Erasing Hard Drive and Installing PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06, my install notes.

Following my warnings and comments are written instructions for installing PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06.

I am posting these notes for a friend to print, who until recently had never seen and only heard of something called Linux. He wants to install PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 after trying out PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 as a live CD, and ensuring everything works correctly. His Windows OS is corrupted and can not be salvaged. In short his old computer is a paper weight, and he has nothing to lose by trying to install PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 on his old computer.

I wrote these instructions out as I completed an install on my laptop. Following these instructions will erase everything on your single hard drive, and if all goes well, install PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 as the only operating system.

The only certainty, or guarantee my notes comes with is you can read the rest of the post. Trying to follow my notes may destroy your computer. Following my instructions may turn your computer into a non working paperweight, a recyclable object.

Important Key words: Erases Hard Drive, No Windows, No other Linux, No files, No Pictures, No Programs, No Important Files, Nothing On the Hard Drive Except PCLinuxOS.

These instructions assume (think about that word) you have an older off the shelf Vanilla PC or Laptop with nothing unique added to it. These instructions also assume you have hard wired internet access.

If you ruin your computer by following these instructions, lose your operating system, your files or data, I am not responsible.

If any of the above does not make sense stop reading here, and find help from a close by knowledgeable Linux user who can help you install Linux to your computer. These instructions are for a friend who has decided to try to install PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 on his personal computer. Follow them at your own risk.

These instructions are not associated in any manner with the fine website PCLinuxOS, its software, or any of its related websites or activites. On PCLinuxOS website are installation instructions that have been verified and used thousands of times. I recommend you go there and follow them.

Once again, I am posting this for a friend who until recently had never seen and only heard of something called Linux. He wants to install PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 after trying out PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 as a Live CD, and ensuring everything works correctly. His Windows OS is corrupted and can not be salvaged. He has no programs or files on his computer which he still wants. In short his old computer is a paper weight, and he has nothing to lose by trying to install PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 on his old computer.

If you are unsure about doing an install, please read everything over from the top.

You need to think if you choose to follow the notes below. Following my notes are from an install on one computer only, and have not been tested on any other computer. If something is not how I typed it out, there is no one to help you.

These instructions are only for installing PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 as the only operating system, erasing everything on the hard drive in the process. These notes may or may not be complete.

Before you start the Install you will need: 

1. Password for the Admin (Root); 2. One User Name and Password for each person who will be using the computer including Root who will generally use the computer as a normal user unless doing administrative tasks.

1.  Insert Cd and boot off of the Live PCLinuxOS LXDE 2011.06 Cd.

2.  When PCLinuxOS menu comes up, arrow key down to the last option, Install PCLinuxOS and press.

3.  It will take some time while PCLinuxOS boots from the Cd. Eventually you will be asked to choose your keyboard layout.

Click on.

4.  A graphic with “PCLinuxOS” Installation Wizard will appear. Click on.

5.  A screen with, “Here is the content of your disk drive”, will appear. There should be four choices for installing “PCLinuxOS”, you want to click in the third radio button which reads, “Erase and use entire disk”. You only want this option because Windows is no longer usable. If this is not true, press cancel on the bottom left.

6.  Once you have clicked in the radio button which is followed by “Erase and use entire disk”, press the Next button.

7.  A screen will come up warning you that “PCLinuxOS” is going to install to your whole hard drive. This will erase everything on your hard drive from your selection the on last screen. Press “next” to continue.

8.  A new graphic with “Installing PCLinuxOS to your computer”, will appear with a bar below the graphic showing your the install progress. This portion will take anywhere from ten minutes to many minutes depending on the speed of your computer.

9.  When the install is almost completed, a screen will appear with the word *Bootloader on the top left. Below *Bootloader is *Main Options” with the sentence “Delay before booting default image” followed by the number 10. Click where the ten is and change the number to a 3.

10. Click.

11. The next screen will start with the letters, “Here are the entries…”. Click onon the bottom right.

11. A sentence, “Bootloader install in progress”, will appear. Be patient it will seem like nothing is happening. This step may a few minutes to complete. All you will see is an empty screen.

12. When the previous step completes, a screen with the sentence, “Please click finish, restart your computer, and remove the LiveCD media when prompted”. Press, the “Finish” button.

13. PCLinuxOS will shutdown and a screen will appear saying, “Restarting the system”. Once it is done the screen will turn black and an instruction, “Please pressonce the LiveCD is removed.” Your CD tray should pop open. Remove the CD and press.

14. The system will reboot again and the PCLinuxOS Splash screen will appear. There will be two options and the top option will be grayed, press.  This is the end of the physical install, now the setup portion will begin.

Setting up the system

1.  The system will start to reboot. The first screen to appear will ask for time zone, slide the slide up and choose Denver. Click on next.

