There is a lot to do before you slap the install CD in the drive. First, you need to decide how you plan to use Linux on this system. Is it going to be a server, a free-standing workstation, a networked workstation, or some combination of these functions? Is it going to be a Linux-only system, or dual-boot with Windows?

The suggestions made here are based on the configuration of a free-standing workstation with internet connection, dual-boot to Windows. Where the "To-Do List" varies from one of the other options, I'll try to remember to give you a hint.

First things first. We need detailed information on your hardware configuration:

1. Boot to Windows
2. Go to Start/Settings/Control Panel
3. Go to System
4. Click on the Device Manager tab
5. Click on Print
6. Select "All devices and system summary"
7. Click OK

The latest linux installs do a good job of detecting Plug-N-Pray¹ devices, but you may still need to do a bit of tweaking to get things just right, so keep this list handy.

To help this along, get into your BIOS. Boot your system. While the first step is running, hit whichever key or key combination is indicated to enter Set-up mode. There's no mouse here, so use the arrow keys to move the highlight over to the Advanced tab. You should see an entry referring to "Plug and Play aware OS". Select "No". Save changes and exit. This change will not hurt Windows and it will make your life easier down the road. What this change does is cause the BIOS to initialize all the plug-n-pray devices on your system, which makes it easier for the OS² to find them.

General Notes on Supported Devices

Modems - If you have one of those stupid Winmodems, remove and replace it, right now, with a real modem. The Winmodem is one of the worst pieces of crap that has ever been foisted off on computer users. To save a couple of bucks per unit in production costs, the manufacturers have ripped out all the brains, leaving something barely more than a serial interface. All the functionality of the modem has been moved into the driver software. In other words, to save a little money, they are using your hard drive space, RAM, and CPU power to provide the functionality that could, and should, be handled by a bit of hardware. Switching to a real modem, preferably the external variety, will improve your life in Windows, as well as making it a lot easier to set up Linux. Support for Winmodems in Linux is improving, but no where near complete, so you will finish the process with a lot less frustration if you go ahead and switch to a good modem now.

If you really want to try to keep the Winmodem, check first to see if there is a Linux driver available for it. Go to http://www.linmodems.org/ to see what is currently available.

Printers - printer support in Linux is good, and getting better daily. However, support for Linux varies widely from manufacturer to manufacturer. If your printer's maker doesn't have Linux drivers, you will need to go fishing. I'll provide links for that a little later.

Video cards - Linux doesn't much care about your video card, as long as it uses a standard interface. The command line will work with a pretty generic setup. HOWEVER, X-Windows needs to have the correct drivers for your video card to configure it for whichever GUI you want to use. The install disk will have drivers for most of the current production cards as well as the most popular cards from recent history. Again, it's best to get your driver from the manufacturer, if possible.

Sound cards, SCSI cards and NIC's all enjoy broad support in Linux. If the installer doesn't happen to have a driver specific to your card, it will likely have a generic that will work. Again, a trip to the manufacturer's website can make things nicer later.

OK. While you're sitting in Windows, make a folder in which to stash all the goodies you're going to pull in for Linux to use. Following the KISS principle, I recommend C:\linux. Every time you download something for Linux, make a folder inside there for it and stash away. Keep the folder names short and descriptive, and DON'T use spaces or strange characters in the names! Hyphens work, as do underscores. However, you will like yourself a lot better later if you keep your fingers off the Shift key!

Head out and round up all the drivers for your goodie-boards and get them stashed. If the manufacturer doesn't help, I've found the following places to be good fishing holes:

• Linuxstart.com
• Linuxnewbie.org
• Linux.org
• RPMfind.net
• linuxapps.com

Now that we have all our pieces and parts, it's time to dive in, right? WRONG! You have one more essential step to complete, first. Clean up and do a complete back-up of your Windows system. If you take the time to do this, everything else will go as planned and you'll have good Windows and Linux systems on your box. If you don't, something will go wrong and you'll have a dead box, with no Linux and no Windows. (See Murphy's Laws - No. 1)

1. Clear your cache, delete temp files, etc.; I recommend Window Washer for this;
2. Empty the Recycling Bin;
3. run scandisk, with the Thorough option;
4. run defrag;
5. Back-up everything.

NOW, you're ready -- almost.

How do you want to do this? If you have 4-5GB of free space on your C: drive, you can do a partionless install and have Linux share the space with Windows. I don't recommend it. Windows has a propensity for stepping on anyone who tries to share resources with it.

You can run down to Office Depot or <name of your favorite "toy" store> and pick up a 80GB drive for around $90. Then you can give Linux its own space. In the long run, this will make Windows, Linux, and you a lot happier. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Once you have it installed, it's OK to let Windows see the new drive. However, don't partition and format it. The Linux installer will take care of that.

Just one more little decision and you're ready to go. Which distribution to use?

• Corel Linux - from Corel, makers of Perfect Office;
• Caldera OpenLinux - three basic packages from which to choose. They're doing some exciting stuff in scalability and merging Linux with large-scale Unix platforms. One to watch, but not my choice for a first-time user. They seem to be targeting more for the corporate business.
• Debian GNU/Linux - one of the leaders in the Open Source movement. This would be a good choice for someone new to the *nix environment. It has a package installation mechanism similar to RedHat's rpm, but more user-friendly. You have your choice of three distribution branches, depending on how adventerous you feel. This is my top choice for new users.
• Linux-Mandrake - based on the RedHat distribution, but with some twists of their own. This would be another good choice for a first-time user.
• RedHat Linux - probably the best-known of the commercial distributions. The ease of installation and a number of other features, like the up2date updating wizard put this near the top of my list for recommendations. The packages are always built from the latest stable kernel and come with some of the more cutting-edge "toys".
• Slackware - long one of the most popular distributions. It is actually quite conservative. Tends to be very stable, but will lack some of the real bleeding-edge goodies.
• SuSe Linux - another of the commercial distributions. I can't tell you much about it except that the users I have encountered seem to be quite rabid in their support.

There are other distributions out there, but these are the major players. Go to their websites and wander around. Form your own impressions. Talk to other users of the various distributions. My own recommendation for a first-time user is RedHat, with Linux-Mandrake being a close second.

Congratulations! You have just completed the hard part: getting ready. The next part is where the fun really begins!

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© 2003, George E. Waldron, Naples, FL. All rights reserved.
Page last modified: November 27, 2004 at 9:00