DrakX is Mandrake Linux's installation program. It possesses a graphical user interface and is very easy to use. It allows you to go back at any time to previous configuration steps, even choosing the type of installation that you want (depending on your skill level).
![]() | In order to ensure the installation occurs in the best possible conditions, make sure to plug in and power on all the devices which will be used on your computer: printer, modem, scanner, etc. Hence, DrakX will automatically detect and configure them. |
When you begin the installation – either from a CD-ROM or a floppy disk, you will first get a screen which offers help (figure 4-1). Doing nothing will simply begin the installation in normal mode. Pressing F1 will open a help screen (figure 4-2). Here are some useful options to choose from:
vgalo: if you tried a normal installation and could not get the normal graphical screens as shown below, you may try the installation in low resolution, simply by issuing vgalo at the prompt presented here.
text: if your video card is really old, and graphical installation does not work at all, you can always choose the text mode installation.
expert mode: in some rare cases, hardware detection may freeze your computer. Should that happen, use this mode to prevent it from happening. However, you will need to provide hardware parameters by hand. expert is an option to the previous modes (or linux, the common mode).
kernel options: you can pass on these command-line parameters to the installation kernel. It is particularly useful for machines on which the installation program cannot determine the amount of memory installed. Then, you just need to specify it manually here as an option to the installation modes with mem=xxxM. For example, to start the installation in normal mode with a computer having 256 MB of memory, issue at the command line:
boot: linux mem=256M |
On the left, you can see the various installation steps. Depending on the installation's progress level, some stages may or may not be available. If they are available, they will be highlighted when you move the mouse cursor over them.
The buttons representing the various stages can also be of different colors:
red: this installation phase has not yet been carried out;
orange: the installation stage which is currently being processed;
green: this installation stage has already been configured. However, nothing stops you from going back to it if you need or want to.
![]() | The bottom frame holds the help for the current step. You can access it at any moment by pressing the F1 key. |
This guide assumes that you are performing a standard, step-by-step installation, as shown in the following screenshots.