Is Your Hardware Compatible? | The Red Hat Documentation Team

Hardware compatibility is particularly important if you have an older system or a system that you built yourself. Red Hat Linux 8.0 is compatible with most hardware in systems that were factory built within the last two years. However, hardware specifications change almost daily, so it is difficult to guarantee that your hardware will be 100 percent compatible.

The most recent list of supported hardware can be found online at:

 http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/

Learning About Your Hardware with Windows

If your computer is running Windows, you can find information about your hardware by using the Device Manager. The Device Manager’s location differs depending on the version of Windows you are running. The following sections describe how to find your hardware information in the two main versions of Windows: Windows 95/98/Me (these DOS-based versions of Windows are often collectively referred to as Windows 9x) and Windows NT/2000/XP.

Finding your hardware information in Windows 9x

If your computer is already running one of the versions of Windows 9x, you can use the following steps to get additional configuration information:

Figure 1-1. Windows 9x System Properties

In Windows, click the My Computer icon using the secondary (normally the right) mouse button. A pop-up menu should appear.

Note
Select Properties. The System Properties window should appear. 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.

Figure 1-2. Windows 9x Device Manager

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. Look under the following icons for more information:

Disk drives — The type (IDE or SCSI) of hard drive will be found here. (IDE drives will normally include the word "IDE," while SCSI drives will not.)
Hard disk controllers — Information about your hard drive controller.

CD-ROM — Information about any CD-ROM drives connected to your computer.

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.
Display adapters — If you are 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 will find more information about them here.
Network adapters — Information on your computer's network card (if you have one).
SCSI controllers — If your computer uses SCSI peripherals, you will find additional information on the SCSI controller here.

This method is not a complete substitute for opening your computer's case and physically examining each component. However, in many cases it can provide sufficient information to continue with the installation.

Note

You can print this information 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.

Finding your hardware information in Windows NT/2000/XP

If your computer is running Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you can use the following steps to get additional configuration information:

Figure 1-3. Windows 2000 System Properties

In Windows, click on the My Computer icon using the secondary (normally the right) mouse button. A pop-up menu should appear. (In Windows 2000, this icon is on the desktop; in Windows XP, it’s on the Start Menu.)

Note
Select Properties. The System Properties window should appear. Note the information listed under Computer — in particular the amount of RAM listed.
Click on the Hardware tab. You will then see your computer's hardware configuration options.

Figure 1-4. Windows 2000 System Properties — Hardware
Click on the Device Manager button. You will then see a graphical representation of your computer's hardware configuration. Make sure the View devices by type radio button is selected.

Figure 1-5. Windows 2000 Device Manager

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. Look under the following icons for more information:

Disk drives — The type (IDE or SCSI) of hard drive will be found here. (IDE drives will normally include the word "IDE," while SCSI drives will not.)
Hard disk controllers — Information about your hard drive controller.
CD-ROM — Information about any CD-ROM drives connected to your computer.
Mouse — The type of mouse present on your computer.
Display adapters — If you are 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 will find more information about them here.
Network adapters — Information on your computer's network card (if you have one).
SCSI controllers — If your computer uses SCSI peripherals, you will find additional information on the SCSI controller here.

Recording Your System's Hardware

Table 1-1 shows the information you need about your system’s hardware to install Red Hat Linux. It’s a good idea to write this information down as a handy reference to help make your Red Hat Linux installation go more smoothly.

Table 1-1. System Requirements Table
Hardware	Information Needed	Example
Hard drive(s)	Type, label, size	IDE /dev/hda=1.2 GB
Partitions	Map of partitions and mount points	/dev/hda1=/home, /dev/hda2=/ (fill this in once you know where they will reside)
Memory	Amount of RAM installed on your system	64 MB, 128 MB
CD-ROM	Interface type	SCSI, IDE (ATAPI)
SCSI adapter	If present, make and model number	BusLogic SCSI Adapter, Adaptec 2940UW
Network card	If present, make and model number	Tulip, 3COM 3C590
Mouse	Type, protocol, and number of buttons	Generic 3 button PS/2 mouse, MouseMan 2 button serial mouse
Monitor	Make, model, and manufacturer specifications	Optiquest Q53, ViewSonic G773
Video card	Make, model number and size of VRAM	Creative Labs Graphics Blaster 3D, 8MB
Sound card	Make, chipset, and model number	S3 SonicVibes, Sound Blaster 32/64 AWE
IP, DHCP, and BOOTP addresses	Four numbers, separated by dots	10.0.2.15
Netmask	Four numbers, separated by dots	255.255.248.0
Gateway IP address	Four numbers, separated by dots	10.0.2.245
One or more name server IP addresses (DNS)	One or more sets of dot-separated numbers	10.0.2.1
Domain name	The name given to your organization	Red Hat's would be redhat.com
Hostname	The name of your computer; your personal choice of names	cookie, southpark

If any of these networking requirements or terms are unfamiliar to you, contact your network administrator for assistance.