"LINUX PRE-INSTALLATION CHECKLIST" from Algologic Research & Solutions _How many times have you found yourself fumbling in the middle of a Linux installation process, because some vital information about the target hardware is not known ? Have you ever crossed your fingers when you were asked by the installation procedure, a simple question, like: "to which COM port is the mouse connected ?" ? Let's face it, all of us have, at one time or another, felt we should have been better prepared before starting to install Linux. Here is a simple solution, brought to you by _ Algologic Research & Solutions. What does this checklist achieve ? Who must use this list ? Japanese version of the checklist The check list Give us your feedback What does this checklist (aim to) achieve ? This is an aide-memoire which may make installation of Linux a pleasant experience for you. It fills an important role in the promotion of Linux. It will help you to be prepared with all the answers which may be needed during the course of installation of Linux on your machine or on anybody else's machine. Sometimes, it is very inconvenient and even impossible to find out some details in the middle of an installation procedure. This becomes all the more difficult when you are installing Linux on somebody else's machine, and in somebody else's office. This checklist, when filled up, will help you go through your Linux documentation and verify in advance whether certain hardware are supported by the distribution you are planning to install. It will also help you to be prepared with the packages you would need to install, and the configuration choices which need to be done. The idea is to reduce the chances of frustrating surprises. This checklist is only for installing Linux on PCs. You may use this checklist as a model for other classes of machines (e.g.SUN, Alpha, ...). Goto top Who must use this checklist ? * If you are planning to install Linux on somebody else's machine, or in a location which is not your own work place, you must absolutely get this checklist completed in advance. It is important to get this questionnaire answered by your host, so that you go adequately prepared for the installation * If you are planning to organise an "Install fest" (we Indians call it "Linux mela"), ask your participants to come with this checklist answered. * Conversely, if you are going to an Install fest (aka Linux mela), to get Linux installed on your machine, do your home-work. Go with answers to this checklist. * If you are going to ask someone to come over and install Linux for you, send him/her this questionnaire with as many responses as you know. * If you are the D-I-Y type, you must start by answering all these questions, so that you can save time for enjoying your Linux ! Goto top Japanese Version This checklist is also available in Japanese. The Japanese translation is available as: a plain text file, or as a html file, at the URL given below: * _Japanese Text Version: _Click here for a text-only version. * _Japanese html Version: _Click here for a html version. Click here to send a mail to Mrs. Chie Nakatani who did the translation into Japanese. You can also visit her home page, by clicking here. Goto top Linux Pre-installation checklist ------------------------------------------------------------- LINUX PRE-INSTALLATION CHECK LIST CUM QUESTIONNAIRE (Ver. 1.7 of 1998-01-27) ------------------------------------------------------------- prepared by Algologic Research & Solutions, Secunderabad, India S. Parthasarathy algolog@hd1.vsnl.net.in Updated versions of this checklist will be posted at: http://members.tripod.com/~algolog/lnxchk.htm Please make sure that you have the latest version of this checklist. ------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome Welcome to the world of Linux. Your first step in installing Linux on your PC will begin by answering a few (?), simple(?) questions about your hardware. This checklist will make it easy for you and us to go through the installation, painlessly and without surprises. Please take your own time and fill up the following checklist. Wherever possible, and necessary, we have given some suggestions and hints, for your convenience. If you don't know all the details, you should be able to find them in your computer's manuals. Or, ask your hardware vendor, or your local hardware "guru". If you still have problems finding answers, don't worry -- you can just ignore any areas you don't know. Bring in your machine and ALL manuals you have. The installation may succeed with some trials and a lot of luck. Remember, Linux, like many other software products, is a growing product. Some of your hardware may still not be supported in the version of Linux which is being installed. This is a FREE service from Algologic. Algologic offers no warranties, and accepts no liabilities in this exercise. Each question below can be identified by a letter followed by a numeral (e.g. G4 is a question on processor speed). If you need any assistance/clarifications about the questions asked in this form, please specify the chapter identifier(an alpha) and the question number (a numeral), and send an e mail to: algolog@hd1.vsnl.net.in ------------------------------------------------------------ Assumptions: 1. You are interested in installing Linux on a PC (386 upwards). 2. You have a CD ROM drive on your PC. 3. You have at least one 3.5" floppy diskette drive on your system. 4. The 3.5" diskette drive is a BOOTABLE drive. 5. You will keep readily available, three, blank, bad-sector-free, formatted (3.5") diskettes, for use in the installation procedure. If your answer to any one of the above assumptions is a NO, please get in touch with Algologic first. ------------------------------------------------------------- CHECKLIST A. ABOUT YOU 1* Your Name ____________________ 2* Your contact phone numbers: 3* Your email adress ____________________ 4* Have you used Linux before ? What distribution? 