HD Installation
Introduction
This document gives information and necessary instructions on how to install SliTaz on a hard disk. This should take about 10 minutes, SliTaz core LiveCD expands to 80 Mb, so we suggest a minimum of 120 Mb of free space. This way you will be able to install a few more packages. If you can use the LiveCD, you should be able to install SliTaz.
SliTaz Installer
SliTaz provides a simple to use Installer which can be launched from the "System Tools" menu. SliTaz 1.0 Installer messages are only available in French and can be considered as an errata, but English speakers should be able to manage to use it with these complimentary instructions.
Install type
The first step lets you choose the type of installation: new install or system
upgrade. In most cases you will want a new and clean installation. On confirming this
the installer will mount the master cdrom device and search for the compressed
filesystem (rootfs.gz
). If no filesystem is found, then the
installation will abort.
If you get into trouble because the compressed filesystem is not found, please
check that SliTaz is in the master CD/DVD device. If the problem persists you
can use a downloaded ISO image and mount it on /media/cdrom
where
the HD Installer expects to find it:
# mount -o loop slitaz-1.0.iso /media/cdrom
Target partition
Second step is the partition configuration. If you already have a free partition
you can directly use it, if not you will have to create one graphically with
Gparted or from the command line with fdisk. For example if you want to install
SliTaz on the first partition of the first disk recognized as hda
:
/dev/hda1
Formating
The next step lets you format the target partition into ext3
. Ext3
is a robust, stable and journaled filesystem. If the partition is already
formated you can skip this step, if not just accept. Warning formating a
partition will destroy all current data.
Hostname
Hostname configuration lets you set the machine name. The hostname is used internally to identify the host on the network. This value can be changed after the system is installed.
Bootloader - GRUB
When the installation process is finished you have the option to install the GRUB
bootloader which is capable of booting almost any kind of operating system. If
you want to use an existing GRUB installation, skip this step and add the
correct lines to your GRUB configuration file (menu.lst
). Note
that the SliTaz Installer creates a configuration file on the target which can be
used as an example (/mnt/target/boot/grub/menu.lst).
End of installation
When the Installer has finally done it's job you have the option to exit or
directly reboot your new SliTaz GNU/Linux operating system. First boot is like
the LiveCD, you will be prompted for locale, keyboard, sound card and screen
selection. Future reboots will not prompt you anymore for configuration details,
but all the values can be changed either manually or with the project tools
such as tazlocale
or tazx
.
Installation by hand
SliTaz can also be installed by hand from the command line. To install SliTaz by hand you can use a cdrom or an ISO image. The following commands can be copied/pasted from Firefox to Xterm.
The first thing you have to do is prepare a target partition and mount it.
Example using partition /dev/hda1
:
# mkdir /mnt/target # mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/target
Mount cdrom or ISO image
Now you have to mount the cdrom:
# mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
Or an ISO image:
# mount -o loop slitaz-1.0.iso /media/cdrom
Install and extract
The goal now is to copy needed files from the media into the target partition
and then extract the compressed filesystem (rootfs.gz
). Create a
boot directory and install the Linux Kernel:
# mkdir /mnt/target/boot # cp -a /media/cdrom/boot/vmlinuz-* /mnt/target/boot
Copy the rootfs:
# cp /media/cdrom/boot/rootfs.gz /mnt/target
Now the necessary files are present so you can change (cd
)
to the target directory and uncompress the filesystem with lzma
and
cpio
:
# cd /mnt/target # lzma d rootfs.gz -so | cpio -id # rm rootfs.gz init
That's all, SliTaz is installed. Before rebooting on your new SliTaz GNU/Linux installation please check that you have a bootloader (GRUB or Lilo) and add the necessary lines to boot SliTaz.
GRUB bootloader
GRUB is an universal bootloader capable of booting almost any operating system
such as Linux, BSD or Windows. GRUB uses a single configuration file named
menu.lst
, if you used the SliTaz Installer
and installed GRUB you dont need to manually install GRUB, just reboot.
Installation of GRUB onto the mbr, using root directory /mnt/target
(the target mounted partition) and the disk named hda
:
# grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/target /dev/hda
You can now create a GRUB configuration file and add the lines which will boot SliTaz. Menu.lst can be edited with your favorite text editor such as Nano or Leafpad:
# leafpad /mnt/target/boot/grub/menu.lst
/boot/grub/menu.lst - Example
title SliTaz GNU/Linux 1.0 (Kernel 2.6.24.2-slitaz) root(hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24.2-slitaz root=/dev/hda1 vga=normal
Verify again that everything is in place before rebooting:
# reboot