In order to prevent any surprises during the installation, you should
collect some information before attempting to install Red Hat Linux. You can
find most of this information in the documentation that came with your
system, or from the system's vendor or manufacturer.
The most recent list of hardware supported by Red Hat Linux can be found at
Red Hat's World Wide Web site at
http://www.redhat.com/hardware
. It's a good idea to check
your hardware against this list before proceeding.
Please Note:
You can perform a text mode installation of Red Hat Linux by following
instructions in this chapter and in
Chapter 9
,
which follows. However, if you're installing from a CD-ROM, you might
prefer to use the graphical installation mode, which offers both ease
of use and a flexible, custom installation. For more information on
this option, turn to the Inst.
Please Note:
At the end of the
Before You Begin
chapter in
the
Official Red Hat Linux Installation Guide
is a table for you to fill out with
your specific system requirements. This should help you keep up with
any information about your system in general as well as to the
information you will need during your installation.
You should have a basic understanding of the hardware installed in your
computer, including:
-
hard drive(s) -- Specifically, the number, size, and type. If you
have more than one, it's helpful to know which one is first,
second, and so on. It is also good to know if your drives are IDE
or SCSI. If you have IDE drives, you should check your computer's
BIOS to see if you are accessing them in
LBA
mode. Please refer to your computer's
documentation for the proper key sequence to access the BIOS.
Note that your computer's BIOS may refer to LBA mode by other
names, such as "large disk mode". Again, your computer's
documentation should be consulted for clarification.
-
memory -- The amount of RAM installed in your computer.
-
CD-ROM -- Most importantly, the unit's interface type (IDE, SCSI,
or other interface) and, for non-IDE, non-SCSI CD-ROMs, the make
and model number. IDE CD-ROMs (also known as ATAPI) are the most
common type in recently manufactured, PC-compatible computers.
-
SCSI adapter (if one is present) -- The adapter's make and model
number.
-
network card (if one is present) -- The card's make and model
number.
-
mouse -- The mouse's type (serial, PS/2, or bus mouse), protocol
(Microsoft, Logitech, MouseMan, etc.), and number of buttons;
also, for serial mice, the serial port it is connected to.
On many newer systems, the installation program is able to
automatically identify most hardware. However, it's a good idea to
collect this information anyway, just to be sure.
Alpha:
In addition to the latest hardware compatibility list on Red Hat's
website, owners of Alpha-based systems should refer to the
Red Hat Linux/Alpha Alpha Installation Addendum for more information on
supported hardware configurations.
SPARC:
In addition to the latest hardware compatibility list on Red Hat's
website, SPARC owners should refer to the Red Hat Linux/SPARC
for a list of supported hardware.
If your computer is already running Windows 9
x
,
you can use the following procedure to get additional configuration
information:
-
With Windows running, click on the "My Computer" icon using the
secondary (normally the right) mouse button. A pop-up menu
should appear.
-
Select "Properties." The "System Properties" window should
appear (see
Figure 8-1
). Note the
information listed under "Computer:" -- in particular the amount
of RAM listed.
-
Click on the "Device Manager" tab. You will then see a
graphical representation of your computer's hardware
configuration. Make sure the "View devices by type" button is
selected.
At this point, you can either double-click on the icons (or
single-click on the plus sign
+
) to look at each
entry in more detail (see
Figure 8-2
). Look under the
following icons for more information:
-
Disk drives -- You will find the type (IDE or SCSI) of hard
drive here. (IDE drives will normally include the word "IDE,"
while SCSI drives won't.)
-
Hard disk controllers -- You can get more information about
your hard drive controller here.
-
CDROM -- Here is where you'll find out about any CD-ROM drives
connected to your computer.
Please Note:
In some cases, there may be no CD-ROM icon, yet your computer
has a functioning CD-ROM drive. This is normal, depending on
how Windows was originally installed. In this case, you may
be able to learn additional information by looking at the
CD-ROM driver loaded in your computer's
config.sys
file.
-
Mouse -- The type of mouse present on your computer can be found
here.
-
Display adapters -- If you're interested in running the X Window
System, you should write down the information you find here.
-
Sound, video and game controllers -- If your computer has sound
capabilities, you'll find more information about that here.
-
Network adapters -- Here you'll find additional info on your
computer's network card (if you have one).
-
SCSI controllers -- If your computer uses SCSI peripherals,
you'll find additional info on the SCSI controller here.
While this method is not a complete substitute for opening your
computer's case and physically examining each component, in many
cases it can provide sufficient information to continue with the
installation.
Please Note:
This information can also be printed by clicking on the
"Print…" button. A second window will appear, allowing you
to choose the printer, as well as the type of report (the "All
Devices and System Summary" report type is the most complete).
If you will be installing the X Window System, you should also be
familiar with the following:
-
your video card -- The card's make and model number (or the
video chipset it uses), and the amount of video RAM it has. (Most
PCI-based cards are auto-detected by the installation program.)
-
your monitor -- The unit's make and model number, along
with allowable ranges for horizontal and vertical refresh rates.
If you will be connected to a network, be sure you know your:
-
IP address -- Usually represented as a set of four numbers
separated by dots, such as
10.0.2.15
.
-
netmask -- Another set of four numbers separated by dots. An
example netmask would be
255.255.248.0
.
-
gateway IP address -- Yet another set of four dot-separated
numbers. For instance,
10.0.2.254
.
-
one or more name server IP addresses -- One or more sets of
dot-separated numbers.
10.0.2.1
might be the
address of a name server.
-
domain name -- The name given to your organization. For instance,
Red Hat has a domain name of
redhat.com
.
-
hostname -- The name of your computer. A computer might be named
pooh
, for instance.
Please Note:
The information given above is an example only! Do
not
use it when you install Red Hat Linux! If you
don't know the proper values for your network, ask your network
administrator.
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