Automatic installation of a Slint system.

In automatic mode the installer provides default settings, including the start
up mode (console), and the graphical environment (Mate). After having started
your new system, you can review and change all settings.

The installation steps are detailed below.

1. Installing Slint needs at least 28G of space on drive. The installer first
probes the drives, their sizes and the free space on them. Depending on the
results, it allows you to install on a dedicated drive or on the free space in
a drive.

a. Installation on a dedicated drive.

In this installation mode all the previous content of the drive will be erased.
If this include files you want to keep, save them elsewhere first!

If the drive is removable and connected through USB, the installer can make
Slint portable, allowing you to use it on any computer able to boot off an
external USB drive.

The drive can optionally be encrypted, to protect your data from theft if the
drive or computer is lost or stolen. As there are important associated caveats,
carefully read the document Encryption first.

b. Installation in a drive shared by another system. This makes it possible to
install Slint while keeping the other system using only one drive,

This is allowed if the drive has at least 26G of free or freeable space at its
end, has a GPT (GUID partition table), and the installer boots in EFI mode: in
this configuration both system will boot without interfering with each other.

If the drive is used by a Windows system you will need to reduce the Windows
partition size by 26G before starting the Slint installation, as indicated
in the document FreeSpace (meaning: free space on a drive to install Slint).

If the drive is used by another Linux system, the installer can reduce an
existing Linux partition size before installing Slint, provided that this Linux
system has an ext file system and this partition is the last one on the drive.

2. You choose the size of the main Slint partition, and optionally the size of
an additional partition, optionally leaving some free space on the drive for
future use.

The main partition will generally have an ext4 file system. However, if
installed on an SD card or eMMC drive it will have an f2fs file system.

You will have the chance to review and modify your choices before installation
begins.

After confirmation the base packages are installed, which takes a few seconds.

3. If you opted for an encrypted disk you type the passphrase that will be used
to unlock the drive at each boot up.

You choose a password for the user "root." This is the system administrator,
who has all privileges. You also create a regular user account, indicate if you
will need accessible Braille output, and whether you want to login to Slint in
text or graphical mode. If you used the language English (USA) during
installation you choose which language to use for the installed system, else
the installer sets the same as during installation.

The installer attempt to establish an Internet connection, allowing to propose
a time zone corresponding to your geographical location and later install
packages remotely as need be. You set it up or confirm the proposed one.

The installer then creates a swap file in the system partition, which you can
easily resize after installation. By default, an additional swap space 1.5
times the size of the physical RAM will be set up in zram every time Slint is
booted up.

4. The packages are installed on the drive (the KDE series of packages is
optional). The installer will attempt to establish an Internet connection so it
can download and install the most recent version of each package, including
those provided since the release of the ISO image. Thus you won't have to
download and install these new or upgraded packages after installation.

Installation of all packages takes about 10 to 40 minutes depending on the
hardware.

5. Next, the system is configured and the GRUB boot manager installed. If Slint
has been installed on a dedicated drive, it can boot in both Legacy and EFI
modes. Otherwise, it will boot only in EFI mode. In either case, the boot menu
will have an additional "rescue" boot entry to detect and boot installed OS.

6. You will be prompted to create a rescue boot stick on a USB flash drive. You
can use this to boot Slint if it fails to boot from its boot menu.

Last, remove the installation media and reboot to start your new Slint system.
You can display a preview of the boot menu before rebooting.