Hardware Requirements

Now that you know a little about the good and bad points ofLinux, let's see what's required in terms of hardware.

Unlike some other versions of UNIX for the PC, Linux is very small. You can run an entire system from a single, high-density 5.25-inch floppy. However, to run a complete Linux system, there are other hardware requirements.

Linux, by its very nature, is continuously expanding, and more features are added every day. However, hardware compatibility is limited to that hardware the developers themselves have access to. For instance, if none of the Linux developers has access to the WhizBang Slice-O-Matic T3222 Ethernet card from a no-name manufacturer, then chances are it isn't supported.

On the other hand, there are many generic drivers for hardware, such as the IDE disk driver, which should work with all IDE hard drives and adapters regardless of manufacturer. Of course, the developers of the drivers couldn't test their software against every IDE device on the market, so they assume the IDE standards are followed by manufacturers. If a device doesn't work, it's probably because the manufacturer deviated from the standards, or added features the generic drivers can't handle.

A good place to look on the CD-ROM is in the /docs/howto directory for the Hardware-HOWTO file. This file will list a lot of the supported hardware for Linux.

If your favorite peripheral isn't supported by Linux, all that's required is to write a kernel driver for it. This may be easy or difficult, depending on the hardware and the technical specifications that are available. For example, some hardware developers prefer to write their own drivers for MS-DOS and Windows, and not release specifications for third parties to write their own. Therefore, writing drivers for Linux will be difficult, if not impossible.

The following is a rough guideline of some hardware requirements for Linux. You do not have to follow them directly, but this list should give you a rough idea of what's required: