Fedora 12 Choosing Different Install Modes

Although most computers automatically install Fedora in the default mode (graphical), there may be times when your video card does not support that mode. Also, although the install process will detect most computer hardware, there may be times when your hard disk, Ethernet card, or other critical piece of hardware cannot be detected and you’ll need to enter special information at boot time.

The following is a list of different installation options you can use to start the Fedora install process. You would typically try these modes only if the default mode failed (that is, if the screen was garbled or installation failed at some point). For a list of other supported modes, refer to the /usr/share/doc/anaconda*/command-line.txt file (if you have a running Fedora system somewhere with the anaconda package installed) or press F1 through F5 keys to see short descriptions of some of these types.

To use these boot options, highlight the first entry on the boot menu and press Tab. When the boot command appears at the bottom of the screen, type the options you want at the end of that line and press Enter to boot the install process.

• text: Type text to run installation in a text-based mode. Do this if installation doesn’t seem to recognize your graphics card. The installation screens aren’t as pretty, but they work just as well.

• ks: Type ks to run a Fedora installation using a kickstart file. A kickstart file provides some or all of the installation option answers you would otherwise have to select manually.

• lowres: Type lowres to run installation in 640 x 480 screen resolution for graphics cards that can’t support the higher resolution. To choose a particular resolution, use the resolution option. For example: resolution=1024x768.

• noprobe: Typically, the installation process will try to determine what hardware you have on your computer. In noprobe mode, installation will not probe to determine your hardware; you will be asked to load any special drivers that might be needed to install it.

• mediacheck: Type mediacheck to check your DVD before installing. Because media checking is done next in the normal installation process, you should do this only to test the media on a computer you are not installing on. For Fedora Live CDs, select the Verify and Boot option to check the CD before booting.

• rescue: The rescue mode is not really an installation mode. This mode boots from DVD or CD, mounts your hard disk, and lets you access useful utilities to correct problems preventing your Linux system from operating properly.

• vnc vncconnect=hostname vncpassword=******: Run the install in VNC mode to step through the installation process from another system.

• dd: Type dd if you have a driver disk you want to use to install.

• askmethod: Type askmethod to have the installation process ask where to install from (local DVD/CD, NFS image, FTP, HTTP, or hard disk).

• nocddma: Type nocddma to turn off DMA. Errors with some CD drives can be overcome by turning off the DMA feature. This is a good option to try if an install CD or DVD you know to be good fails media check. You could also try ide=nodma to turn of DMA for all IDE devices.

• updates: Type updates to install from an update disk.

You can add other options to the linux boot command to identify particular hardware that is not being detected properly. For example, to specify the number of cylinders, heads, and sectors for your hard disk (if you believe the boot process is not detecting these values properly), you could pass the information to the kernel as follows: linux hdx=720,32,64. In this example, the kernel is told that the hard disk hdx has 720 cylinders, 32 heads, and 64 sectors. You can find this information in the documentation that comes with your hard disk (or stamped on the hard disk itself on a sticker near the serial number).

Source of Information :  Wiley - Adobe Fedora Bible 2010 Edition Featuring Fedora Linux

Fedora 12 Choosing Different Install Modes