An-Najah ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌـــﺔ‬

National University ‫اﻟ ــﺎح اﻟ ــﺔ‬

Faculty of Engineering and ‫ﻛﻠ ـﺔ اﻟﻬ ﺳـﺔ وﺗ ﻟ ﺟ ﺎ‬
Information Technology ‫اﻟ ﻌﻠ ﻣﺎت‬
Computer Engineering Department ‫ﻫ ﺳﺔ اﻟ ﺎﺳ ب‬ ‫ﻗ‬

Operating Systems

Assignment #1: 1st semester 2023/2024

Date: 13th/September/2023

Part1 (40%):

1. Try Linux as a virtual operating system using either:

 Virtual Box (https://www.virtualbox.org/)
 VMWare player (https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation-player.html
2. For this course we will use REDHAT (or any other distribution derived from REDHAT like
CENTOS, CERN, or Scientific Linux).
a. Register on the REDHAT developer website and download the latest version of RHEL
operating system: https://developers.redhat.com/products/rhel/download
b. For CENTO, you can download directly:
i. Version 7: http://isoredirect.centos.org/centos/7/isos/x86_64/
ii. Version 8: http://isoredirect.centos.org/centos/8-stream/isos/x86_64/
iii. Version 9: https://mirrors.centos.org/mirrorlist?path=/9-
stream/BaseOS/x86_64/iso/CentOS-Stream-9-latest-x86_64-
dvd1.iso&redirect=1&protocol=https
3. Create a new virtual machine using the software installed in step1 and use the ISO
downloaded in step2 to install Linux on the newly created machine.
 An-Najah ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌـــﺔ‬
National University ‫اﻟ ــﺎح اﻟ ــﺔ‬
Faculty of Engineering and ‫ﻛﻠ ـﺔ اﻟﻬ ﺳـﺔ وﺗ ﻟ ﺟ ﺎ‬
Information Technology ‫اﻟ ﻌﻠ ﻣﺎت‬
Computer Engineering Department ‫ﻫ ﺳﺔ اﻟ ﺎﺳ ب‬ ‫ﻗ‬

Part 2 (60%):

4. Please save all your important data on a Google drive, Dropbox, Microsoft Drive, ...etc
before you continue.
5. Create a bootable USB drive. You can use software like RUFUS on Windows to create the
bootable USB drive.

 Check RUFUS website to download the latest version: https://rufus.ie/en/

 Check the following detailed tutorial on how to create a bootable USB drive (scroll to
this section: Create a Bootable Red Hat Enterprise Linux USB Flash Drive with Windows
10): https://graspingtech.com/create-bootable-rhel-8-usb-flash-drive/

 Ideally you need a USB drive which is 16GB or larger, and just use the ISO file which you
downloaded earlier in the semester to install Linux as a virtual machine.

 WARNING: this step will delete everything on the USB drive and replace it with the OS
installer.

6. Resize your hard-disk to make free space for the new operating system:

 Check the following tutorial for example (Section: How to Partition your Hard Drive for
Ubuntu) https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-dual-boot-windows-10-and-
ubuntu-linux-dual-booting-tutorial/

 You can skip this step if you plan to install Linux on an external drive. Just make sure that
there is a good possibility that the installer will format this drive (i.e. delete/wipe all the
data on the drive in order to use it for the new operating system).

7. Reboot your computer while plugging the newly created bootable USB:

 You might have to change the BIOS options to allow the computer to start (BOOT) from
the USB.

 Follow the instructions to install RedHat as you did earlier in step3.

 WARNING: select the free space (or the newly created partition in Step6) as a
destination for your installation.

8. If after you install Linux, you do not see Windows when you start the computer, then you
have to update your boot menu (grub):

 Check the following link for more details (Changing the Default Boot Option):
https://www.answertopia.com/rhel/dual-booting-rhel-with-windows/
 An-Najah ‫ﺟﺎﻣﻌـــﺔ‬
National University ‫اﻟ ــﺎح اﻟ ــﺔ‬
Faculty of Engineering and ‫ﻛﻠ ـﺔ اﻟﻬ ﺳـﺔ وﺗ ﻟ ﺟ ﺎ‬
Information Technology ‫اﻟ ﻌﻠ ﻣﺎت‬
Computer Engineering Department ‫ﻫ ﺳﺔ اﻟ ﺎﺳ ب‬ ‫ﻗ‬

Submission rules:

 It is possible to work in teams of two (maximum).

 Submission: Demonstration in person (for both team members) of your newly installed OS
during office hours until Thursday 21th/September/2023.

 Assignment weight is 5% from the course’s total mark.

 Maximum of 1 week late (7 days), after that no submission will be accepted; 0.25-mark
penalty per day for late submissions (if you are 7 days late, you would lose 1.75 marks).