Please note
This manual was made after the 2.2 Multimedia Edition release. At this time, individual pieces of documentation were on seperate pages. This "manual" is not a complete document, but rather all the pieces of documentation made gathered together in one place.
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Table of Contents
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Downloading Dreamlinux
If you are interested in downloading the latest version of Dreamlinux, this HOWTO may be useful.
Versions available
There are two versions of Dreamlinux that you can download. The stable version is the one that is recommended for most users. As the name suggets, it is reliable and is known to work. The alpha version if for testers who want "bleeding edge" software, and are interested in giving bug reports
Downloading an image file
Firstly, go to the Dreamlinux website and click "Download". The file is approximately 700MB to download and, especially on slower internet connections, it may take a while. For a download time calculator, go here. You will need to know the download size (700 megabytes) and your download speed. If you are Windows XP, this can be seen by hovering the mouse over the 
icon.
Download from mirror
This is a regular download. If you are on a slow internet connection, it may be useful to download a free download manager (such as this one), as it will allow you to resume your download later if you want/have to reboot your PC.
Download from torrent
This should give you much faster download speeds. However, you will first need a torrent client installed. A commonly used client can be downloaded from here. After installing the software, the appropriate torrent file must be obtainded from here. This is very small and will take a couple of seconds to get at most. Open this file with the software you downloaded and the 700MB download will begin.
Checking the Md5sum
If you used a torrent client to download Dreamlinux, this shouldn't be a problem, but it is worth checking just to be sure. If you downloaded from a mirror, then your file could be slightly corrupted. To check, you have to use what is known as a Md5sum.
If you are on Windows, download and install an application called Md5summer (available from here, and linuxiso.org). Using the application, create a checksum for the .iso file that you have downloaded. If it is identical to the appropriate one here, then the file is not corrupted. If it is different, check that you are looking at the correct sum, and if you are sure that it is different, you should download the file again.
Burning to a disc
In order to boot from the CD you will need to burn it as an ISO filesystem image to a CD or DVD. A 700MB cd should work. You will need a CD burning application that can burn image files. A popular one for Windows is ISO Recorder (available from here). Open the image file with this application and burn it to a blank CD. Remember that some burning tools work best at slower speeds (4x or 8x). Once you have done this, your Dreamlinux CD is ready for use!
Boot
To boot the Dreamlinux CD, you may have to change some settings.
When your computer starts, you may get an option to access "System Configuration" or something similar. If so, press the button you are instructed to. If not, try pressing <del> or one of the F buttons (<F1>. <F2>, <F3> etc.). Once you have done this, try and find boot settings, and instruct the computer to boot from the CD. Finally, reboot and the computer should start from the CD rather than from the PC.
Following the graphical boot through, you should eventually reach an Xfce desktop.
Partitioning a hard disk
If you want to try Dreamlinux, but want to keep another operating system e.g. Windows, you don't have do delete one to have the other. "Partitioning" a hard disk involves splitting a hard disk into different sections to allow multiple operating systems on the same hard disk.
What is a partition?
A hard disk is a section of a hard disk. Each section can an operating system on it, or an operating system can have more than one partition. If you use Microsoft Windows and are unfamiliar with partitioning, you probably just have the one partition.
What is dual-booting?
Dual-booting is when you have two operating systems on the same computer. When you switch the PC on, you then have to choose which operating system you want to load.
How do I set up a Windows-Linux dual-boot?
There are two ways of making a dual-boot system. Method 1 is quicker, but deletes everything on your disc. Method 2 is best if you have a lot of documents and don't want to re-install Windows.
IMPORTANT: It is highly recommended that you back up all data before carrying out this operation, as you may lose data in the process!
You will need to set up partitions. The way to do this is explained below, but here are the partitions you will need:
- 1 for your Windows partition: Type="FAT32"
- 1 for your Linux partition: Type="Linux"
- 1 for your Linux swap space (Optional - if you're computer has less than 256MB RAM, create a swap partition approximately double the size of your RAM): Type="Linux swap"
Method 1
- Boot from the Dreamlinux CD.
- Open a terminal and type: sudo cfdisk
- Delete the current partition
- Create the three partitions described above.
- Boot from your XP installation disc.
- Install Windows on your FAT32 partition.
- Boot from the Dreamlinux CD.
- Install Dreamlinux to the "Linux" partition using the "Linux swap" as your swap
- Install GRUB to the MBR (you should be given this option in the installer).
Method 2
This method involves using the GParted LiveCD, instead of Cfdisk as GParted allows partitions to be resized, meaning that you can keep your old Windows installation and files. Below is a screenshot of GParted:
Here are the steps needed to keep your Windows installation and install Dreamlinux:
- Download the GParted LiveCD from here.
- Burn the iso to a CD using Gnomebaker
- Shut down your PC and boot from the CD
- Run GParted
- Shrink your Windows partition so that there is at least 5GB free
- Create one more partition (or two for slow PCs) and format them with the filesystem types described above
- Shut down and reboot your PC from the Dreamlinux CD
- Install Dreamlinux on the "Linux" partition and use the "Linux swap" as your swap space if you created it
- Install GRUB to the MBR (you should be given this option in the installer).
Cfdisk
Cfdisk is a partition editor included in the Dreamlinux LiveCD.
This means that you can change the parition layout on your hard disk. Unfortunately, cfdisk does not support the resizing of paritions, although it does allow partitions to be created, deleted, and formatted into many filesystems.
To run the application, type sudo cfdisk into a terminal. The application runs in the terminal, with the text being similar to the image below:
Mounting devices
It is simple in Dreamlinux to mount devices such as CD drives and USB sticks. Just follow these instructions.
How do I mount a CD drive?
- Open File Manager
- Go to /mnt
- Click on cdrom
How do I mount a floppy drive?
- Open File Manager
- Go to /mnt
- Click on floppy
How do I mount a USB stick / penstick?
- Open File Manager
- Go to /mnt
- Click on sda1
How do I mount an external hard drive?
- Open File Manager
- Go to /mnt
- Click on the shortcuts starting with hdb e.g. hdb1, hdb2. These are the partitions on the external hard disk.
How do I mount a hard drive partition?
- Open File Manager
- Go to /dev
- Click on the shortcut for the partition you want to mount (which should start with hda e.g. hda2).
Beryl
Beryl is a 3D window manager for the X Window System, which allows cool 3D effects to be used, such as the one below (using the Cube plugin):
It is not installed by default on Dreamlinux 2.2 MM Edition, but on 2.2 MMGL Edition, it is available after installation to the hard disk. Once installed, it must be activated.
Activate Beryl
Although it is possible to install Beryl on 2.2, the current development version has Beryl installed. However, please remember that this is a Release Candidate, meaning that there may still be some minor bugs. Unfortunately, it may not be actiavated on the LiveCD. Dreamlinux must be installed for it to work. Once installed, complete the following simple steps:
- Click on the Beryl item on the menu.
- Click on enable.
- Logout and login with "Beryl/GL session" selected.
Where to go for help
Sometimes you may encounter problems with Dreamlinux, but there are experts who will (hopefully) be able to fix it! Below are some places where help is offered.
Search for documentation
- Search this wiki. If your problem is that you can boot from the cd, search for boot cd in the search box above.
- Look at the tutorials page on the official Dreamlinux site.
- Go to the website of the piece of software/hardware you are having trouble with. For example, if the problem is with Xfce, go to xfce.org.
Ask for help
- Go to the Dreamlinux forums.
- Ask at the LinuxQuestions.org forums.