What You Need

What You Need

To follow along with this book, you must install the software found on the accompanying CDs. To do that, you need a PC with the following general configuration:

• An Intel Pentium or compatible CPU, 200Mhz or better (for text mode); 400Mhz or better (for GUI mode). (Some Intel 486 computers may work, but it's hit-or-miss.)

• At least 64MB of RAM. To run the GNOME or KDE desktop 128MB are needed, although Red Hat recommends 256MB.

• At least 510MB of hard disk space (you have to select a minimal install). You need 2.1GB of hard disk space for a personal desktop install, 2.6GB for a typical workstation installation, or at least 920MB of space for a server installation. To install everything, you need about 5.8GB of space.

• A CD-ROM drive. This is recommended for installation, although you can install over a network or from a local hard disk instead. For those types of installs, you need at least a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and either an extra hard disk partition or another computer (that can be reached over the network) that has packages or images of the Red Hat Linux CDs on it. (I tell you how to do that later, in case you're interested.)

Not every piece of PC hardware works with Red Hat Linux. You can find a list of computer processors that will work with Red Hat at www.redhat.com/hardware. You will probably want to use other types of hardware (also on that list) with your Red Hat Linux system, including video cards, mice, sound cards, modems, printers, scanners, joysticks, PCMCIA devices, and tape drives.