Installation and Other General Questions

Hardware and Space Requirements

Question: What are the minimum hardware and space requirements for installing Red Hat Linux on my PC? Answer: This depends on the version of Red Hat Linux you wish to install. Different releases contain various sets of application packages and different versions of the Linux kernel, both of which are important when judging system requirements. Red Hat Linux 7.1: Processor Any x86 processor (minimum required); Intel Pentium or AMD-K6 (minimum recommended). RAM 32 MB RAM (minimum required); 64 MB RAM (minimum recommended). Hard Drive Free Space 650 MB (minimum required); 1.5 GB (minimum required for Workstation-class installation with GNOME and KDE; 1.2 GB with only one); 1.2 GB (minimum required for Server-class installation); 1.5 GB (minimum required for Laptop-class installation with GNOME and KDE; 1.2 GB with only one); 2.4 GB (minimum required for Custom-class installation if every package is selected); 1.2 GB (minimum required to use automatic partitioning); 3 GB (minimum recommended to allow space for updates and additional software).

Red Hat Linux 7.0: Processor Any x86 processor (minimum required); Intel Pentium or AMD-K6 (minimum recommended). RAM 32 MB RAM (minimum required); 64 MB RAM (minimum recommended). Hard Drive Free Space 500 MB (minimum required); 1.5 GB (minimum required for Workstation-class installation with GNOME and KDE; 1.2 GB with only one); 1.2 GB (minimum required for Server-class installation); 1.5 GB (minimum required for Laptop-class installation with GNOME and KDE; 1.2 GB with only one); 2.4 GB (minimum required for Custom-class installation if every package is selected); 900 GB (minimum required to use automatic partitioning); 2.5 GB (minimum recommended to allow space for updates and additional software).

Red Hat Linux 6.2: Processor Any x86 processor (minimum required); Intel Pentium or AMD-K6 (minimum recommended). RAM 16 MB RAM (minimum required); 32 MB RAM (minimum recommended). Hard Drive Free Space 500 MB (minimum required); 1.2 GB (minimum required for Workstation-class installation with GNOME and KDE; 700 MB with only one); 1.7 GB (minimum required for Server-class installation); 1.7 GB (minimum required for Custom-class installation if every package is selected); 2 GB (minimum recommended to allow space for updates and additional software).

Programming Tools and Compilers Included

Question: What programming tools/compilers does Red Hat Linux include with its distribution? Answer: C, C++, FORTRAN, Pascal, assembly, BASIC, Perl, Python, Tcl/Tk, LISP, Scheme, as well as a functional debugger and memory debugging library.

Multimedia Tools Included

Question: What multimedia tools are shipped with the boxed set of Red Hat Linux 7.1? Answer: Image viewers for JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, MPEG, AVI, and Quicktime video viewers.

Graphical Programs Included

Question: What type of graphical program is shipped with Red Hat Linux 7.1? Answer: GIMP 1.2.1, an image manipulation, retouching, and paint program. See http://www.gimp.org for more information.

Publishing Tools Included

Question: What types of publishing tools are shipped with Red Hat Linux 7.1? Answer: TeX, LaTex, groff text formatting systems, PostScript, PDF, and DVI previewers.

Mail Servers Included

Question: What mail servers are shipped with Red Hat Linux? Answer: Sendmail, POP, and IMAP servers are included with Red Hat Linux.

Red Hat Linux as a File Server

Question: Can I use Red Hat Linux as a file server? Answer: Yes, Samba and NFS are included to facilitate the use of Red Hat Linux as a file server. Windows clients can access files and print using a Red Hat Linux server in the same way as they can using a native Windows NT/2000 file/print server.

The Graphical Environment for Red Hat Linux

Question: Does Red Hat Linux include an X Window System? Answer: Yes, XFree86 version 4.0.3 is included, which supports many advanced 3D, high-end video cards. In addition, XFree86 version 3.3.6 is also included and provides excellent support for older and less powerful video cards. Both XFree86 versions give you the graphical environment to act as a platform for a variety of window managers and desktop environments, all of which are entirely configurable to meet your specific needs.

Running Windows Programs in Red Hat Linux

Question: Will my Microsoft applications be able to run on Red Hat Linux? Answer: No, only applications compiled for compatibility with the Linux kernel will run on the Red Hat Linux operating system. However, it is possible to run WINE, an implementation of Windows 3.x and Win32 APIs, to run many DOS and Windows applications. WINE is included with Red Hat Linux PowerTools, and more information about it can be found at http://www.winehq.com. You can also run VMware, which provides you with a virtual machine that will run Linux and another operating system concurrently. For more information, see http://www.vmware.com.

