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Starting a GNU/Linux installation
GNU/Linux is currently available in the form of distributions. A distribution contains the operating system, i.e. GNU and Linux, along with other more or less useful software, usually including at least one graphical interface. To install it, all you have to do is download an installation image (*.iso) of the distribution you want, record it on a DVD or USB flash drive, start the computer from it and follow the instructions on the screen.
How to get a bootable installation
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How to record a USB flash drive
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How to obtain an installable distribution is shown on various sites, even if you don't yet have GNU/Linux, for which a few indications are described below.
Recording image on a DVD, with K3b
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Recording image on USB drive, with dd
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The last pictures above are taken from Fedora 34 MATE. If the distribution will be recorded on a USB flash drive, its letter
must be found before writing to it with
dd, as shown in the picture above. If the hard drive's letter is a and there is only
one USB drive, then its letter is likely to be b and the image can be recorded as shown below.
ls -l /dev/sd*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 0 Mar 18 08:56 /dev/sda
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 Mar 18 08:56 /dev/sda1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 2 Mar 18 08:56 /dev/sda2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 3 Mar 18 08:56 /dev/sda3
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 16 Mar 18 12:50 /dev/sdb
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 17 Mar 18 12:50 /dev/sdb1
su -c 'dd if=Fedora-MATE_Compiz-Live-x86_64-34-1.2.iso of=/dev/sdb'
su -c 'dd if=ROSA.FRESH.LXQT.12.2.i686.iso of=/dev/sdb'
Device and partition names consist of the following:
/dev/
This is the name of the directory in which all device files reside. Because partitions reside on
hard disks, and hard disks are devices, the files representing all possible partitions reside in
/dev/.
xx
The first two letters of the partition name indicate the type of device on which the partition
resides, usually sd.
y
This letter indicates which device the partition is on. For example, /dev/sda for the first hard
disk, /dev/sdb for the second, and so on.
N
The final number denotes the partition. The first four (primary or extended) partitions are
numbered 1 through 4. Logical partitions start at 5. So, for example, /dev/sda3 is the third
primary or extended partition on the first hard disk, and /dev/sdb6 is the second logical
partition on the second hard disk.
DVD with installation image
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BIOS setting, acer laptop from 2005
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USB flash drive
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BIOS setting
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