Installing Linux (20 minutes)
First off, if you haven't already, install Linux on your target PC. I've outlined the main points below:

• If you can't boot from CD, create a boot floppy (see installation documents).

• Boot the soon-to-be Linux box and, when asked, choose "Server" as the installation option, it will then install all the appropriate software.

• Set up the network as you would in Windows, i.e. IP address, etc. I include this as a single bullet item, but assume there will be some poking around the system before you get this right. Once you can ping the box, you'll know you succeeded.

• Set up X-Windows, but don't worry if it's not perfect. Say No to the "Start Automatically" question.

• When asked for an "ordinary user" name, choose "notes". You'll need this for the Domino installation later on.

• When the PC reboots, log in as "root".

• Type "setup" and disable the http task in "System Services" if you want to use the http task in Domino instead of Apache (Apache, a popular Web server, launches by default in most Linux releases).

• Once you restart the PC by typing "shutdown -r now", you're done.

Installing Domino (40 minutes)
I'll assume you have the Domino software on CD. If you don't, you'll want to transfer the software to the Linux box. You can do this using FTP or Samba (see "Sharing Linux drives with Samba", elsewhere in this issue).

Let's install Domino on your Linux box:

1. Place the CD in the drive and log in as root if you haven't already done so. Make sure you've got your cursor at a shell prompt. If you're in X-Windows or some other shell, you can launch a Shell tool, or quite to the basic command-line shell.

2. Type "mount /dev/cdrom" to mount the CD. You should hear it spin up.

3. Type "df" to get a list of partitions and how much space is available in each. By default, the install tries to put the program and data in /opt/lotus and /local/notesdata respectively. The listing below shows what partitions are in what directory trees and in our case this would mean cramming both partitions into 136 MB.

   Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/hda8 250M 100M 136M 42% / /dev/hda1 17M 782k 15M 5% /boot /dev/hda6 638M 165M 440M 27% /home /dev/hda5 638M 275M 330M 46% /usr /dev/hda7 250M 6.3M 230M 3% /var

   From the list we could see that /home/notesdata would be better for the Notes data in order to have enough room for some databases.

4. From the prompt type "/mnt/cdrom/linux/install" and follow the prompts to install the software. Notice that the "notes" user you created earlier will own the software.

5. Once the installation is complete, logout as "root" and then log back in as "notes".

6. Change to your notes data directory. In other words, type "cd /home/notesdata" or "cd /local/notesdata" if you installed into the default directory.

7. Now type "/opt/lotus/bin/http httpsetup." When the program starts starts, go to your other PC, start up your Web browser and open the URL http://<;linux_box_ip_address>:8081. (Of course, replace <linux_box_ip_address> with the actual IP number). You should get the Domino server Setup screen that we're all familiar with. Set up the server as usual.

8. If created, the Cert.ID and Server.ID will have been placed in the Notes data directory. Your Admin user ID will have been attached to your document in Names.NSF

9. Once set up, go back to the Linux server and type "/opt/lotus/bin/server" and watch it start up. Note you don't get the ">" prompt on the console but don't worry, you can just type commands as normal.

10. If you didn't choose to have Domino start the http task automatically, then type "start http" at the console. Next, use your browser to open http://<;linux_box_ip_address>:8081/names.nsf and detach the user ID from your document.