Obtaining Red Hat Linux

Question: How can I get Red Hat Linux? Answer: Red Hat Linux is available on CD-ROM directly from Red Hat, Inc., at http://www.redhat.com/commerce or through various Red Hat Linux resellers. It is also available via the Red Hat FTP server (ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/) and many mirror sites (http://www.redhat.com/download/mirror.html). You are also able to purchase official Red Hat Linux boxed products from stores such as Wal-Mart, CompUSA, and many other retail establishments. Due to the open source licenses that Red Hat Inc uses for its products, the source code is also available for download in SRPM packages. RPM source packages allow for you to install the source code for a particular application on your computer and build binary RPM files from the source. Red Hat Linux is licensed using the GNU General Public License. More information about the GPL can be found at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html.

Installing Multiple Operating Systems

Question: I have a blank hard drive and would like to install DOS or Windows 95/98/ME and Red Hat Linux onto it. What is the best method of doing this? Answer: It is recommended to install the other operating system first, before installing Red Hat Linux. This allows DOS or Windows 95/98/ME to configure itself to work correctly with your system's hardware and possibly write values to the Master Boot Record (MBR) to allow it to boot properly. If Red Hat Linux were installed first, the other operating system may elect to overwrite existing entries in the MBR, leaving you unable to boot into Red Hat Linux. By installing the other OS first, Red Hat Linux will allow you to boot into either operating system when your computer starts up. You will probably need to do the entire process of installing DOS or Windows 95/98/ME using several different steps. First, start the installation, but if the operating system partitions the entire drive for itself, see if you can exit the installation program and use the native fdisk to create a primary partition of the size you want to have available for that particular OS. Then, reboot and go through the installation process again. Normally, DOS or Windows 95/98/ME will only use the space that you just set aside for it. Once the installation is finished, you can then begin to install Red Hat Linux. If you need to install to install Red Hat Linux and Windows NT/2000 on the same machine, please see the section called Installing Linux and Windows NT on the Same Machine.

Creating an Installation Boot Disk

Question: How do I create an installation boot disk? Answer: Two different methods for producing an installation boot disk exist, depending if you want to create the disk using UNIX/Linux or DOS/Windows. Using UNIX/Linux, mount the first Red Hat Linux installation CD-ROM, enter the /images directory, insert a floppy in your drive, and use the dd command to copy the image to the floppy: dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k Using DOS or Windows, use the rawrite command in the /dosutils directory on the CD-ROM. Documentation on using rawrite in this way is available in /dosutils/rawrite3.doc. To make floppies under DOS, Win95, or NT, first boot into DOS and change to the CD-ROM directory (for example, D:). Enter the dosutils directory and run rawrite. cd \dosutils rawrite.exe When prompted for a disk for the boot image, enter \path\to\boot.img.

Then run rawrite again and, when prompted, enter \path\to\supp.img. The .img files are boot images and can be found in the images directory on the first Red Hat Linux installation CDROM.

Difference Between Linux and DOS Disk Names

Question: I have an IDE system, and I am confused by how Linux sets up drives in comparison to DOS. Can you explain this? Answer: Linux sets up the drive system in a very different way than DOS, and this can be quite confusing for a new Linux user. Instead of calling the first hard drive C:, it will be usually referred to as a combination of letters signifying what kind of bus (sd for SCSI, hd for IDE) and in which sequence the drive falls on that bus. Finally, a number is placed onto the end to specify the particular partition on the drive that is being referenced. For IDE hard drives, the layout depends on which IDE channel the drive is located and whether it is the master or slave drive on that channel. Channel Jumper hdx =================================== ide0 master hda ide0 slave hdb ide1 master hdc ide1 slave hdd ide2 master hde ide2 slave hdf ide3 master hdg ide3 slave hdh ide0 ide1 ide2 ide3 = = = = primary secondary tertiary quarternary

The partition number follows an old PC/X86 standard that there is a limit of 4 primary partitions per hard drive, but one of those partitions can be designated as an extended partition. Inside of this extended partition, logical partitions can be specified (for most drives you can have up to 12 logical drives in the extended partition, for a total of 16 partitions). The numbering scheme is broken into the following: 1-4 primary partitions 5-16 logical partitions

Installation Problems with IDE CD-ROM

Question: Red Hat Linux is having trouble detecting my IDE CD-ROM drive during the install. Can I force the installation program to see it? Answer: Sometimes IDE CD-ROM drives will not be detected either due to the fact that they are on a IDE channel your system's BIOS doesn't know about or that, when queried, the IDE channel replies back with data that the Red Hat Linux installation program thinks is bogus. (For example, early NEC IDE CD-ROMs respond with data saying that it is an IDE floppy drive instead of a CD-ROM.) To solve your problem, you need to specify the the CD-ROM drive from the LILO boot prompt. When you see boot: or LILO: prompt, you should type linux hdX=cdrom, where X is the IDE letter that Linux would specify for that drive depending on which IDE bus it is located.

