Running Linux, Third Edition

Installation

Each distribution uses a different installation method; in addition, the procedure for each major platform is somewhat different. Hence, it is impossible to go into any great depth in this appendix. A few particular issues are worth examining, however.

Booting Linux

While it is technically possible to boot directly into Linux on virtually any system, there are numerous challenges involved in writing a bootloader that can operate outside any operating system. At the moment, Amigas, Ataris, and VME systems can be booted without launching native operating systems (using m68k-specific versions of LILO).

For other platforms, and for specialized applications on Amigas, booters that run under the native OS (similar to Loadlin on Intel) are available. The Amiga and Atari booters are fairly rudimentary, although the latter does include some support for obtaining kernels over the network. The Macintosh booter, called Penguin, is a native MacOS application that provides a more user-friendly interface and allows configuration of some settings (such as screen settings) that the Mac porters haven’t been able to determine how to change under Linux. Other systems are currently using hacked bootloaders from other operating systems or are launched from hardware boot managers.

Allowed boot options for Linux/m68k are covered in the file kernel-options.txt in the Documentation/m68k directory of the kernel source tree.

Partitioning and Filesystems

Each platform uses its own partitioning ...