2.  The computer is most likely set to local time which is the top option. Below is NTP Server, click in the box, Automatic time synchronization…. Click on the triangle to the left of North America. Click on, “All Servers”, then click on.

3.  Enter Roots password, twice and click on. Do nothing with “Authentication method”

4.  Enter the first User name using no capitol letters and no spaces. Press thekey. Enter the user’s password, press tab and enter it a second time. If they match, press “Next”.

5.  This screen is the Logon screen. Click on the user listed, enter the password, and press.

6. If you are using a wired internet connection, your internet should be connected.

Software update and install

7.  Click on the ‘Start’ button which is a Round button with “PC” in it. Highlight “Software Center” and then click on “Update Package Sources List”.

8.  If your Internet is connected click ‘Ok’. Two more screens will appear, click ‘OK’ for each one. The next screen will have the word “Repo: at the beginning. Linux is timing the software servers speed. This process may take a few minutes to complete.

Once it is complete, a new screen with, “Select you preferred repo…” will appear. Highlight the top entry and click ‘OK’.

Click okay for the next screen too. Two more screens will appear, click ‘OK’ and the click “Yes”.

You will be asked for the Root password, enter the Root password and click, ‘OK’.

9.  A new screen called ‘Synaptic’ will appear, this is the screen where you will download software from and add and remove programs through.

Click, ‘OK’ on the next screen.

10. On the top right of Synaptic is a red arrow and the word ‘Reload’ Click on ‘Reload’. Synaptic will update it data base from 14 different repositories. This will take a few seconds to complete. If Synaptic gives an error and says it could not retrieve all repositories, wait a few minutes and try again. This error happens rarely.

If there is no error, Synaptic will appear again.

11. Click on ‘Mark All Upgrades” which is next to ‘Reload’. Click on, ‘Mark’ on the screen that shows up.

12. Going to the top of Synaptic, there is a green arrow and the word, ‘Apply’. Click on Apply. A screen will appear asking you if you want to: ‘Apply the following changes?’ Click, ‘Apply’

Synaptic will now download and install all program updates. This may take anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour or more. If Synaptic reports any errors, it will ask if you “want to continue anyway?”. Click on no, and try later. If all goes well a screen will appear where all you need to do is click on ‘OK’

13. On the bottom left of Synaptic, there is a button named,”Sections”. Click on this button.

the left side of Synaptic will change to labels containing software that are part of that section. You can go through here and select software you want to install. Here is an example.

A. Go down to the section labeled, “Games/Other” and click on it. and click on the label,

B. On the right side of Synaptic games will be listed. Go down until you see, ‘gnome-games’. Click on box with a star in it in front of ‘gnome-games’.

Click on, ‘Mark for Installation’ and click again on the box that appears with ‘Mark’ on the bottom right of the box.

C. Repeat using the same steps you used with the choice called ‘gnome-games-extra-data’ which is below ‘gnome-games’.

D. The Green Arrow and Apply button are no longer grayed out and are waiting to be clicked on.

Synaptic will now download and install some more games. This may take anywhere from a few minutes to longer. If Synaptic reports any errors, it will ask if you “want to continue anyway?”. Click on no, and try later. If all goes well a screen will appear where all you need to do is click on ‘OK’

This is the process you will follow to add more programs or games.

When you exit this time only you will be asked if you want to remove the repository speed test files, click ok.

Adding more users:

1. Click on the icon on the bottom left with the screwdriver and wrench in it next to the Start (PC) button.

2. Enter Root password

3. You are now in the PCLinuxOS Control Center

4. Click on System in the middle of the choices on the left.

5. On the bottom left click on the icon, ‘Manage users on system’

6. Click on, ‘Add User’

7.  Enter User name using no capitol letters and no spaces. Press thekey. Enter the user’s password, press tab and enter it a second time. If they match, press “Ok”. Continue for all users.

8. When done click on the X on the top right.

Setting up the Firewall

1. With the internet connection on, do a one click on the icon Firewall Setup, wait a few seconds and enter Roots password.

There will be three screens, read and if you agree press, ‘OK’ on each one using the default settings. Click, ‘Ok’ all the way through the Shorewall needs to be installed screen. There will be a delay while it downloads and installs  the Shorewall program. Click ‘OK on last time.

Office Software

1. If you want a free Office Suite type software installed, click on LibreOffice Manager icon and follow instructions. This is a pretty slow install and will take up to an hour.

Localization Icon

This icon can be deleted, unless you want PCLinuxOS in a language other than English.

Firefox has links all set up to bring you to PCLinuxOS website, where there are free monthly PCLinuxOS magazines, manuals, and forums. Do not delete the links until you are comfortable using PCLinuxOS.