Installing Red Hat Linux from a Hard Drive

Question: I do not have a CD-ROM that will work with Linux, and I can not install from the network. Is there another method? Answer: If you cannot perform a CD-ROM or network installation for whatever reason, you can elect to install using your hard drive. Starting with Red Hat Linux 7.1, you must use the ISO disk images of the installation CD-ROMs; you can no longer pull off each of the various installation directories and properly arrange them on your hard drive. Simply clear enough space on your hard drive to hold both of the ISO images and download them, placing both of them in the same directory. Next, create a boot floppy, boot from it, and elect to perform a hard drive installation, pointing the installation program to the directory holding the ISO images. Then, proceed normally with the installation. For installations of Red Hat Linux versions prior to 7.1, the following steps are required: First, have a DOS partition that is formatted in FAT16, and create a directory called RedHat. From there, you should copy the items from the first Red Hat Linux installation CD-ROM over to the hard drive. mkdir C:\RedHat mkdir C:\RedHat\base mkdir C:\RedHat\RPMS copy E:\RedHat\base C:\RedHat\base copy E:\RedHat\RPMS C:\RedHat\RPMS If you do not have enough disk space for copying the entire RPMS directory tree over to your hard drive, you will need to look in the \RedHat\base\comps file for the RPMs that are needed in the base and any other installation sections you would like to install. Once you have done this, you can start the install using a boot floppy and choose the hard drive installation method. You will be asked to insert the supplemental floppy and a progress meter will pop up to show you what is happening. Once the supplemental disk has been loaded, you will be presented with the next screen on the install.

Laptop Installation Problems

Question: I am having trouble getting Linux installed or configured on my laptop computer. What should I do? Answer: Laptops are one of the hardest pieces of hardware to support for any operating system. Many times, the company that constructs the hardware has to tweak a chipset to make it fit in the confined structure or meet certain power requirements. These changes are usually only documented internally for trade secret reasons and can only be reverse-engineered or worked around. When Red Hat Support finds itself with a laptop question, our first (and sometimes only) reference is the Linux Laptop Pages, which can be found at http://www.linux-laptop.net.

Signal 11 or Signal 7 Problems During Installation

Question: During the install, I get a fatal signal 11 or signal 7. What does this mean, and what can I do? Answer: Signal 11's and signal 7's are errors indicating a hardware error in memory or on the bus. This can be due to problems in executables or with the hardware of the system. The Linux kernel tends to make much greater use of capabilities of a system's CPU, cache, and memory. Therefore, it is more prone to faulting on marginal or defective hardware. The first thing to do is check to see if you have the latest installation and supplemental floppies from Red Hat. Check the errata page (http://www.redhat.com/support/errata) for updates and also the FTP site (ftp://ftp.redhat.com) to see if newer versions are available. If the latest images still fail, it may be due to problems with your hardware. Common suspects are memory (RAM) or the CPU-cache. Try turning off the CPU-cache in the BIOS and see if the problem goes away. Also try swapping the RAM modules around in the motherboard slots to see if it is either slot or memory related. The premier site on the net for this problem can be found at http://www.bitwizard.nl/sigll/.

Upgrade Problem: can't find a valid RPM database Error

Question: I am trying to upgrade my Red Hat system to the current release, but it complains that it can't find a valid RPM database. What do I need to do? Answer: The problem is that a very few earlier versions of RPM would write the database in a way that seems corrupted to later versions. Rebuilding the database fixes the install problems. You will need to upgrade the RPM application on your system to the one on the installation CD-ROM, and rebuild the databases. The first thing to do is mount the first Red Hat Linux installation CD-ROM on the system. mount /mnt/cdrom After doing this, upgrade the RPM application using the latest version on the CD-ROM:

cd /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS rpm -Uvh --nodeps --force rpm-*rpm When the new RPM application is installed, rebuild the RPM database. rpm --rebuilddb This will put the RPM database in a format that the RPM application used by the Red Hat Linux installation program can use (since they are the same).

Booting Linux from the Installation Boot Disk

Question: I have Red Hat Linux installed on an IDE drive, and for whatever reason, I need to boot from floppy. How can I boot my system from the installation boot disk? Answer: If you have installed Linux onto an IDE hard drive, you can boot from the installation floppy using the following method. Insert the installation floppy and restart the machine. At the boot: prompt, type the following: vmlinuz root=/dev/hdXY [Example: vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb5 ] Where X is the IDE drive letter and Y is the partition on the drive where you installed the root (/) partition for Red Hat Linux. For more information about the naming conventions for IDE or SCSI hard drives and their partitions, refer to the section called Difference Between Linux and DOS Disk Names.

Where to Go for Updates

Question: Where can I find updates for packages shipped with Red Hat Linux? Answer: Red Hat, Inc. posts all official updates at http://www.redhat.com/support/errata. You can also go to ftp://updates.redhat.com. Also check the contrib directory on our FTP mirrors for packages that users have contributed. We also make periodic announcements to the redhat-announce-list with updates.

