Manual installation of a Slint system.

A manual installation consists of two main steps.

A. Prepare the drive(s) for installation. This includes: design the partitions
   layout, create the partitions and optionally format them i.e. create file
   systems in them. The installer can format the Linux partitions if you prefer.
B. Type: setup to perform further preparation, installation and configuration.

A) Prepare the drive(s) for installation.

If possible install Slint in its own drive.

You may also install it in a drive shared by another system, but then preferably
if booting in EFI mode, so that each system, having its own OS loader, will be
independent from others and their updates. Then you need to free some space on
the drive to install Slint. You can use the 'freespace' command of the Slint
installer to do that if the last partition of the drive is has an ext2, ext3 or
ext4 file system, else do it from the already installed system. From Windows
follow this link:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/shrink-a-basic-volume

If possible, allow the machine to boot in EFI mode and set up a GPT (GUID
partition table) for the target drive, for maximum flexibility.

The installer uses the GRUB software for both EFI and Legacy booting.

To install Slint in its own drive you will need:
1) To boot in Legacy mode with a GPT, a partition of type BIOS Boot needed by
   GRUB in this context. A size of 1M for this partition is enough. It is
   reserved for GRUB and should not be formatted.
2) To boot in EFI mode a partition of type ESP (EFI System Partition) of size
   100M to store the EFI OS loader. This partition can be created in a GPT as in
   a DOS partition table.
3) a partition of size at least 28G for the system, of type Linux.

In case of a GPT, we recommend setting both a BIOS Boot partition and an ESP for
more flexibility, allowing to boot Slint in EFI as well as in Legacy mode.

Creating other partitions is optional. If you want a swap partition it should
have the type Linux swap. Alternatively or in addition, you can set up a swap
file. 'setup' will propose to set it up after having created the file system of
the root partition.

The installer includes several partitioning applications: cfdisk, fdisk, sfdisk,
cgdisk, gdisk, sgdisk, parted. The applications with "g" in their name can
handle only gpt, parted can handle DOS partition tables as well as GPT. fdisk,
cfdisk and sfdisk can handle DOS partition tables. In addition, wipefs
(to erase previous partition table and file system signatures) and partprobe
(to inform the kernel of a partition table changes) are available.
The lsblk application displays information about block devices and partitions.

You can format the partitions yourself, or let the installer do it for you. Here
'format' means: create a file system to manage files in the partition. Bear in
mind that the ESP should have a vfat file system, a Bios Boot partition no file
system at all. For Linux partitions the Slint installer can handle these file
system types: btrfs, ext2, ext4, f2fs, jfs, reiserfs, xfs.

The installer can set up mount points for partitions shared with or used by
Windows to allow access them from Slint. They should have a file system of type
vfat, msdos or ntfs, either set up by Windows or created before running setup.

B) Actions managed by the setup program.

The setup program displays a menu with these entries or steps:

KEYMAP to remap your keyboard  (optional)
ADDSWAP to up your swap partition(s) (optional)
TARGET to set up your target partitions
SOURCE to select source media containing the software packages
INSTALL to install the software packages
CONFIGURE to configure your Slint system.

These entries are commented below. The TARGET, SOURCE, INSTALL and CONFIGURE
steps are mandatory and should be performed in this order.

KEYMAP can be used to change the keyboard map initially chosen.

ADDSWAP can be used to set up swap partition(s). You can instead set up a swap
file after installation and/or set up a swap space in zram.

In the TARGET step the installer first asks which Linux partition will host the
root (/) directory, then asks if you want to install a file system in it. You
SHOULD agree if not yet done, ELSE INSTALLATION WILL FAIL at the INSTALL step
because of lack of space to install the packages. Then choose a file system
among those proposed.

The installer then lists other Linux partitions, and sets for each if you want
to use it in Slint a mount point and a file system.

In the SOURCE step you select the media containing the software packages to be
installed. This will most likely be the one containing the installer.

In the INSTALL step all packages included in the installation media are
installed, except the KDE packages set if you don't want it.

In the CONFIGURE step the installer configures the new system to your liking.
This includes following settings or options:

Make a rescue USB boot stick.
Install and configure the GRUB boot manager and associated OS loader(s).
Choose wether or not to use the mouse on the console.
Configure the network.
Decide which service should be started at startup.
Select if the hardware clock uses UTC or local time, set the time zone.
Choose the login manager: console mode or graphical.
Choose the default graphical session.
Set the default language and regional variant in the installed system.

Some packages specific to the language chosen are then installed.

All done, remove the installation media and reboot to start Slint.