Setting up a RedHat Linux and Apache Web Server
- Linux Installation (continued):
-
- Difficulties
- The two hardest parts of bringing up a full Linux system are configuring the
X Window System (in particular configuring the video card and monitor), and
configuring the network.
- The X Window System
- In RedHat 6.0, configuring the X Window System, with GNOME as the default desktop
manager, seemed to me much easier than RedHat 5.2. If you are running RedHat 5.2,
which I recommend for beginners, I recommend that you try fvwm. For me,
the key to getting X Windows to run was to know
the vertical and horizontal scan frequencies of the monitor as well as the
screen resolution and color depth. This information, I found in the manual for the
monitor. If you are lucky enough to have a "brand name" monitor, you may find it
in the list of supported monitors, in which case, you life is easy. Otherwise,
you need to do a custom installation.
All my video cards were automatically recognized.
- I strongly recommend that before you
attempt to configure and bring up the X Window System that you connect another
computer via the network using telnet. The reason is if you make a serious error
in the screen configuration, you can end up with the black screen (as is often
seen on Windows). In one case the ctl-alt-backspace did not work for me and
I could not get back to a simple command line. Consequently, I had to press
the reset button -- arggggg. If you have another terminal connected via telnet
and the network, you can always patch things up or do a reboot without hitting
the reset switch.
- Setting Up Networking
- For setting up the network, I strongly recommend getting a good book. See my
resources page for more information. If you know what you are doing, you can
attempt to setup the network while you are loading the operating system. However,
it is often much easier to first bring up a Linux without networking and then
add the networking. In this way, you can play around with various configurations
and commands until you get it right.
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