Contents of the Source CD-ROM

Question: During the install, I was not asked to use one of the Red Hat Linux installation CD-ROMs. When I use the X program glint on it, it reports that there are no RPMs, but when I look at the directories, I see lots of them. What is going on? Answer: This CD-ROM in the Red Hat Linux boxed set (known as CD 4 in version 7.0 and higher or CD 2 in version 6.2 and below) contains the source code RPMs (SRPM) for all of the open source applications that are on the other CDROMs. From these source RPMs, you can build all the open source applications in the Red Hat Linux distribution. The reason that glint does not see source RPMs is due to the fact that SRPMS are not stored in any of the RPM databases. This makes it almost impossible to tell if you have installed an source RPM (packagename.src.rpm) before or are overwriting an older version. Thus, you will need to use the plain rpm command to install these items. rpm -ivh package-name.src.rpm will install the source code into the directory that the maintainer of that SRPM used. The data in the source RPMs packaged by Red Hat are installed into /usr/src/redhat by default. Rebuilding and improving on RPMs is beyond the scope of this answer. The book Maximum RPM and the RPM man pages are good sources of information on this subject. An online version of Maximum RPM can be found at http://www.redhat.com/support/books/max-rpm/max-rpm-html, and the book is also available for sale at the Red Hat Store (http://www.redhat.com/apps/commerce).

Installing RPM Packages

Question: How do I install an RPM package? Answer: For most RPM packages, you can simply type rpm -Uvh filename. This will upgrade the RPM, if you already have it on your system, or install it, if it is not already installed. One notable occasion when you would not want to use the -U flag is when you are installing a kernel RPM. In this case, you will want to leave your old kernel in place, at least temporarily, in case the new kernel does not boot. This can be accomplished by using the -i flag in the place of the -U flag in the rpm command, such as rpm -ivh kernel-package-name. For more information about installing new kernels, please see http://www.redhat.com/support/resources/howto/kernel-upgrade/kernel-upgrade.html.

More About RPM

Question: How do I use RPM? What are some general commands that I will use with this application? Also, for whatever reason, I think files have changed on my system but I don't know which ones. Can RPM help? Answer: In general, normal usage of the rpm command can be summarized as follows: Installation/Upgrading/Removal o To install a package: rpm -ivh filename rpm -ivh somepackage.1.1-4.i386.rpm o To upgrade a package: rpm -Uvh filename rpm -Uvh somepackage.1.1-5.i386.rpm o To remove a package: rpm -e packagename rpm -e somepackage o Also, for upgrading or installing some packages, you may need to use additional flags to force the install to happen. It is only recommended to use these if you know why these flags were needed. --force will overwrite files that are owned by other packages.

--nodeps will install even if the package needs packages that were not installed. Querying o To see if a package is installed: rpm -q packagename rpm -q somepackage o To get info on an installed package: rpm -qi packagename rpm -qi somepackage o To list which files belong to a package: rpm -ql packagename rpm -ql somepackage o To see what package a file belongs to: rpm -qf path-to-filename rpm -qf /usr/bin/some_executable One can usually join various query commands together, so rpm -qil will give info and list all the files in the package. To look at an RPM filename that isn't installed, you add the p to the query line.

rpm -qilp somepackage.1.1-4.i386.rpm This will list the information and the files contained in somepackage. More Advanced More advanced usages can be found in the man page for RPM and at the website, http://www.rpm.org.

Verification To see what files on the system may have changed from their initial settings, you can use RPM to check up on them. The command rpm -Va will give you a list of all files that have changed in one form or another since the package associated with it was installed. This can be a lot of files (and a lot may be changed due to post installation work). To just see what packages have changed so that you can verify them more individually, you can do the following: rpm -Va --pipe "awk '{print $2}' | xargs rpm -qf | sort -u" &> /tmp/file1 Then look in the file /tmp/file1 to see all of the packages that have been changed after their installation.

Getting Started
Question: I have installed Red Hat Linux version 6.2 or earlier onto my machine. I am presented with a prompt that says: LILO: What do I do now? Can you give me instructions on the next steps? Answer: Red Hat Linux 7.0 and greater use a graphical boot screen, so you will not see any prompt. If you would like to see a LILO: prompt with these versions, press [Ctrl]-[X]. After you have completed an installation of Red Hat Linux version 6.2 or earlier, the machine should reboot and you will be presented with a prompt that looks like: LILO: If you press the [Enter] key, it will begin the booting process of the Linux system. After a short time (from 20 seconds to 10 minutes depending on the machine speed and services running), you will see a clear screen with the text similar to: Red Hat Linux release 6.2 (Zoot) kernel 2.2.14-5.0 on an i686 login: _ At the login: prompt, you will need to log in as the root user. Type root and press [Enter] again. You should be prompted for a password:

