Red Hat Linux 7.2: The Official Red Hat Linux Alpha Installation Guide
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# Starting the Installation Program

The following methods can be used to start the installation:

- Insert a boot diskette that you have created (or a network boot disk, or PCMCIA boot disks, that you have created)into the primary diskette drive and reboot your computer.

- Insert the Red Hat Linux CD 1 into the drive and reboot, if your computer can boot from the CD-ROM drive.

- Boot MS-DOS, and start a program in the `dosutils` directory of the Red Hat Linux CD-ROM named `autoboot.bat` (this will work from DOS only; it will not work in a DOS window started from within Windows).

While the installation program loads, messages will scroll on your screen. When the installation program has loaded, this prompt appears:

    boot:

## Text Mode Boot Options

If you press [Enter] at the `boot:` prompt, or if you take no action within the first minute after the `boot:` prompt appears, the graphical installation program will start. Pressing one of the help screen function keys as described above disables this autostart feature.

To start the text mode installation program in either text or expert mode, boot the CD-ROM from the aboot prompt. The standard method for booting from CD-ROM is to use a command like the one below, which boots the generic kernel :

`>>> boot dqa0 -flags 0`

Some situations require that you boot with a different option. To display a list of options, use -flags interactive, as shown in the following example:

`>>> boot dqa0 -flags i aboot> l # # Red Hat Linux/Alpha aboot configuration options: # # 0 - Boot the Red Hat Linux installer using a 2.4 kernel # 1 - Boot the Red Hat Linux installer with kernel messages sent to ttyS0 # 2 - Boot the Red Hat Linux installer with kernel messages sent to # ttyS0 (com1) and the graphics terminal # 3 - Boot the Red Hat Linux installer in text only mode # 4 - Boot the Red Hat Linux installer in text only rescue mode # 5 - Boot the Red Hat Linux installer but allow manual selection of drivers # 6 - As above using the ttyS0 serial line install method # 7 - Boot the Red Hat Linux installer and allow for other than just # a CD install (offers http, nfs, ftp and local disk install methods) # 8 - As above but for use with the serial console # 0:/kernels/vmlinux.gz initrd=/images/cd-rom.img 1:/kernels/vmlinux.gz initrd=/images/cd-rom.img console=ttyS0 2:/kernels/vmlinux.gz initrd=/images/cd-rom.img console=ttyS0 console=tty0 3:/kernels/vmlinux.gz initrd=/images/cd-rom.img text 4:/kernels/vmlinux.gz initrd=/images/cd-rom.img rescue 5:/kernels/vmlinux.gz initrd=/images/cd-rom.img noprobe 6:/kernels/vmlinux.gz initrd=/images/cd-rom.img noprobe console=ttyS0 7:/kernels/vmlinux.gz initrd=/images/cd-rom.img expert 8:/kernels/vmlinux.gz initrd=/images/cd-rom.img expert console=ttyS0` Then at the aboot prompt, enter aboot> n where n is the number for the option you're selecting.

Expert mode disables most hardware probing, and gives you the option of entering options for the drivers loaded during the installation.

| Note
| The initial boot messages will not contain any references to SCSI or network cards. This is normal; these devices are supported by modules that are loaded during the installation process.

## Displaying Online Help

Once the installation program is loaded into memory, you can obtain information about the installation process and options by pressing [F1] through [F6]. For example, press [F2] to see general information about the online help screens.

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