Q about installing F10 from Live DVD

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Tue, 2009-04-14 at 13:55 -0700, Dean S. Messing wrote:
> Kam Leo wrote:
> > On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:31 PM, Dean S. Messing <deanm at sharplabs.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > A colleague of mine is interested in trying Linux Fedora 10 on a new
> > > machine he's purchased. He asked me to help him.  I thought I'd try
> > > the "Live install" of which I've read, but have never done before.  It
> > > seems like a fast way to install and time-to-install is a bit limited.
> > >
> > > I looked at the Installation Guide at
> > > <docs.fedoraproject.org/install-guide/f10/en_US/index.html>
> > > but it didn't seem to answer my questions.  Maybe I missed it.
> > >
> > > So ...
> > >
> > > I presume that the machine will "just come up", running in-memory from
> > > the Live Image on the DVD. (Is that right?) So, how does one get the
> > > in-memory system onto a root partition?  Does the Anaconda Installer
> > > get involved in the process so that a "regular install" occurs using
> > > the Live data as source?
> > >
> > > Pointers to instructions will be appreciated.
> > >
> > > I've copied my colleague so that he can see for himself what helpful
> > > chaps y'all are. :-)
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > > Dean
> > 
> > If you have the live-dvd you would have discovered the answer for
> > yourself: A menu option is presented to either run the live-cd or
> > perform an install.
> 
> Thanks Kam.  I don't yet have it (which is why I didn't know).  So I
> take it the install from the live-cd is just an ordinary
> Anaconda-based install?  If so, what's the advantage over just using
> the F10 install DVD (February respin, of course)?

There are a few differences:

* The Live CD is a CD (obviously). You can run it directly or from a USB
stick (if your machine has no optical drive, as most netbooks don't).

* Running the Live CD lets you check that the basic hardware (video
card, networking etc.) will work acceptably before installing. And you
can run it without touching your hard disk if you still haven't made up
your mind.

* The distro DVD might be a lot harder for some people to download
simply because it's much larger. Also, it's *not* a live system. It's
for installation or rescue.

* Once you install from the Live CD you'll get a smaller system (e.g.
Gnome or KDE but not both, no Open Office etc. etc.) and will then have
to add stuff you want via yum.

* The DVD version will already have most of what you need (all the same
the first thing you should do after installation is to run "yum
update".)

poc