RedHat 7.3 **BASIC** Installation

I have looked everywhere, and cannot find the answer to this one simple question....

"How does one go about laying down a BASIC installation of RedHat 7.X?"

I would like to build my server here into a dev box (Linux, MySQL, PHP, Perl, Apache, FTP)....AND THAT'S IT!! I don't need anything else, and if I do, I'll be more than happy to install it. All I have ever heard about Linux is that it's everything Windows isn't...well, sorry, but RedHat's just as bloated..or I just don't know what I'm doing (which is probably the case!)

Any help would be gladly rewarded by a virtual beer.

Thanks,

Shawn

If, by bloated, you mean it comes with pretty much everything you'd need to edit/create/host a website, and desktop applications, and graphics manipulation, and a lot of other stuff, then yes it's bloated. Compare what you get on the redhat install CDs versus what you get in any windows install-

Redhat-
Multiple SQL servers- postgreSQL and MySQL
Multiple languages- perl, python, php, ruby, C, etc. . .
Compilers
Desktop apps- AbiWord, gnumeric,
Web browsers- Mozilla, konqueror, galeon, etc.
Desktops- WindowMaker, KDE, Gnome, IceWM, etc.
Remote access- ssh, VNC, FTP. rsync
Version control via CVS,
Apache and Tux (kernel-level HTTP server)
IDEs and editors- Emacs, VIM, joe, nedit, etc.
the list goes on.

With windows you get- Notepad. Oh, and Solitaire. And a lighter wallet.

Seriously, I think the "distroz are bloated" argument is so lame compared to what you get for free.

Anyway- to do your minimal install, do a custom installation and "select individual packages". Then ixnay all the packages that you don't think are needed. If you're new to linux, setting up a development server isn't necessarily the easiest thing in the world, but more power to you.

If you're just learning, I think you should install a desktop and X11 to have some of the redhat graphical configuration tools, like kontrol-panel, unless you really want to be hardcore and do it all from the CLI (command line interface).

Whoa, take it easy...I come in peace.

I agree with you 100% re: your comparison between the two. The point I was trying to make was that the RedHat installation could be scaled down a bit. The standard server installation is well over 700 MB...and I can do without all of the graphics apps, calcuators, fortune teller apps. That's not what I plan on using RedHat for. As much as I dislike Dr. Gates' monster, I am a slave to it until they port Photoshop, SWiSH and the like to Linux.



Sounds like a contradiction in terms...what makes the setup so difficult?

I'll take your advice and uncheck the packages as I see necessary (or unecessary). Thanks for the advice.

I should define my terms better: Setting it up isn't hard, configuring it can be, depending on how specific your needs are and how deep your knowledge is.

Devshed has a number of tutorials, and the documentation is your best friend.

Just make sure to let redhat install packages to satisfy dependencies. And this probably won't be your last install, so try and try again. How big of an HDD are you putting it on?

Thanks for the reply Hero...

I agree with you...configuration has been a bit daunting thus far. I know it would probably be much easier to install everything, but I doubt very seriously that it would be as efficient. I just like installing only what I need; if I find that I do require another package later, fine....I have no problem installing it manually or via an RPM.

I have a 9GB drive on my machine. It's a PII 400Mhz with 256 MB off RAM. Decent enough for my first webdev box, I think.

I am in the process of installing RedHat (again) now. I chose a server installation, and RedHat automatically partitioned the drive.

As far as packages go, I chose to install xinetd, telnet, wu-ftp, and gnome. Gnome had several dependencies, and I learned a while back to always install dependencies!

It's currently installing now. We'll see if this does the trick. No kidding about multiple installations; I can't even count how many I've performed thus far!

Thanks again for the advice..