Gathering Information

Before you start installing Linux, you should gather information about your current hardware. Assuming that you are currently running Windows, one of the best sources of information is Windows itself. (I'll show you how to obtain this information in a moment.)

Other sources of information include

  • Printed documentation—manuals—for your hardware

  • The hardware itself (you may have to open your computer to find this)

  • The system vendor: for example, Dell

  • The manufacturer of a specific piece of hardware: for example, 3Com

Figure 1.1. You can use the system Properties dialog box to learn about your hardware.


To obtain information about your current hardware from Windows.

1.
Right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop.

A pop-up menu will appear.

2.
Choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

The System Properties dialog box will open (Figure 1.1)

3.
Select the Device Manager tab (Figure 1.2)

The Device Manager tab displays a list of the hardware in your computer by category. A plus sign on the left of the category indicates that an item can be expanded to show more information.

Figure 1.2. Windows Device Manager provides a list of hardware categories that can be expanded to display individual hardware components.


4.
Highlight an individual hardware component and click the Properties button to display more information about that specific piece of hardware (Figure 1.3)

Figure 1.3. Clicking the Properties button displays detailed information about a specific hardware item.


What you need to know

You should be prepared to supply the following hardware information. It's a good idea to write this down before you proceed:

  • Your mouse type and, if it is a serial mouse, the port it is connected to

  • Disk controller type(s) and, for SCSI devices, the make and model

  • CD-ROM type

  • The make and model of your monitor and, possibly, its horizontal and vertical refresh rates

  • The make and model of your video card, its chip set, and the amount of RAM it uses

  • The make and model of your network interface card(NIC)


Tip

Red Hat Linux 6 with the graphical Gnome desktop environment requires a minimum of 8MB of RAM and a minimum total of about 120MB of hard drive space. Clearly, your system will run better with more RAM (what else is new?). In addition, if you are going to install many of the components and applications that come with Red Hat Linux 6 and Gnome—such as those included in the default installations—you'll find the program taking up a great deal more space, perhaps as much as 450MB.


Warning

The procedure outlined in this chapter replaces the Windows file system with the Linux file system. All the current data and applications on your hard drive will be lost, and unless you have made backups, there will be no way to retrieve them.


Warning

Install at your own risk! The version of Red Hat Linux 6 on the CD-ROM bundled with this book does not come with free technical support from either Red Hat or Peachpit Press. That means if you install it, and something goes wrong, you have to figure out how to fix it using this book and the documentation on the CD-ROM and the Red Hat Web site (http://www.redhat.com). You can purchase technical support from Red Hat by calling 1-888-REDHAT1.


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