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+<title>System Requirements</title>
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+<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>
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+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 &#8220;disk sets&#8221; 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>
+
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