3.2 The Boot Screen

The boot screen displays a number of options for the installation procedure. Boot from Hard Disk boots the installed system. This item is selected by default, because the CD is often left in the drive. To install the system, select one of the installation options with the arrow keys. The relevant options are:

Installation

The normal installation mode. All modern hardware functions are enabled.

Installation—ACPI Disabled

If the normal installation fails, this might be due to the system hardware not supporting ACPI (advanced configuration and power interface). If this seems to be the case, use this option to install without ACPI support.

Installation—Safe Settings

Boots the system with the DMA mode (for CD-ROM drives) and power management functions disabled. Experts can also use the command line to enter or change kernel parameters.

Use the function keys indicated in the bar at the bottom of the screen to change a number of installation settings.

F1

Get context-sensitive help for the active element of the boot screen.

F2

Select the display language for the installation.

F3

See other options that can be set for installation.

After you press F3, some other options can be set:

F3

Select various graphical display modes for the installation. Select the text mode if the graphical installation causes problems.

F4

Normally, the installation is performed from the inserted installation medium. Here, select other sources, like FTP or NFS servers. If the installation is carried out in a network with an SLP server, select one of the installation sources available on the server with this option. Information about SLP is available in Section 30.0, SLP Services in the Network.

F5

Use this to tell the system that you have an optional disk with a driver update for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. You will be asked to insert the update disk at the appropriate point in the installation process.

A few seconds after starting the installation, SUSE Linux Enterprise loads a minimal Linux system to run the installation procedure. If you want to know what is going on during the boot process, press Esc to see messages and copyright notices scroll by. At the end of the loading process, the YaST installation program starts. After a few more seconds, the screen should display the graphical installer.

The actual installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise begins at this point. All YaST screens have a common layout. All buttons, entry fields, and lists can be accessed with the mouse or the keyboard. If your mouse pointer does not move, the mouse has not been detected automatically. In this case, use the keyboard for the time being. Navigation with the keyboard is similar to the description in Section 7.11.1, Navigation in Modules.