and you don't have another different operating system on the same machine,
answer ``Yes'' to this question. Note that if you answer ``Yes,'' you
won't be able to boot into DOS normally on your machine, for instance. Be
careful. If you answer ``Yes,'' the next question will be whether you want
to boot Linux automatically from the hard disk when you turn on your
system. This sets Linux to be the bootable partition - the one that will
be loaded from the hard disk.

Note that multiple operating system booting on a single machine is still
something of a black art. This book does not even attempt to document the
various boot managers, which vary by architecture and even by
sub-architecture. You should see your boot manager's documentation for
more information. Remember: When working with the boot manager, you can
never be too careful.

The standard i386 boot loader is called ``LILO.'' It is a complex program
that offers lots of functionality, including DOS, NT, and OS/2 boot
management. To find out more about this functionality, you can read the
documentation in /usr/doc/lilo after your system is set up.

Make a Boot Floppy

You should make a boot floppy even if you intend to boot the system from
the hard disk. The reason is that it's possible for the hard disk
bootstrap to be mis-installed, but a boot floppy will almost always work.
Select ``Make a Boot Floppy'' from the menu and feed the system a blank
floppy as directed. Make sure the floppy isn't write-protected, because
the software will format and write it. Mark this the ``Custom Boot''
floppy and write-protect it once it has been written.