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diff --git a/slackbook/html/installation-requirements.html b/slackbook/html/installation-requirements.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e0e53dbf --- /dev/null +++ b/slackbook/html/installation-requirements.html @@ -0,0 +1,388 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" /> +<title>System Requirements</title> +<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7" /> +<link rel="HOME" title="Slackware Linux Essentials" href="index.html" /> +<link rel="UP" title="Installation" href="installation.html" /> +<link rel="PREVIOUS" title="Installation" href="installation.html" /> +<link rel="NEXT" title="Partitioning" href="installation-partitioning.html" /> +<link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="docbook.css" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> +</head> +<body class="SECT1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" +alink="#0000FF"> +<div class="NAVHEADER"> +<table summary="Header navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0"> +<tr> +<th colspan="3" align="center">Slackware Linux Essentials</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td width="10%" align="left" valign="bottom"><a href="installation.html" +accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> +<td width="80%" align="center" valign="bottom">Chapter 3 Installation</td> +<td width="10%" align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="installation-partitioning.html" +accesskey="N">Next</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" /> +</div> + +<div class="SECT1"> +<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="INSTALLATION-REQUIREMENTS" name="INSTALLATION-REQUIREMENTS">3.2 +System Requirements</a></h1> + +<p>An easy Slackware installation requires, at minimum, the following:</p> + +<div class="TABLE"><a id="AEN706" name="AEN706"></a> +<p><b>Table 3-2. System Requirements</b></p> + +<table border="0" frame="void" class="CALSTABLE"> +<col /> +<col /> +<thead> +<tr> +<th>Hardware</th> +<th>Requirement</th> +</tr> +</thead> + +<tbody> +<tr> +<td>Processor</td> +<td>586</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>RAM</td> +<td>32 MB</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Disk Space</td> +<td>1GB</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Media Drive</td> +<td>4x CD-ROM</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +</div> + +<p>If you have the bootable CD, you will probably not need a floppy drive. Of course, it +stands to reason that if you don't possess a CD-ROM drive, you will need a floppy drive +to do a network install. A network card is required for an NFS install. See the section +called NFS for more information.</p> + +<p>The disk space requirement is somewhat tricky. The 1GB recommendation is usually safe +for a minimal install, but if you do a full install, you will need around two gigabytes +of available hard disk space plus additional space for personal files.. Most users don't +do a full install. In fact, many run Slackware on as little as 100MB of hard disk +space.</p> + +<p>Slackware can be installed to systems with less RAM, smaller hard drives, and weaker +CPUs, but doing so will require a little elbow grease. If you're up for a little work, +take a look at the <tt class="FILENAME">LOWMEM.TXT</tt> file in the distribution tree for +a few helpful hints.</p> + +<div class="SECT2"> +<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="INSTALLATION-SOFTWARE-SERIES" +name="INSTALLATION-SOFTWARE-SERIES">3.2.1 The Software Series</a></h2> + +<p>For reasons of simplicity, Slackware has historically been divided into software +series. Once called “disk sets” because they were designed for floppy-based +installation, the software series are now used primarily to categorize the packages +included in Slackware. Today, floppy installation is no longer possible.</p> + +<p>The following is a brief description of each software series.</p> + +<div class="TABLE"><a id="AEN746" name="AEN746"></a> +<p><b>Table 3-3. Software Series</b></p> + +<table border="0" frame="void" class="CALSTABLE"> +<col width="1*" /> +<col width="4*" /> +<thead> +<tr> +<th>Series</th> +<th>Contents</th> +</tr> +</thead> + +<tbody> +<tr> +<td>A</td> +<td>The base system. Contains enough software to get up and running and have a text +editor and basic communication program.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>AP</td> +<td>Various applications that do not require the X Window System.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>D</td> +<td>Program development tools. Compilers, debuggers, interpreters, and man pages are all +here.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>E</td> +<td>GNU Emacs.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>F</td> +<td>FAQs, HOWTOs, and other miscellaneous documentation.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>GNOME</td> +<td>The GNOME desktop environment.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>K</td> +<td>The source code for the Linux kernel.