management of disk space with multiple users or large data size, you might consider the
following:
• You might consider adding one or more partition using ext3 or ext4 with mount point “/usr” or
“/home”. For a computer system with multiple users or computer system with large user data; it is
better for user data to be place in a separate partition.
• If you have multiple hard disks, it is faster for the swap partition to be located in separate hard disk.
• LVM is designed for large hard disk space spanning into multiple hard disk. If you require more hard
disk space and would like to combine multiple hard disk into a single logical volume; then you should
configure the partition with LVM. For home user with a single hard disk, LVM is not necessary. This is
the reason we do not use LVM for manual configuration.

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (with LVM)

Under Fedora 12, it is recommended that you create the following minimum partition using LVM:
• One boot partition of 200 – 300MB, using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/boot”. (Boot
partition does not work with LVM)
• The rest of partition format using LVM with group name of your choice such as “VolGroup”. To
create logical partition in LVM. Click LVM button. Within LVM you can set the following:
o One main partition using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/”
o One swap partition using swap file system using a disk space of RAM size x 2

12
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (with encryption)

Under Fedora 12, it is recommended that you create the following minimum partition:
• One boot partition of 200 – 300MB, using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/boot”. (Boot
partition cannot be encrypted)
• One swap partition using swap file system using a disk space of RAM size x 2 (Swap file can be
encrypted)
• The rest of partition using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/” with encryption.
Note: Make sure you check the “Encrypt” checkbox at the bottom

13
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• You will be given an opportunity to create a passphrase for the encryption.

• For laptop user, it is better to encrypt the whole hard disk except the boot partition.

14
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Setting Boot Loader (using Grub)

• Fedora uses Grub as boot loader. You can choose to set up Grub as the default boot loader (in sda or
hd0, 0 or 1st partition in 1st drive) in a multiple OS environment. You can choose not to install Grub if
you have other boot loader installed. This means that you must configure your current boot loader
before you could boot up Fedora.
• By default Grub is set to be installed in MBR which is usually the first partition in the first hard disk.
• Alternatively you can set the Grub on your Linux partition. Using this option, the system assumes
that you have another boot loader in the MBR. This option allows you to use another boot loader to
point to your Grub boot loader to load Fedora. You need to modify other boot loader to point to the
Grub in your Linux partition or you won’t be able to boot up Fedora.
• For any boot option used during the installation, you need to permanently include them in the boot
loader. The configuration file is located at /boot/grub/grub.conf.
• If you have multiple hard disk but you intend to create MBR in every drive, the best way is to unplug
all other drive in your system. This ensures that Fedora can install Grub at the MBR. You may
proceed to plug in other drives after the installation. Note: You must physically unplug the drive
because disabling the drives in BIOS does work. Linux can still see the partition information even the
drive is disabled in the BIOS.
• For encrypted drive, the device will not be shown.

15
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Customize Installation Package

• At this stage you can select what type of application packages you want to install.
• To facilitate the selection, you are given 3 types of packages. They are office and productivity,
software development and web server. You select the package that fits the intended use of your
system.

• You are also given a choice to include additional repositories for additional software installation.
Perhaps the software you need to use is not in the DVD or in the official software repositories.

16
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• Alternatively, you may select customize now to select the individual packages.

17
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Completion of the Installation

• After selecting the software packages, the installation program proceeds with the installation of the
operating system by copying files to the hard disk.

• Once the installation files are copied to the hard disk and boot loader is configured, you will be
asked to reboot the OS.

• At this stage the installation is 90% complete. However, you still need to complete the final phase of
installation after system reboot.

18
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Post Installation Setup

• First you need to accept the license agreement.

19
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• Then you need to register a user

• Next, configures the system date and time

20
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• And finally you are asked to send hardware profile.

• The installation is completed when the system prompt the user for login ID.

• Once is system is up and running, you need to update the operating system and get the drivers
ready for any device that was missed during the installation.

