Linux installation

[parwar]

Hello ALL
i m a newbie
if i wana know that how linux installation works from boot till the complete installed OS.
which files it reads and where can i find those files on a DVD.
eg) i got a DVD and look into that if i wana figure out that which files control ipaddress and packages. so i find alot of only .tar files... plz help me that how can i look a step by step installation of Linux that what basically linux does and how.....
help from any replyer must be appreciate..
thanks
parwar.

[gogalthorp]

Not sure what you want. I suggest you install then you set any required variables. The install process asks for all the information normally needs to setup an installation. Also exactly how this works depends highly on what distribution you are using.

[KingX]

It will be helpful if you do a couple of installs yourself then you will see for yourself how the installation proceeds. All installs somewhat follow a similar path, but some options are presented first in some distro's and in others they come a bit later.
Normally the installer asks you to choose a keyboard mapping first, then you prepare the drive you want to install the distro on, then you choose the packages you want to install. Towards the end you get to choose if you want to create a bootdisk or write a bootloader to MBR. Finally some distro's require you to do some initial configuring (like internet, fonts, resolution etc.) others try and do it for you. Oh and somewhere in their you also get to choose a Desktop Environment, like KDE, Gnome, XFCE etc..
Ofcourse if you have any specific queries regarding a specific step during install feel free to ask.

[parwar]

i m using cent os 5.2
i wana know that when the distro ask abt the new installation /upgrade/rescue
after that testing memory
and then keyboard/language and disk partition

so at each level which files it reads from where in the cd

like i want to add the hostname of the machine in the Dvd sample files
and when i install the OS from my customized DVD then it should be assigned
by my given hostname so at which files i need to edit for the host name,,,,

so for this kind of stuff i need to know the process of installation depends
upon which files at the above given installation stages.like keyboard/partition and languages...........

[KingX]

Well I think you are taking the hard way for this issue.. rather than having a custom DVD, it would be much easier to write a script that runs after installation completes and sets all the values/names/settings etc. as you want. You should look into that... rather than creating a DVD with pre-filled values.