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>KDE</td> +<td>The K Desktop Environment. An X environment which shares a lot of look-and-feel +features with MacOS and Windows. The Qt library, which KDE requires, is also in this +series.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>KDEI</td> +<td>Internationalization packages for the KDE desktop.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>L</td> +<td>Libraries. Dynamically linked libraries required by many other programs.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>N</td> +<td>Networking programs. Daemons, mail programs, telnet, news readers, and so on.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>T</td> +<td>teTeX document formatting system.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>TCL</td> +<td>The Tool Command Language. Tk, TclX, and TkDesk.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>X</td> +<td>The base X Window System.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XAP</td> +<td>X Applications that are not part of a major desktop environment (for example, +Ghostscript and Netscape).</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Y</td> +<td>BSD Console games</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="SECT2"> +<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="INSTALLATION-METHODS" name="INSTALLATION-METHODS">3.2.2 +Installation Methods</a></h2> + +<div class="SECT3"> +<h3 class="SECT3"><a id="INSTALLATION-INSTALLATION-METHODS-FLOPPY" +name="INSTALLATION-INSTALLATION-METHODS-FLOPPY">3.2.2.1 Floppy</a></h3> + +<p>While it was once possible to install all of Slackware Linux from floppy disks, the +increasing size of software packages (indeed, of some individual programs) has forced the +abandonment of the floppy install. As late as Slackware version 7.1 a partial install was +possible using floppy disks. The A and N series could be nearly entirely installed, +providing a base system from which to install the rest of the distribution. If you are +considering a floppy install (typically on older hardware), it is typically recommended +to find another way, or use an older release. Slackware 4.0 is still very popular for +this reason, as is 7.0.</p> + +<p>Please note that floppy disks are still required for a CD-ROM install if you do not +have a bootable CD, as well as for an NFS install.</p> +</div> + +<div class="SECT3"> +<h3 class="SECT3"><a id="INSTALLATION-INSTALLLATION-METHODS-CDROM" +name="INSTALLATION-INSTALLLATION-METHODS-CDROM">3.2.2.2 CD-ROM</a></h3> + +<p>If you have the bootable CD, available in the official disc set published by Slackware +Linux, Inc. (see the section called Getting Slackware), a CD-based installation will be a +bit simpler for you. If not, you will need to boot from floppies. Also, if you have +special hardware that makes usage of the kernel on the bootable CD problematic, you may +need to use specialized floppies.</p> + +<p>As of Slackware version 8.1, a new method is used for creating the bootable CDs, which +does not work as well with certain flaky BIOS chips (it is worth noting that most all +Linux CDs suffer from this these days). If that is the case, we recommend booting from a +floppy disk.</p> + +<p><a +href="installation-requirements.html#INSTALLATION-INSTALLATION-METHODS-BOOTDISK">Section +3.2.3</a> and <a +href="installation-requirements.html#INSTALLATION-SUPPLEMENTAL-DISK">Section 3.2.5</a> +provide information on choosing and creating floppies from which to boot, should this be +necessary.</p> +</div> + +<div class="SECT3"> +<h3 class="SECT3"><a id="AEN823" name="AEN823">3.2.2.3 NFS</a></h3> + +<p>NFS (the Network File System) is a way of making filesystems available to remote +machines. An NFS install allows you to install Slackware from another computer on your +network. The machine from which you are installing needs to be configured to export the +Slackware distribution tree to the machine to which you're installing. This, of course, +involves some knowledge of NFS, which is covered in <a +href="network-configuration-nfs.html">Section 5.6</a>.</p> + +<p>It is possible to perform an NFS install via such methods as PLIP (over a parallel +port), SLIP, and PPP (though not over a modem connection). However, we recommend the use +of a network card if available. After all, installing an operating system through your +printer port is going to be a very, very slow process.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="SECT2"> +<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="INSTALLATION-INSTALLATION-METHODS-BOOTDISK" +name="INSTALLATION-INSTALLATION-METHODS-BOOTDISK">3.2.3 Boot Disk</a></h2> + +<p>The boot disk is the floppy you actually boot from to begin the installation. It +contains a compressed kernel image which is used to control the hardware during +installation. Therefore, it is very much required (unless you're booting from CD, as is +discussed in the section called CD-ROM). The boot disks are located in the <tt +class="FILENAME">bootdisks/</tt> directory in the distribution tree.