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Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, Second Edition
Chapter 2Preparing for Linux Installation
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Objectives
• Describe common types of hardware and their features
• Obtain the hardware and software information necessary to install Linux
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Understanding Hardware:Central Processing Units (CPUs)
• Core component of any computer– Also known as microprocessor or processor
• Two main components:– Arithmetic logic unit (ALU): Mathematical
calculations and logic-based operations executed here
– Control unit (CU): Instruction code or commands loaded and carried out here
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Understanding Hardware: CPUs (continued)
• Processor architecture: Arrangement of a processor’s integral electronics
• Two main processor architectures:– Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)– Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)
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Understanding Hardware: CPUs (continued)
• Clock speed: Internal time cycle of a processor – Determines speed that processor executes
commands– Measured in Megahertz (MHz)
• A processor may require one cycle to complete a command or may be superscalar
• Amount of information a processor can process at one time is a major factor in clock speed– Measured in binary digits (bits)– The more information that can be worked on at once,
the faster data can be manipulated
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Understanding Hardware: CPUs (continued)
• Cache: Temporary store of information – Cache size and location affect a processor’s ability to
calculate larger volumes of data
• Level 1 (L1) cache: Cache stored in the processor itself
• Level 2 (L2) cache: Cache stored in a separate computer chip – Connected to processor via high speed link
• Level 3 (L3) cache: Cache stored on a separate computer chip – Connected directly to processor
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Understanding Hardware: CPUs (continued)
• Multiple processors can work together – Perform the same tasks faster– Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP): Allows OS and
memory to use both processors simultaneously for any task
– ASymmetric Multi-Processing (ASMP): Each processor given a set of tasks to complete independently
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Understanding Hardware:Physical Memory
• Storage area for information that is directly wired through circuit boards to the processor
• Two main categories:– Random Access Memory (RAM)
• Volatile memory
– Read Only Memory (ROM)
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Understanding Hardware:Physical Memory―RAM
• Requires constant supply of electricity to maintain stored information
• Directly related to computer performance
• Two major categories:– Dynamic RAM (DRAM)– Static RAM (SRAM)
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Understanding Hardware:Physical Memory―RAM (continued)
• Three main types of DRAM sticks:– Single In-line Memory Modules (SIMM)
• No longer produced
– Dual In-line Memory Modules (DIMM)– Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Modules
(SODIMM)• Used in portable notebook computers and Macintosh
systems
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Understanding Hardware:Physical Memory―RAM (continued)
• Three recent DIMM technologies:– Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
(SDRAM)– Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random
Access Memory (DDR SDRAM)– Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory
(RDRAM)
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Understanding Hardware:Physical Memory―ROM
• Read-only Memory: Physical memory that can be read but not written to– Nonvolatile
• Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) ROM: Stores programs used to initialize hardware components when starting computer
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Understanding Hardware:Physical Memory―ROM Variants
• Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM): Can only be written to once
• Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM): Contents can be repeatedly erased and rewritten as a whole
• Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM): Whole or partial contents can be repeatedly erased/rewritten
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Understanding Hardware:Disk Drives
• Most information in a computer maintained using nonvolatile media, not consisting of integrated circuits– Hard disk– Floppy disk– CD-ROM, DVD– CD-RW, DVD-RW disk– Zip disk– Flash Memory
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Understanding Hardware:Disk Drives―Hard Disk Drives
• Not directly wired to the processor– Pass through a hard disk controller card
• Controls flow of information to and from the hard disk drive (HDD)
• Two types of controller cards:– Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE)
• Also known as Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) controllers
– Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
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Understanding Hardware:Disk Drives―HDDs (continued)
Table 2-1: IDE HDD configurations
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Understanding Hardware:Disk Drives―HDDs (continued)
• Partitions: Small, manageable sections of a hard drive
• Filesystems: Specify how data should reside on the hard disk itself– A partition must be formatted with a filesystem
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Understanding Hardware:Disk Drives―HDDs (continued)
• Primary partitions: Major unique and separate HDD divisions
• Extended partitions: Partitions that can be further subdivided into logical drives
• Master Boot Record (MBR): Table of all partition information for a hard disk– Stored outside of all partitions
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Understanding Hardware:Disk Drives―HDDs (continued)
Table 2-2: Example partitioning scheme for a primary master IDE HDD
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Understanding Hardware: Disk Drives―Other Information Storage
Devices• Removable media: Information storage media that
can be removed from the computer – Transferable between computers
• Floppy disks: Store information electro-magnetically – Used in floppy disk drives
• Zip disks: Similar to floppy disks– Can store much more information – Used in zip drives
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Understanding Hardware: Disk Drives―Other Information Storage
Devices (continued)
• DVDs and CD-ROMs: Use lasers to read reflected light pulses– Greater data transfer speed– Larger storage capacity– More resistance to data loss than floppy disks or ZIP
disks
• Flash memory drives: Use EEPROM chips to store information
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Understanding Hardware: Mainboards and Peripheral Components
• Bus: Pathway information takes from one hardware device to another via a mainboard
• Mainboard (also called a motherboard): Circuit board that connects all other hardware components together via slots or ports on the circuit board