5* Have you used any version of Unix before ? Which one ? On what platform ? 6* Is this an upgrade to an existing Linux distribution ? 7* What will be the end-use of this Linux installation ? 8* Do you wish to retain DOS/Win along with Linux, on your system ? 9* Any other detail you want to add: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------- G. GENERAL 1* CPU type [i386, i486 DX2...]: 2* Bus type [ISA, EISA, VESA, PCI, MCA ... ]: 3* Processor speed (MHz) ? 4* What size is your RAM (minimum 4 MB needed) ? 5* Do you want X Window System (i.e. GUI for Linux) to be installed on your system ? 6* How many serial ports do you have on your PC ? 7* Are you planning to add dumb terminals to your PC ? How many ? Please mention below, any additional details you wish to add: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------- M. MOUSE 1* To which port is your mouse connected ? What IRQ ? 2* What type of mouse are you using [Microsoft, Busmouse, PS/2 ..] ? ------------------------------------------------------------- C. CD ROM 1* What is the make and type of CDROM drive [e.g. IDE ATAPI, Sony, S-B Pro/Panasonic, SCSI, true IDE ..] ? 2* On which drive interface [1st IDE, 2nd IDE, 3rd IDE, 4th IDE] and which drive [drive 1 , drive 2] is the CDROM connected (e.g. drive 2 of 1st IDE) ? ------------------------------------------------------------- F. FLOPPY DRIVES 1* Do you have a 3 1/2" floppy drive? 2* Is the 3 1/2 " floppy drive a bootable drive ? 3* Do you have a 5 1/4" floppy drive? 4* Is the 5 1/4 " drive a bootable drive ? ------------------------------------------------------------- T. TAPE DRIVES 1* What type of tape drive do you have (can be NONE) [floppy interface type, SCSI, parallel port ..] ? 2* Do you have a secondary floppy controller for your tape drive? _____________________________________________________________ D. DISK 1* What type of drive do you have [IDE, SCSI, RLL, MFM ....] ? 2* How many partitions are there on your first disk drive ? Name, type, size ? 3* Can we re-partition your disk ? (All existing data will be lost) 4* Which partitions can be reformatted to become Linux partitions ? 5* How much of disk space can you give for Linux [50 MB minimum] ? 6* What is your second hard disk (if any)? 7* What is your third hard disk (if any)? 8* What is your fourth hard disk (if any)? 9* Do you have any SCSI device ? Which SCSI controller do you have (if any)? ------------------------------------------------------------- V. VDU 1* What kind of monitor do you have [Monochrome, Colour] [EGA, VGA, CGA ..] ? What make ? 2* Size of screen [14", 15", 19"] ? 3* What are the resolutions, and number of colours possible on this monitor [600x480, 800x600, 1024x768]? 4* What is your monitor's vertical refresh rate (could be a range)? 5* What is your monitor's horizontal refresh rate (could be a range) ? 6* VDU Control card : make and model ? 7* Chip set used in VDU control card ? 8* Monitor's horizontal sync. frequency ? 9* Monitor's vertical sync. frequency ? 10* Monitor's bandwidth ? 11* Video RAM size ? ------------------------------------------------------------- N. NETWORKING 1* Are you using an internal modem | external modem ? 2* What make ? 3* On which COM port is the modem connected ? What IRQ ? 4* What is the speed of the modem [bps] ? 5* Is it a "Windows only" modem [WIN-MODEM...] ? 6* Which ethernet card do you have [10base2 or 10baseT; NONE for none] ? 7* Will this machine be a part of Internet or any Intranet ? 8* Will this machine use a PPP connection to a server ? ------------------------------------------------------------ P. PRINTER 1* Have you connected any printer on the parallel port of your PC ? 2* What is the type, make of the printer ? ------------------------------------------------------------ X. MISC. 1* Does your keyboard use a round connector (DIN-5) or PS/2 connector? 2* Do you plan to use keyboard mapping to any non-US keyboards [French, Greek, Cyrillic, ..] ? 3* Are you using any Plug & play devices ? 4* Are you using any sound card ? What card ? What I/O, IRQ, DMA does it use ? 5* How many ISA spare slots do you have ? 6* How many EISA spare slots do you have ? 7* How many VESA spare slots do you have ? 8* How many PCI spare slots do you have ? 9* How many other (describe) spare slots? 10* What kind of other removable media do you have (can be NONE)? 11* Do you have any other interesting hardware? 12* Please add any details you wish to highlight: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Did you find this form clear ? Any suggestions for improvement ? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------- That is all. Thanks for filling out the form. Please crosscheck the above responses, and keep the checklist handy at the time of installation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Algologic acknowledges with gratitude the useful suggestions and inputs from many members of the Linux community, for preparation of this checklist. This checklist is proof of the cooperation and goodwill which exists between Linux users. Algologic submits this checklist to the Linux community, as a humble tribute to the "spirit of Linux". ********Endchecklist Goto top Your feedback is IMPORTANT Send us an email Tell us if you found this webpage clear. Tell us how we can improve this questionnaire and make it more useful. Tell us how you located this page. _Visit our home page at:_ Algologic Research & Solutions. Goto top ------ http://members.tripod.com/~algolog/lnxchk.htm ----- ------- This page last modified on 1998-01-27 ---------- Thank you for your visit. Algologic Research & Solutions.