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Before Linux Installation
Part 1 of the Linux Newbie Administrator Guide
 
 Related Resources
• Linux Newbie Administrator Guide
• 0. Linux Benefit
• 1. Before Installation
• 2. Linux Resources/Help
• 3. Basic Operations FAQ
• 4. Newbie Admin FAQ
• ~ 4.1 Lilo
• ~ 4.2 Drives
• ~ 4.3 X-Windows
• ~ 4.4 Configurations
• ~ 4.5 Networking
5. Shortcuts / Commands
• 6. Linux Applications
• 7. Learn Linux Commands
• A. How to Upgrade Kernel?
 

1.12 Is the Linux installation difficult?

It was not for me. It seems that for most newbies, it is fairly straight forward and painless. Depending on your hardware and installation choices, it typically takes 1 h to 2.0 hours.  [Expect longer or possible problems for slow systems with very restricted memory--it took a whole night to install RH6.0 on my 486-33 MHz with 8 MB memory, the system pausing for 5 minutes at a time appearing to do nothing, yet it installed ok.] Upgrades from previous installations take longer and tend to be more problematic.

However, some newbies reported that the installation was a "total nightmare" to them (hardware problems? lack of experience?).  If you encounter problems, my advice would be to install a plain-vanilla system, without struggling with the highest resolution on your fancy video card or other bleeding-edge hardware which you might have.  Anything can be added/configured later, after you get more understanding of how things work on your system. Even a re-install is always an option for a newbie (it seems Linux gurus think it is a shame to ever re-install). It seems that many newbies have problems because they specify too high screen resolutions (which may be not supported or supported only with some extra tune-up). Again, it may not be wise to break your whole installation for support of a single device--the support can be added/tuned-up later.

Next > 1.13 Which packages should I install?

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