login: root password: _ Type in the password you set during the install and press [Enter]. For security reasons, the password is not echoed onto the screen. If all goes well the machine should log you in. If you are prompted for a password again, the text you typed did not match the install password. Try again, being careful to use correct capitalization. This is the

standard text-mode or runlevel 3 login screen. You may be expecting a graphical login but have ended up at the textmode virtual terminal screen. Now you should create a new user account and password, one that will be used for day-to-day work with the system. Next, exit and log back in as that user. Once you are logged in, you can use the command startx to start a GUI environment. If you are new at using Linux, there are several websites that we recommend, including: http://www.redhat.com/support http://www.redhat.com/support/manuals/RHL-7.1-Manual/getting-started-guide http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP http://www.tldp.org http://www.linuxnewbie.org

The following good books will also help you get started: LINUX in a Nutshell by Ellen Siever, Jessica P. Hekman, Stephen Figgins, and Stephen Spainhour; O'Reilly & Associates Running Linux by Matt Welsh and Lar Kaufman; O'Reilly & Associates Red Hat Linux for Dummies by Jon "maddog" Hall; IDG

Installing Linux and Windows NT on the Same Machine

Question: How do I install Windows NT and Linux onto the same machine? Answer: If you need to install Windows NT and Linux on the same machine, read the Linux and NT HOWTO that has been prepared by Bernd Reichert. The latest version can be found at http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/mini/Linux+NTLoader.html. Since this guide is extremely helpful, only a brief summary is presented below: Partition and install Windows NT first, making sure to leave space for Linux to place its partitions. If possible, do not create any logical partitions, as we have had reports of this causing problems. Get NT running and its boot loader happy. If you haven't already, make an NT rescue boot floppy just in case something goes wrong later in this process. Install Linux and install LILO to the root (/) partition instead of the Master Boot Record (MBR). If you are using Red Hat Linux 5.1 or later, use the rescue boot floppy you created during the install to boot Linux initially. Edit the /etc/lilo.conf file to remove the prompt line and any other operating systems listed. The prompt action can occasionally confuse the NT boot loader. Here is an example /etc/lilo.conf file that has been set up for NT.

boot=/dev/hda map=/boot/map install=/boot/boot.b timeout=50

image=/boot/vmlinux-2.2.12-20 label=Linux root=/dev/hda5 #(make sure that you put your correct root partition here) read-only Follow the rest of the directions in the mini HOWTO on making the NT OS loader Linux-aware.

A more recent mini HOWTO that discusses more installation can be found at http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/mini/Linux+WinNT.html.

Adding Users
Question: How do I add users? Answer: First, log in as root and run the adduser command. adduser username Make certain that you also set up a password for the new user. passwd username

Mount Failed Error

Question: I'm trying to install and I keep getting mount failed. What should I do? Answer: If you are performing a full installation, make certain that you have set up the partitions as ext2 or Linux Native, depending on which partitioning tool you used. Also, make sure that you have created and initiated your swap partition. There are five virtual consoles available during installation. Two of these consoles, Install Log (accessed by [Ctrl][Alt]-[F3]) and System Log (accessed by [Crtl]-[Alt]-[F4]) may prove to be beneficial in pinpointing the install problem you have encountered. If you are running an upgrade, switch to a virtual terminal and make certain that none of the partitions are already mounted. Also, check /etc/fstab for filesystem types that aren't listed in /proc/filesystems. Forgetting the Root Password Question: I forgot my root password. What do I do? Answer: When the system comes to the LILO: prompt, type linux single.

When you get the # prompt you will need to type passwd root. This will update the password to a newer one. At this point you can type shutdown -r now and the system should boot up normally. You can now use your new root password to gain root access. Avoiding Running the fsck Command After Each Reboot Question: Every time I turn my computer off, when I turn it back on, it makes me run fsck command on my partitions. Why? Answer: The most likely cause for this is that your partitions are not being unmounted properly when you last shutdown the machine. Linux is very much like NT and other operating systems in that it needs to be properly shutdown before being powered off or there could be disk or file corruptions and other inconsistencies. The most important thing you can do is make sure that you are shutting down the machine properly. This can be done through one of two methods: If you are in text mode (runlevel 3), you should log in as root and type shutdown -r now. If you are using the GUI mode (runlevel 5), there should be a system button on the GDM login screen. (This is the screen that asks for your username and password.) Click on System and then pull down to Halt.

Either of these methods will cleanly halt your machine and you should see a line that says Power Down when it is safe to turn off the machine. If you are running APM, Linux will try to stop the machine via the BIOS.

