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Welcome to your brave new journey with the Linux operating system! This section covers the installation and configuration of Linux.
Chapter 1 is an overview of the Linux operating system It explains the components and other facts you’ll need to know about Linux before installation. If you’re not a past or present Linux user, you’ll want to read this chapter carefully.
Chapter 2 guides you through a Linux installation from beginning to end. In many ways, installing Linux is one of the more daunting tasks you’ll face; Linux runs rather smoothly once it’s installed and configured correctly. Again, this is a chapter you’ll want to follow very closely.
Chapter 3 covers the installation, configuration, and basic usage of XFree86, the implementation of the X Window System designed for PC-based Unices.
This chapter covers:
An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure, goes the old (and clichéd, some would say) saying. However, there’s a kernel of truth to the old saying—particularly when it comes to installing and configuring Linux.
Before you rush into a half-baked and ill-conceived Linux installation, there are a few things you should do, mostly relating to your PC’s setup and configuration. In this chapter, we’ll tell you if your PC is capable of efficiently running Linux and point out some potential problem areas. This should be handy if you’re thinking about installing Linux on an existing machine or if you’re considering the purchase of a new computer (laptop or desktop) for the express purpose of running Linux. In the next chapter, we’ll run through a typical Linux installation.
NOTE: We’re PC-centric in our attitudes toward Linux. Linux was developed for use on PCs, and the vast majority of Linux users work on PCs. The version of Linux on the accompanying CD-ROM is designed for a PC platform.However, there have been attempts to move Linux to non-PC hardware platforms—some of which have been quite successful. Appendix A lists the Linux ports to other platforms and ways to get more information about them.
Like all PC-based Unices (including SCO UNIX and BSD), Linux is pretty fussy about the hardware it runs on. By fussy, we mean that Linux does a lot of interacting directly with PC hardware. DOS, by comparison, is a very forgiving operating system, pretty much able to run and function on almost any PC. It will ignore some small flaws in the PC architecture.
Linux, however, will expose those flaws. As a PC UNIX, Linux interacts very closely with the PC hardware, writing directly to the various PC components. If there’s a problem with your PC—however small—Linux will find it. The problem is somewhat lessened if you’re using brand-name equipment; remember (as mentioned in the Introduction) that Linux is a product of a virtual army of volunteers, and they’re like everyone else when it comes to computer equipment—if half a million people bought a particular PC model from Compaq, chances are good that a Linux developer (or two) will be among the half-million buyers. This is how hardware gets supported under Linux; the most devoted users make sure Linux works well on their systems. It’s certain that someone out there will have experience with Linux on popular hardware—it’s less likely that someone out there will have experience on your spanking-new computer from NoNameClone Corp. in the strip mall on the outskirts of town.
If you do buy a PC from NoNameClone Corp., this puts an additional burden on you, as you’ll need to know more about your PC than you ever thought. The ideal situation, of course, would be if you didn’t actually own a PC yet and you were putting one together expressly to run Linux. (This is the way we approached it, in one instance.) A bad situation is if you bought a no-name clone from a local vendor and had no idea about its components. The worst situation is if you bought a no-name clone and were a UNIX workstation user, fairly ignorant of the quirks surrounding the PC architecture. A middling situation is if you bought a clone from the likes of a CompUSA or Best Buy and had decent documentation regarding the components.
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