InformIT: Red Hat Linux 7 Unleashed

System Requirements

Red Hat keeps a listing of the system requirements and supported hardware for the three platforms—Intel, Alpha, and SPARC—on which Linux will run. These lists are presented in this section. As with anything, these lists change. If the particular hardware you have is not listed, check Red Hat's Hardware Compatibility Lists Web page at http://www.redhat.com/support/hardware/ to see if it has been listed there.

For Alpha and SPARC hardware, your best bet is to stick with Tier 1-supported equipment. Red Hat defines three tiers of support for SPARC and Alpha hardware:

Tier 1— The Red Hat distribution can detect and use the system, and works reliably.
Tier 2— The Red Hat distribution should properly detect and work with the hardware, but some users have reported problems.
Tier 3— The Red Hat distribution should work with the hardware using certain setups, but support is experimental, or the hardware may pose problems.

System Requirements—Intel

In general, Linux will run on nearly any modern Intel-based computer. If the computer can run DOS or Windows, it will run Linux. However, new users need to understand that there is a big difference between being able to just run Linux, and being able to install and configure the X Window System for a specific graphics card. Other concerns may focus on your system's handling of Advanced Power Management, or an attached modem, scanner, or printer. Remember, if you can partition your hard drive, copy Linux and its software to the new partition, and then reboot and log into the console, you're running Linux!

That said, according to Red Hat, these are the general system requirements for running Red Hat Linux on an Intel platform:

Intel 386 through Pentium III.
Spare hard drive space. 850MB for workstation installations and 1.7GB for a server installation. However, by choosing an expert mode, you can reduce these footprints considerably and install less software. A full installation will generally require at least 2.4GB, and perhaps more if you plan to install additional software, such as office suites or games.
32MB of memory or more is recommended, but if you don't use X11, you can use 16MB RAM; realistically expect 64MB to be the minimum if you plan to use X11 and run numerous clients at the same time.
Most video cards are supported. Note that support is better for video cards at least one or more years old; the latest and greatest graphics card may not be fully supported.
A CD-ROM drive. For the easiest install, although not essential, your computer's BIOS should be set to enable your computer to boot from CD-ROM. Many different CD-ROM and CDRW drives are supported.
A 3.5-inch disk drive. A boot floppy will only be needed if you need to perform a special install, such as via PCMCIA, PLIP, FTP, NFS, or HTTPD.
A SCSI or IDE drive. If you're configuring a dual-boot system (to be able to boot one or two operating systems), you'll need to create a separate partition or install a separate drive for Linux.

Another issue is sound. In general, there is much greater support for sound cards today than ever. The good news is that you can turn to at least two additional sources for drivers if the "stock" Open Sound System (OSS) drivers on the CD-ROM do not work with your computer's sound card. These are the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) project, at http://www.alsa-project.org, and the commercial OSS drivers from 4Front-Tech at http://www.opensound.com. Among all three sources, more than 400 different sound cards are supported!

More critical is proper support for your computer's video card, especially if you plan to use the X Window System. While Linux works quite well as a text-only, or console operating system, you'll most likely want to use X11 and its graphical interface to run word processors, spreadsheet programs, or to play games. Although the free X11 distribution from The XFree86 Project, Inc. works flawlessly with hundreds of different graphics cards and graphics chipsets in notebooks, you can run into trouble, especially if you have new and unsupported hardware. Fortunately, you can also turn to at least two commercial sources for specialized support. One source is Metro Link, Inc., which markets the low-cost Metro-X server (see http://www.metrolink.com). Another source is Xi Graphics, Inc., which markets specialized graphics drivers, including specialized accelerated drivers for 3D cards and notebooks (see http://www.accleratedx.com).

The list of supported hardware is not a list set in stone—new device drivers are constantly being revised. To find the most up-to-date listing of supported hardware, check Red Hat's hardware URL: http://www.redhat.com/support/hardware. You can then click on the link for Intel hardware.

Red Hat also has an online database of supported peripherals, systems, and devices you can access with your Web browser. Go to

http://hardware.redhat.com/redhatready/cgi-bin/us/genpage.cgi?pagename=hcl

You'll see a Web-based form, as shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Use Red Hat, Inc.'s Web-based form to search for Linux-compatible peripherals and devices.

Click on the drop-down menus to select the hardware, Red Hat product, architecture, or manufacturer. You can also enter a search keyword. Click the Search button, and any matches will appear in list below the search dialog. You can then click on a link for additional information.

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