21
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Installation Everything on Fedora 12 using DVD

• For installation release earlier than Fedora 10, you were given a choice for minimal install or to
install everything. Fedora 12 does not include this option any more.
• To install everything from the DVD, under the software customization, select all the packages.

• You need to select “customize now”, go to each categories and make sure they are checked.
• In addition, you may want to click optional package for each categories to include all the optional
packages.
• Please note that the installation time will increase if you choose to install everything.

22
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Installation the Minimal on Fedora 12 using DVD

• You can perform minimal install by un-checking all other software except base system. Under base
system, select only base, administrative tools, and hardware support. This configuration gives you a
total of 583 packages.
• You can install minimal GNOME desktop by selecting base system and desktop environment. You
may need to select some editing tools and graphical web tools under applications. This configuration
gives you a total of 986 packages. This configuration gives you minimal GUI environment. This is
almost like LiveCD installation except that you can customize your minimal software.

23
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

After the Installation

• If you use DVD to install Fedora, network communications is not connected automatically by default.
Indicated in the top right corner.

• You need to turn on the network by right-click the network icon. Select Edit Connection. You will be
shown the Network Connection box as below.

24
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• Select eth0 and click edit. Make sure the item “Connect automatically is checked” as shown below.

• You also need to update the system by selecting System
Administration
Software Updates.

• Alternatively, you can use terminal window with roots privilege and run the command #yum update.
• Firefox is installed in Fedora by default. However, you need to install Google Toolbar and any other
plug-in such as Adobe Flash Player manually.

25
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• You can choose to install any program by selecting System
Administration
Add/Remove
Program.

• However, you can choose to use terminal command with root privilege and run $yum install <name
of software packages>
• If you are using 64-bit Fedora, there isn’t much software that is 64-bit. You can install 32-bit
software such as OpenOffice etc on 64-bit Fedora. Alternatively, you can download the source code
and recompile it into 64-bit program.

26
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Text Mode Minimal Installation on Fedora 12 using DVD

• Text mode installation is the most minimal installation you could have under Fedora. It provides a
total of 200 packages to keep the system running. It uses about 800MB of hard disk space. Please
note that using this installation mode gives you the most minimal packages, which means that a lot
of commands or utilities are not working. You need to install them manually.
• To install from text mode, append “text” under the boot option.

• On the start of installation you are given the choice of checking your DVD media for corruption. You
may choose to skip it.

27
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• The installation program starts with the welcome screen below.

• Then you proceed to select the language.

• Choose the type of keyboard to use

• At this stage, you might need to reinitialize your hard disk if you have a brand new hard disk
installed.

28
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• Select your time zone

• Enter the root password

• Text mode installation provides limited option for disk partition. You can select any auto-
configuration option but you are not allowed to perform customized disk partition.

29
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• Please not that you are not given a choice of configuring Grub, the boot loader. The system
automatically configures Grub at the MBR.
• After configuration of disk partition, the installation program proceeds to install a minimum of 200
packages.

• Once the installation files are copied to the hard disk and boot loader is configured, you will be
asked to reboot the OS.

• Please note that although network drivers are installed in the system, the network is not configured
automatically. You need to configure the network manually and activates them.
• In addition, a lot of basic utilities such as man page etc are not available; you need to install them
manually.
• There is no post installation setup for text install. You login using root password.

30
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

Alternative Installation Mode on Fedora 12 using DVD

• You can perform alternative mode of installation using the DVD. Besides using CD/DVD, you can
configure the installer to install Fedora from another hard disk, Network File System (NFS) or via URL.
• To perform alternative installation, boot up the DVD. Press [Tab] key to edit the boot option and
append ‘askmethod’ at the end of boot command.

• After that, you will be asked to enter language and keyboard types as shown below.

31
 Installation of Fedora 12 with Full DVD 2009

• Then you are given the option to install Fedora using DVD, or Hard Drive or NFS or via URL. After this,
the installation procedure is different base on the different installation mode.

• Please refer to a separate guide: Alternative Method of Installing Fedora 12.

*** End ***

32