</p> + +<p>There are more Slackware boot disks than you can shake a stick at (which is to say +about 16). A complete list of boot disks, with a description of each, is available in the +Slackware distribution tree in the file <tt class="FILENAME">bootdisks/README.TXT</tt>. +However, most people are able to use the <tt class="FILENAME">bare.i</tt> (for IDE +devices) or <tt class="FILENAME">scsi.s</tt> (for SCSI devices) boot disk image.</p> + +<p>See <a href="installation-requirements.html#INSTALLATION-MAKING-THE-DISKS">Section +3.2.6</a> for instructions on making a disk from an image.</p> + +<p>After booting, you will be prompted to insert the root disk. We recommend that you +just humor the boot disk and play along.</p> +</div> + +<div class="SECT2"> +<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="INSTALLATION-INSTALLATION-METHODS-ROOTDISK" +name="INSTALLATION-INSTALLATION-METHODS-ROOTDISK">3.2.4 Root Disk</a></h2> + +<p>The root disks contain the setup program and a filesystem which is used during +installation. They are also required. The root disk images are located in the directory +rootdisks in the distribution tree. You'll have to make two root disks from the <tt +class="FILENAME">install.1</tt> and <tt class="FILENAME">install.2</tt> images. Here you +can also find the <tt class="FILENAME">network.dsk</tt>, <tt +class="FILENAME">pcmcia.dsk</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">rescue.dsk</tt>, and <tt +class="FILENAME">sbootmgr.dsk</tt> disks.</p> +</div> + +<div class="SECT2"> +<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="INSTALLATION-SUPPLEMENTAL-DISK" +name="INSTALLATION-SUPPLEMENTAL-DISK">3.2.5 Supplemental Disk</a></h2> + +<p>A supplemental disk is needed if you are performing an NFS install or installing to a +system with PCMCIA devices. Supplemental disks are in the rootdsks directory in the +distribution tree, with the filenames <tt class="FILENAME">network.dsk</tt> and <tt +class="FILENAME">pcmcia.dsk</tt>. Recently other supplemental disks such as <tt +class="FILENAME">rescue.dsk</tt> and <tt class="FILENAME">sbootmgr.dsk</tt> have been +added. The rescue disk is a small floppy root image that runs in a 4MB RAM drive. It +includes some basic networking utilities and the vi editor for quick fixes on busted +machines. The <tt class="FILENAME">sbootmgr.dsk</tt> disk is used to boot other devices. +Boot off this disk if your bootable CD-ROM drive doesn't want to boot the Slackware CDs. +It will prompt you for different things to boot and may offer a convenient way to work +around a buggy BIOS.</p> + +<p>The root disk will instruct you on the use of supplemental disks when it is +loaded.</p> +</div> + +<div class="SECT2"> +<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="INSTALLATION-MAKING-THE-DISKS" +name="INSTALLATION-MAKING-THE-DISKS">3.2.6 Making the Disks</a></h2> + +<p>Once you've selected a boot disk image, you need to put it on a floppy. The process is +slightly different depending on which operating system you're using to make the disks. If +you're running Linux (or pretty much any Unix-like OS) you'll need to use the <tt +class="COMMAND">dd</tt>(1) command. Assuming <tt class="FILENAME">bare.i</tt> is your +disk image file and your floppy drive is <tt class="FILENAME">/dev/fd0</tt>, the command +to make a <tt class="FILENAME">bare.i</tt> floppy is:</p> + +<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%"> +<tr> +<td> +<pre class="SCREEN"> +<samp class="PROMPT">%</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">dd if=bare.i of=/dev/fd0</kbd> +</pre> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>If you're running a Microsoft OS, you'll need to use the <tt +class="FILENAME">RAWRITE.EXE</tt> program, which is included in the distribution tree in +the same directories as the floppy images. Again assuming that <tt +class="FILENAME">bare.i</tt> is your disk image file and your floppy drive is <tt +class="FILENAME">A:</tt>, open a DOS prompt and type the following:</p> + +<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%"> +<tr> +<td> +<pre class="SCREEN"> +C:\ <kbd class="USERINPUT">rawrite a: bare.i</kbd> +</pre> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="NAVFOOTER"> +<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" /> +<table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0"> +<tr> +<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><a href="installation.html" +accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> +<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="index.html" +accesskey="H">Home</a></td> +<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top"><a href="installation-partitioning.html" +accesskey="N">Next</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">Installation</td> +<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="installation.html" +accesskey="U">Up</a></td> +<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">Partitioning</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> +</body> +</html> + |