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Unit 1: Installing Linux

bf 3c). Not all information will be needed for your hardware. If you have Windows 95 or Notes
Windows NT running, you can copy the values from the system hardware device information
screen. Otherwise, consult the hardware manuals or the hardware company’s web site.
Linux hardware requirements are modest, but picky. You do not need to have the most advanced
and latest model PC to run Linux, but since the development of device drivers is primarily done
by volunteers, you need to have devices in your PC for which device drivers have been developed
by the Net community.

1.1.2 Hardware Compatibility Lists

Red Hat/Fedora

Red Hat’s major product line is Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), which is mostly based on
Red Hat’s free software distribution, Fedora. Fedora is not actually maintained by Red Hat; it’s
maintained by the community of Fedora developers. However, Red Hat does a lot of work on
Fedora, because that work flows into RHEL.
Red Hat’s Hardware Catalog doesn’t extend beyond RHEL to the Fedora releases, which is
something that you’ll need to remember when looking to the Red Hat site for Fedora support.
The list provides information on CPUs, video cards, SCSI controllers, IDE controllers, network
cards, modems, and sound cards.

SuSE

SuSE offers two lists: the Express Search and Extended Search. The difference between the two is
that the Extended Search offers fields beyond Vendor, Device, and Category. In practice, you’re
likely only to need the Express Search.
Mandriva Linux

The Mandriva Linux Hardware Compatibility Database is a very comprehensive list of hardware
that has been tested by the Mandriva Linux community.

General Linux

The Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO is perhaps the most comprehensive of the high-
level Linux links. It was begun in 1997 and is updated as often as twice annually. It provides
information on all device types and all major manufacturers.
Aside from providing interesting and useful user forums, LinuxQuestions.org also provides
an outstanding list of Linux-compatible hardware. This is the most up-to-date of the high-level
Linux lists, with updates appearing daily where applicable. While it’s not as comprehensive as
the HOWTO, the LinuxQuestions list is easily as important because of this timeliness.
Linux Compatible provides both updated lists, and forums in which users can help other users
resolve existing hardware issues.

1.1.3 Server Design

A server installation removes all existing partitions on all installed hard drives, so only choose
server installation if you’re sure you have nothing you want saved. This means that if you
have Windows installed in ANY drive it will delete it and install Linux. As in the workstation
installation it will partition the hard-drive(s) and install a variety of software packages, but it will
not include many of the user-oriented packages present in the workstation installation.
In order to perform a server installation you will need at least 1.8 GBytes of free hard-disk
space. No dual-booting will be set up since no other operating system will exist in the machine

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