Getting Sound to Work With Linux Question: How do I get sound to work with Linux? Answer: Most of the time, you only need to login as root and run the sndconfig command. More information can be found at http://www.redhat.com/support/manuals/RHL-7.1-Manual/getting-started-guide/ch-fun.html#S1-FUN. In a few rare cases or when using an older version of Red Hat Linux, setting up sound can be a challenge, primarily because most people have plug and play sound cards. This section of the FAQ tries to attack this issue from several different angles to try to cover all bases.

First, you will need to either disable plug and play on the card (via jumpers or card setup tools). You can also change your boot method to use loadlin.exe from Windows (as Windows would then have set up the plug and play hardware). The command to set up sound is called sndconfig. You will need to log in as root (and if you are using the X Window System, open a terminal). At the prompt type sndconfig. This will walk you through setting up your sound card. If you have problems with sndconfig, here are a couple of other ways to attack the problem. The sndconfig program tries to set up a good set of default values for the plug and play settings and then load the appropriate modules. If it cannot find a good set of values itself, you can also try:

/usr/sbin/sndconfig --noautoconfig This command will let you manually specify the plug and play values for the card. You need to choose these wisely however. The values from Windows will probably work if it's the only plug and play device in the machine, but check out:

cat cat cat cat

/proc/interrupts /proc/ioports /proc/dma /proc/pci

to find a set of resources that will work. Enter them in and continue. It should then load the proper modules and play the sound. You can also try letting sndconfig configure itself as close as it can get to the real values of your card. Then, you can edit /etc/modules.conf (or /etc/conf.modules in early version of Red Hat Linux) to use the correct values. Your /etc/modules.conf may have a couple of lines that look something like: alias sound sb options sb irq=7 io=0x320 dma=3,5 To reload the modules type: /etc/rc.d/init.d/sound stop /etc/rc.d/init.d/sound start This should load up the sb module with the proper resources. You can also try this:

cd /etc pico modules.conf (or conf.modules) delete any lines about sb or opl3 save the file reboot

Then run /usr/sbin/sndconfig again. Finally, you can try using the isapnptools programs. Type this: /sbin/pnpdump > /etc/isapnp.conf The pnpdump command probes to see what plug and play devices are installed and generates a template file called /etc/isapnp.conf for isapnp to read. Once you have chosen a good set of resources for the card, make sure they don't conflict with any other cards. To see other resources, check the following: cat cat cat cat /proc/pci /proc/interrupts /proc/ioports /proc/dma

Then type /sbin/isapnp /etc/isapnp.conf to set up the devices. If this does not work, you can edit this file with a text editor (vi, pico, emacs, etc.) and adjust the values to fit those of your card. The file format is a little obtuse, so you may want to check http://www.roestock.demon.co.uk/isapnptools for more information. If it's not a plug and play sound card, and you know the values for the resources it uses, you can just set them manually by editing /etc/modules.conf (or /etc/conf.modules for older versions of Red Hat Linux). ----example--------alias sound sb alias midi opl3 options opl3 io=0x388 options sb io=0x220 irq=7 dma=0,1 mpu_io=0x300 ----example--------You can also type man isapnp.conf for a more detailed description of the format. Then run: /etc/rc.d/init.d/sound stop /etc/rc.d/init.d/sound start You may need to go though this a few times to get good values. This is what sndconfig is supposed to do automatically, but it doesn't always work for all cards. If all this fails, report problems to the sound-list@redhat.com so that they can be worked on. Screen Blanking

Question: Every time I leave my computer for a few minutes, the screen goes blank. How can I fix this? Answer: If you have a screen saver running, you may want to turn it off. In text mode, the kernel will "screen-save" your system unless you use: setterm -powersave off -blank 0 Otherwise, if you hear disk drives speed up or other sounds, this is probably APM kicking in. Disable APM from starting at boot time by logging in as root and typing ntsysv. Then deselect APM. Leave ntsysv and you will need to reboot the machine. (This is one of the few services that you have to restart the system, as APM is so deeply connected to the kernel that a full reset is needed.) bash: command not found Question: I compiled a program called hello but when I try to run it, the command line responds with bash: hello command not found. Why won't my programs run on Red Hat? Answer: This problem is generally caused by the location of the program not being specified in your general path. The path is where Linux (like Windows) will search for a working executable. The current working directory is not in your path because of possible security exploits of a command masking itself as another one. To run your file, you can either put the directory with hello in your path (you can find out what the path is by typing echo $PATH) OR move the hello program into a directory that is in your path. Alternatively, and perhaps most common, you can simply run hello by typing ./hello from within the directory containing the program.

