Chapter 4. Booting and Stopping Fedora

In This Chapter

  • Understanding what happens when you turn on your Linux machine

  • Identifying and isolating boot problems

  • Shutting down safely

  • Taking Linux off of your machine

I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit back and look at it for hours.

—Jerome K. Jerome

If you came here from Chapter 3, you likely just survived the first gauntlet of the Linux world: installing the operating system. I hope that booting for the first time worked well. If it did, and you decide that most of this chapter isn’t for you, at least skip to the section near the end of this chapter, “Don’t Just Turn Off the Machine!” Otherwise, if you’re interested in finding out about what your machine does as it boots (this chapter can get pretty geeky!), read on.

Your Linux installation failing to boot properly is not necessarily an emergency. Much of this chapter is designed to help you deal with any problems you might run into. Before you curse Linux, remember that installing an operating system is no small task — and because many technical variables are associated with such an installation, many computer manufacturers insist on performing the task at the factory. (When’s the last time you installed Windows yourself?) Companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Wal-Mart (believe it or not) have been offering Linux preinstalled, so if you’re too discouraged at this point, or are reading ahead and are too nervous to give it a shot, you can either use the Fedora LiveCD ...

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