Booting into live CD session
Before you begin, make sure you have everything ready for the installation:
- You have downloaded and burned the Wolvix .iso to CD.
- You have allocated the required hardware resources - dual boot, second machine or a virtual machine. If you choose the last option, then install and configure the VMware Server and create a Wolvix virtual machine. This is optional.
- You know how to boot from CD (regardless of the installation platform).
Insert the CD and boot. Once you reach the splash screen, press Enter to continue.
After a few seconds, you'll reach the login screen. The live CD username is root and the password is toor.
Inside the live desktop, you'll notice the usual array: a panel with shortcuts to some of the most popular and widely used applications - Thunar file manager, Mousepad text editor, Firefox, Pidgin, OpenOffice writer, GIMP, GQView, exaile music player, and MPlayer video player. The paw on the left is a sort of a Start Menu, with links to applications and system functions. Right of the four virtual desktops is the Wolvix Control Panel, one of the best refreshments in this distro, and a keyboard switcher, another great idea.
The former allows you to quickly access and configure key system functions, all through a simple and friendly GUI. The latter allows you to switch between a number of international keyboards with a single mouse click without manually reconfiguring xorg.
The desktop also features a system monitor that can be turned off, as well as the shortcuts to Trash, Home and the File System.
Clicking on the paw or right-clicking anywhere on the desktop brings up the would-be system menu. The choice of application is simply amazing.
Additionally, Wolvix comes with Firefox, Samba, OpenOffice suite, a whole load of multimedia programs, including VLC, xine, Kino, Audacity, and many many others.
Installation
OK, we're more than convinced this is the right distro for us. Let's install it. To do this, you need to launch the Wolvix Control Panel - third icon left of the clock. The Control Panel (namesake of the similar Windows tool) offers access to vital system areas. We are interested in the second tab on the left - HD-Install.
Clicking on the tab will open a number of choices before you:
Full Install allows you to install your system with the widest range of options.
Frugal Install is a minimalistic, quick & dirty install with some of the options hidden from the users and automatically chosen. This kind of install is recommended for people who have absolutely no time or desire to dedicate to the just slightly more complicated Full Install.
USB Install allows you to install Wolvix to a portable device.
Boot Disk allows you to create a bootable diskette (for rescue operations, for instance).
GRUB Install allows you to install or restore GRUB. This can be very handy for maintenance or rescue operations.
We'll select Full Install.
This will start the Hard Disk Installer.
Believe it or not, this is the whole of installer. A single window, with all the options that are needed! Let's review the 6 items listed:
1. Boot device:
This specifies the device that shall be booted. For people with a single hard disk, this is a trivial matter. For people with more than one hard disk, it's the matter of choosing the right one.
2. Root partition:
Currently, we don't have one. Our hard disk is empty. For that purpose, we will launch GParted, a excellent and friendly partitioning program and prepare our hard disk for installation.
3. Optional: /home:
The same as above. We need to create the partition.
4. Swap partition:
Again, the same rules apply.
5. Filesystem:
Most Linux users will opt for ext3 (a journaled ext2).
6. Install GRUB.
We will install the bootloader; by default, it will be placed into the MBR of the boot device (specified by 1).
As you can see, it's rather trivial really. All of the options concern the partitioning and the bootloader. Now, we shall launch GParted and prepare the hard disk for installation. Once this stage is done, all that remains is to click on 7. Start Install to complete the procedure. Furthermore, you may notice that all of the explanations I have written above are detailed inside the Installer itself.
Can't get any better than that!
Partitioning
GParted has the same familiar interface you have seen in most of my tutorials. I will not linger too much here. Briefly, I'm doing what I always do - create three partitions - root, home and swap.
Root:
Home:
Swap:
And this is the final layout:
Now, exit GParted. In the Hard Disk installer, use the drop-down menus for 1-5 to select the relevant devices, partitions and the filesystem. When you're ready, hit Start Install.
You will be warned about formatting the home partition. If it's not empty and you wish to preserve it, do not format it. However, since we have just created it, we can safely format it.