Getting Online With a Modem Question: I can't get my modem to work. Can you help? Answer: First, check to see if your modem is a supported device. Double-check the Hardware Compatibility List at http://hardware.redhat.com. Verify that your modem is being detected by the system and that it is not conflicting with other resources. You can check this with the following commands (as seen in this example): cat /proc/ioports

0000-001f 0020-003f 0040-005f 0060-006f 0070-007f 0080-008f 00a0-00bf 00c0-00df 00f0-00ff 0170-0177 01f0-01f7 0220-022f 02f8-02ff 0330-0333 0376-0376 0388-038b 03c0-03df 03f6-03f6 03f8-03ff d000-d07f d800-d807 d808-d80f

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

dma1 pic1 timer keyboard rtc dma page reg pic2 dma2 fpu ide1 ide0 soundblaster serial(auto) MPU-401 UART ide1 Yamaha OPL3 vga+ ide0 serial(auto) eth0 ide0 ide1

cat /proc/interrupts 0: 1: 2: 5: 8: 10: 12: 13: 14: 15: NMI: CPU0 1296380 30736 0 1 1 73593 159669 1 246863 584998 0 XT-PIC XT-PIC XT-PIC XT-PIC XT-PIC XT-PIC XT-PIC XT-PIC XT-PIC XT-PIC timer keyboard cascade soundblaster rtc eth0 PS/2 Mouse fpu ide0 ide1

Examples of conflicting resources would be your modem and some other port sharing an interrupt. In the PC world, COM 1 (/dev/ttyS0) and COM 3 (/dev/ttyS3) will try to share the same interrupt unless told otherwise. While this works in some systems, we have generally found that it leads to a degradation of service. Next, we recommend that you use minicom to double-check that you are getting a signal back from your modem. Once you have determined this, refer to the following sites for information on setting up a PPP connection using rp3 and wvdial: http://www.redhat.com/support/resources/tips/PPP-Client-Tips/PPP-Client-Tips.html http://www.redhat.com/support/resources/tips/Network-Config-Tips/Network-Config-Tips.html

Questions like this are also excellent questions for the Red Hat users' mailing list. There are many experienced Red Hat users on the list who might be of assistance on a matter of this sort. To subscribe to redhat-list, go to https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list. There is also a compiled listing of past posts to this group. You may find the answer to your question here:

http://www.redhat.com/mailing-lists

Preventing Netscape From Crashing Question: Netscape keeps crashing when I reach a page with Java applets in it. I have also noticed that some of my applications do not display fonts correctly. What is going on? Answer: If could be possible that your system does not have a complete list of fontpath for X to use. To see if this is the problem you are facing, use the command:

chkfontpath --list You should get output that looks like the following: Current directories in font path: 1: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled 2: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled 3: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled 4: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc 5: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1 6: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo You should then add the 75dpi scaled font to your path list using the command: chkfontpath --add /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi This should fix the problem you are seeing. However, if problems persist. refer to http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/4.6/relnotes/unix-4.6.html#unix (or Help - Release notes in the menu). Basically, if Netscape exhibits consistent problems on pages containing Javascript, check your ~/.mailcap file, and remove this line if it is in that file: application/x-javascript;;\ x-mozilla-flags=save Problems Trying to Connect with Netscape Question: I can dial up to my ISP just fine, but I can't use Netscape. It says cannot connect to remote host. What is wrong? Answer: What you are seeing occurs from one of two possible problems.

The first problem could be that your DNS (Domain Name Server) information may not being set correctly during dial-up. Red Hat Linux 6.2 uses wvdial which can determine this for most ISPs, but may have problems with some. For Red Hat Linux 6.0 and earlier you will need to specify your ISP's DNS servers in your /etc/resolv.conf. Contact your ISP for this information and edit the file to include those settings. Here's an example: search example.com example.com nameserver 198.79.53.11 nameserver 198.79.53.10 Another possible reason for this problem may be that you are expecting action like what might be seen in a Windows environment. When Windows detects that you are looking for something on a network and you have a modem in your system, it will try to start that modem connection. Linux requires you to start the connection manually (most easily done through the Main Menu => Programs => Internet => RH PPP Dialer in the GNOME menu, or by using the much older the X Window System program usernet). Boot Hangs During sendmail, httpd, or smb Question: I have installed Linux, and it seems to initially start booting. However, it gets down to something called sendmail, httpd, or smb and then the machine seems to hang. What is happening and what should I do? Answer: If, after the install, the system seems to hang when it reaches certain processes like Sendmail, Apache, or Samba, there is probably a network problem. The most common cause is that Linux can not look up the name of the machine you have called the box (if you set up networking to have a machine name). The machine is currently paused waiting for the network timeout of DNS lookups and will eventually bring up the login prompt. Login in as root and check the usual culprits for a problem. If you are directly on a network with a DNS server, make sure the file /etc/resolv.conf has the correct values for your machine's DNS server. Check with your system administrator to make sure that the values are correct. If you are using Linux on a network without a DNS server (or this box is going to be the DNS server), then you will need to edit the /etc/hosts file to have the hostname and IP address so that the lookups will occur correctly. The format of the /etc/hosts file is: 127.0.0.1 192.168.200.1 Boot Loader Questions Error When Installing LILO to the Master Boot Record (MBR) Question: The installation went fine, but when I tried to write the LILO information to the MBR, I got a vague error that said the installation program could not write this info to the MBR. What should I do? Answer: localhost.localdomain localhost mymachine.mynetwork.net mymachine