• Peripheral components: Attach to the mainboard of a computer– e.g., video cards, sound cards, and network interface
cards (NICs)– Connected via an Input/Output bus represented by
different slots or ports on the mainboard
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Understanding Hardware: Mainboards and Peripheral Components
(continued)
• Three common slots for peripheral devices:– Industry Standard Architecture (ISA): Information
transfer at 8 MHz– Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI):
Information transfer at 33 MHz• Can use Direct Memory Access (DMA)
– Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP): Information transfer over 66 MHz
• Designed for video card peripherals
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Understanding Hardware: Mainboards and Peripheral Components
(continued)
Figure 2-1: Mainboard components
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Understanding Hardware: Mainboards and Peripheral Components
(continued)
• Other peripherals may have external connections to mainboard– PS/2– COM (Serial)– LPT– USB– IEEE1394 (Firewire)– PCMCIA
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Understanding Hardware: Mainboards and Peripheral Components
(continued)
• PS/2 ports: Connect keyboards and mice to computers
• COM ports: Connect a variety of peripherals to the mainboard– Serial port
• LPT ports: Most commonly connect printers to the mainboard
– Parallel ports
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Understanding Hardware: Mainboards and Peripheral Components
(continued)
• Universal Serial Bus (USB) port: Connects peripheral components such as mice, printers, and scanners– Hot-swappable: Can be attached to the computer
while it is running
• FireWire (IEEE1394): Hot-swappable variant of USB commonly used to connect SCSI hard disks, scanners, digital cameras, and CD-RW drives
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Understanding Hardware: Mainboards and Peripheral Components
(continued)
• Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) ports: Allow a small card to be inserted into the computer with electronics necessary to provide certain functionality
• Advanced Power Management (APM): BIOS feature that shuts off power to unused peripheral devices
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Understanding Hardware: Mainboards and Peripheral Components
(continued)• Interrupt Request Line (IRQ): Specifies a unique
channel from a device to the CPU• Input/Output (IO) address: Small working area of
RAM where CPU can pass information to and receive information from a device
• Plug-and-Play (PnP): OS and peripheral devices that automatically assign the correct IRQ, I/O address, and DMA settings
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Understanding Hardware: Video Adapter Cards and Monitors
• Video adapter cards: Provide graphical display when connected to a monitor– Commonly referred to as video cards
• Resolution: Total number of pixels that can be displayed on a computer video screen
• Color depth: Total set of colors that can be displayed on a computer video screen
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Understanding Hardware: Video Adapter Cards and Monitors
(continued)
Table 2-3: Memory requirements for screen resolution and color depths
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Understanding Hardware: Video Adapter Cards and Monitors
(continued)
• Refresh rate: Rate at which information displayed on a video screen is refreshed– Measured in Hertz (Hz)– Two types of refresh rates:
• HSync (horizontal refresh)
• VSync (vertical refresh)
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Understanding Hardware:Keyboards and Mice
• Facilitates user input and direction
• Variety of ways to connect to motherboard– Serial port– Large circular AT 5-pin connector– Small circular PS/2 6-pin connector– USB connection– Wireless or radio connection
• Check hardware components against a Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)
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Gathering Preinstallation Information
Table 2-4: Red Hat 7.2 hardware requirements
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Gathering Preinstallation Information (continued)
Table 2-5: Sample pre-installation checklist
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Gathering Preinstallation Information (continued)
Table 2-5 (continued): Sample pre-installation checklist
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Gathering Hardware Information
• Tools and resources to check hardware against a preinstallation checklist:– Computer manuals– Windows System Information tool (if Windows
already installed)– Windows Device Manager (if Windows already
installed)
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Gathering Hardware Information (continued)
Figure 2-2: The Windows System Information tool
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Gathering Hardware Information (continued)
Figure 2-3: The Windows Device Manager
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Gathering Hardware Information (continued)
Figure 2-4: The Windows Display applet
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Gathering Hardware Information (continued)
Figure 2-5: System Power-On Self Test (POST)
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Gathering Hardware Information (continued)
Figure 2-6: BIOS Setup Utility
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Gathering Software Information
• Identifying system network configuration:– Hostname– IP address– Netmask– Gateway– DNS servers
• Resolve FQDNs
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Gathering Software Information (continued)
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server: Server on network providing IP configuration to requesting computers– If selected during installation, Linux will attempt to
get IP settings from a DHCP server on the network
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Gathering Software Information (continued)
Table 2-6: Common Linux packages
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Gathering Software Information (continued)
Table 2-6 (continued): Common Linux packages
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Summary
• Understand the hardware before an installation– Allows you to make appropriate choices– Verify that the installation was successful
• CPUs process most instructions in a computer
• Two CPU architectures: RISC and CISC
• Computer memory can be volatile (RAM) or nonvolatile (ROM)
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Summary (continued)
• Most information is stored on hard disks, floppy disks, and CD-ROMs in a nonvolatile manner– Two main types of hard disks: SCSI and IDE
• Peripheral components (video adapter cards, sound cards, mice, keyboards, NICs) attach to mainboard via an expansion slot or port
• Common expansion slots: ISA, PCI, and AGP
• Common ports: PS/2, serial, parallel, USB, FireWire, and PCMCIA
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Summary (continued)
• All peripherals must have a unique IRQ and I/O address to communicate with the processor– Can use DMA to bypass some processor operations
• Hardware information can be gathered from computer manuals, BIOS, or other OSs
• Can set software information at installation