Live Image README
Introduction
A Live image is a low-risk and time-efficient method of "test-driving" the Fedora operating system on your own familiar hardware. If the evaluation provides a pleasant adventure, you may choose to install the Live system software to provide your normal computing environment. This Live image provides you with an experience that is very similar to running Fedora, but there are some benefits and caveats.
What Should I Do With My Live Image?
Before you use your Live image, read the next section to learn how to maximize your enjoyment of Fedora. You may also want to read [#Booting the following section for hints on booting from this media] . Then insert this media in your computer and boot from it.
Suggested Hardware
This Live system successfully boots and runs on most computers with 256 MB or more installed system memory, or RAM.
Your computer must have the ability to boot from the device holding the Live image media. For instance, if the Live image is on a CD or DVD, your computer must be able to boot from the CD or DVD drive.
Booting
This section gives additional guidance for users whose experience with starting the computer, or "booting," is limited to pushing the power button. To set up your system to boot from the Live media, first shut down or hibernate your computer if it is not already off. Power your computer on, and watch the initial BIOS screen for a prompt that indicates which key to use for either:
- a boot menu, or
- the BIOS setup utility
The boot menu option is preferable. If you cannot see such a prompt, consult your manufacturer's documentation for your computer system, motherboard, or mainboard for the correct keystroke. On many systems, the required key will be F12, F2, F1, or Delete.
Most computers boot from hard disk (or one of the hard disks, if there are more than one). If you are reading this document from a CD or a DVD, then set the computer to boot from the DVD or CD drive. If you are reading this file from a USB device such as a memory stick or thumb drive, set your computer to boot from the USB device.
If you are making changes to the BIOS configuration, record the current boot device selection configuration before you change it. This record allows you to restore the original configuration if you choose to return to your previous computing environment.
The BIOS on older computers may not include a choice you desire, such as network booting. If your computer can only boot from floppy diskette or hard disk, you may be unable to experience this Live image on your computer.
You may wish to see if an updated BIOS is available from the manufacturer of your computer. A BIOS update may offer additional boot menu choices, but requires care to install properly. Consult the manufacturer's documentation for more information. Otherwise, ask a friend if you can try running this Live image on their newer computer.
Benefits
The following benefits accrue with a Live image:
While running this Live image, you are in control, and are not limited to a set of screenshots or options chosen by others. Select which tasks or applications to explore with complete freedom.
You can experiment with this Live image with no disruption to your previous computing environment, documents, or desktop. Hibernate your current operating system, restart with the Live image, and restart the original operating system when finished. Your previous environment returns with no changes made.
You can use the Live image to evaluate whether all of your hardware devices are recognized and properly configured.
In some cases, the Live image does not offer the full range of hardware support seeing in an installed Fedora system. You may be able to manually configure support in the Live image, but must repeat these steps each time you use the Live image.
You can use the Live image to try different desktop environments such as GNOME, KDE, XFCE, or others. None of these choices require you to reconfigure an existing Linux installation on your computer.
Caveats
The Live image also involves some drawbacks in exchange for convenience:
While using this Live image, your computer may be much slower to respond or require more time to complete tasks than with a system installed to hard disk. CD and DVD discs provide data to the computer at a much slower rate than hard disks. Less of your computer's system memory is available for loading and running applications. Running the Live image from RAM trades higher memory usage for faster response times.
To fit space constraints, fewer installed applications are included than in a full installation of Fedora. Your favorite applications may not be present in this Live image, even though they may be present and run quite well in a full installation of Fedora.
At this time, you cannot permanently install new applications in the Live image. To try other applications, or newer versions of existing applications, you must generally install Fedora on your computer. You may be able to temporarily install or update applications, however, if you have sufficient system memory. Most systems require more than 512 MB RAM for installations or updates to succeed. These changes will be lost when you shut down the Live image.
Changes may also evaporate if your system's memory usage forces the system to reread the original software or settings from the Live image. This behavior is peculiar to a Live image and does not occur in a full installation of Fedora.
Experimenting with the Live image
As you explore the the cascading menus on or around the desktop, look for application programs you may wish to run. In addition, you may wish to explore other capabilities.
Sharing Existing Data
You can share data via mounting existing storage devices, such as:
- floppy diskettes
- USB drives
- disk partitions
Making a Backup Copy of Data
You may use this Live image to make backup or archival copies of data, if your computer system includes:
- a CD or DVD burning drive
- a hard disk with ample free space
Files normally in use by your previous operating system when it is running are not in use in the Live image. Therefore you can use the Live image to copy files that are problematic for backup software in the previous operating system.
Installing Fedora from the Live Image
To install the system from this Live image, run the LiveOS as described above, and select the Install to Hard Disk application on the Desktop. Using the resulting Fedora installation, you can customize the software and configuration to your liking on a persistent basis.