Before you install Red Hat Linux, you will need to perform the following steps:
If you have purchased the Official Red Hat Linux boxed set, you are ready to go.
However, mistakes occasionally happen, so now is a good time to
double-check the contents of your boxed set.
A black, red, and white Registration Information card is included in your
boxed set. A list of the contents of your boxed set version is on the
back of the card. Please read over the list and check to make sure that
you have all the CDs and manuals that are included with the version of
Red Hat Linux that you purchased.
If you have purchased the Official Red Hat Linux boxed set from Red Hat, Inc. (or
one of its distributors), and you are missing one or more of the items
listed, please let us know. Contact information is also available on the
Registration Information card.
How to identify our official boxed set: The bottom
of our box has an ISBN number next to one of the bar codes. That ISBN
number should be in this form:
(The x and y will
be unique numbers.)
Red Hat partners with companies (international and domestic) so that we
can make Red Hat Linux available to you in the most convenient form. Because of
these partnerships, you might find that your Red Hat Linux boxed set may not
have been actually produced by Red Hat.
If your box has a different ISBN number (or none at all), you will need to
contact the company that produced your boxed set. Normally, third-party
producers will include their logo and/or contact information on the
outside of the box; an official Red Hat Linux boxed set lists only our name and
contact information.
If your particular boxed set did not include all of the printed Red Hat Linux
manuals, you can find them online or on the Red Hat Linux Documentation CD.
To find the manuals in both HTML and PDF formats online, go to http://www.redhat.com/support/manuals.
If you have purchased an Official Red Hat Linux 7.2 boxed set, you should
register your product. Registration offers many useful services, such
as installation support, access to Red Hat Network, and more.
To register your product, go to http://www.redhat.com/apps/activate/.
You will find your Product ID on the Registration
Information card in your Official Red Hat Linux boxed set. Once registered, you will
have access to all the extras that Red Hat provides to its registered users.
For more information on registering and the scope of Red Hat's technical
support offerings, see Appendix C.
Of course, not everyone purchases a Red Hat Linux boxed set. It is entirely
possible to install Red Hat Linux using a CD created by another company, or
even via FTP. In these cases, you may need to create one or more
diskettes to get started.
For information on downloading and installing Red Hat Linux, refer to http://www.redhat.com/download/howto_download.html.
For people installing Red Hat Linux from a CD-ROM not from
Red Hat, you may need a boot disk, or if you are using a PCMCIA device
during the installation (such as a laptop), PCMCIA boot disks. It may
also be able to start the installation directly from the CD. We will
discuss this in more detail when we outline the various installation
methods.
For information on making diskettes, see the section called Making Installation Diskettes
.
