Mandrake linux

Mandrakelinux is a GNU/Linux distribution supported by Mandrakesoft S.A. which was born on the Internet in
1998. Its main goal was and still is to provide an easy-to-use and friendly GNU/Linux system. Mandrakesoft’s
two pillars are open source and collaborative work.

Before Installation
This chapter covers issues which should be addressed before you start your new Mandrakelinux installation.
Make sure you read it completely since it will save you a lot of time. Also back up your data (on a different
disk to the one you will install the system into) and plug in and turn on all your external devices (keyboard,
mouse, printer, scanner, etc.).

Configuring your BIOS
The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is used to find the device on which the operating system is located and
starts it up. It’s also used for the initial hardware configuration and hardware low-level access.
The appearance of plug’n’play devices and their widespread use means that all modern BIOSes can initialize
these devices. In order for Linux to recognize plug’n’play devices, your BIOS must be configured to initialize
them.
Changing your BIOS’ settings is usually performed by holding down the Del key (some BIOSes use the F1,
F2, F10 or Esc keys instead) right after the computer is switched on. Unfortunately, there are many types of
BIOSes. Therefore you will have to look for the appropriate option yourself. It’s often called PNP OS installed
(or Plug’n’Play OS installed). Set this option to No and the BIOS will then initialize any plug’n’play devices,
which helps Linux to recognize them.
All recent systems can boot from a CD-ROM. Look for Boot sequence or First boot device in the BIOS’ features
setup, and set the CD-ROM as the first one. If your system can’t boot from a CD-ROM you will need to use a
floppy boot disk

Download Starter Guide Here