The MBR may be locked. You need to access your system's BIOS and verify that the MBR is not write-protected. Also, double-check that you do not have a virus scan enabled in the BIOS that may interfere with writing to the MBR. Depending on the system, you may already have another boot loader in the MBR that conflicts with LILO. Once you have enabled the ability to write to your MBR, follow these steps to install LILO there:

1. Boot your system into Linux. (If your system cannot boot into Linux from the hard drive, boot using your
boot floppy. Then, at the boot prompt, type vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 at the LILO: prompt or the location of your Linux root partition.) 2. Once your system is finished booting, login as root and check your /etc/lilo.conf file to make sure everything is correct. Here is an example lilo.conf file:

boot=/dev/hda map=/boot/map install=/boot/boot.b prompt timeout=50 message=/boot/message linear default=linux image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.17-14 label=linux initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.17-14.img read-only root=/dev/hda5 image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.16-22enterprise label=linux-2.2.16-22 initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.16-22.img read-only root=/dev/hda5

3. Type man lilo.conf for more information about configuring /etc/lilo.conf. 4. Once you are sure that /etc/lilo.conf is properly configured, run /sbin/lilo -v -v. If you
receive any errors, stop and verify that your lilo.conf file is correctly configured. If the lilo command works correctly, type shutdown -r now to reboot your system. These steps should install LILO to your MBR properly and allow you to boot without using a boot disk. Problems Booting to Windows After the Installation of Red Hat Linux Question: I have installed Linux to dual boot with Windows. My first drive, /dev/hda is Linux, and my second drive is my Windows drive. Windows worked fine until after I installed Linux. Now, when I select "dos" from the LILO: prompt to boot to Windows, all I get is "Starting...." and then my machine locks, up. My entry for Windows in my /etc/lilo.conf file looks like this: other=/dev/hdb1 label=dos table=/dev/hdb Why is this happening and how can I work around it?

Answer: Windows is expecting to be the first disk in your computer and does not know what to do when you try to boot it as the second drive. In order to work around this, you must modify your /etc/lilo.conf file so that the entry for Windows looks like this: other=/dev/hdb1 label=dos table=/dev/hdb map-drive = 0x80 to = 0x81 map-drive = 0x81 to = 0x80 Once you have done this, you must re-run LILO so that your changes take effect. To do this, type /sbin/lilo -v -v. What this does is fool DOS/Windows into believing that it is the first drive in your system. What to Do When You Get 'LI' on Boot Question: When my machine boots, all it says is 'LI' and then it freezes. What is the problem? Answer: This means that LILO (the Linux bootloader) is having problems bootstrapping itself to the system. There are a couple of possible situations that may be causing this: You may have installed LILO above the 1024th cylinder on your hard drive. The kernel needs to reside entirely below the 1023rd cylinder on the drive. If this is the case, you need to create a /boot partition that resides in these limits and reinstall LILO. You may also need to go into your system's BIOS and make certain that LBA mode is enabled. If LBA was off, you will need to repartition and reinstall.

When to Use Loadlin Question: When do I need to use loadlin? Answer: You will need an alternative to LILO if you can not install the Linux kernel to where the BIOS can reach it or you do not wish to use it. The BIOS may not be able to reach it for one of the following reasons: The kernel is above the 1023 cylinder of the hard drive. The kernel is on a drive the BIOS cannot boot to (not on Primary IDE or SCSI chain). Other esoteric kernel/BIOS problems. You have hardware that can only be initialized in DOS (Plug and Play, etc).

You will probably need to use the Loadlin boot loader that is provided on the CD-ROM in \dosutils. You will need to copy this directory over to your DOS hard drive partition and edit the autoboot.bat file to point to its new position and removing the initrd= line. If your system is a SCSI system, you will need to go into rescue

mode and copy the /mnt/boot/initrd.img from the hard drive over to the DOS partition, and use it for booting. Changing the Default OS That Boots with LILO Question: I installed LILO fine and can boot to either OS. How can I change the default OS that it boots to? Answer: For newer versions of Red Hat Linux, /etc/lilo.conf accepts a default= line that specifies the label of the image section that will be used to boot the machine by default. So, for example, a /etc/lilo.conf file may look like this: boot=/dev/hda map=/boot/map install=/boot/boot.b prompt timeout=50 message=/boot/message linear default=linux image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.17-14 label=linux initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.17-14.img read-only root=/dev/hda5 image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.16-22 label=linux-old initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.16-22.img read-only root=/dev/hda5 The default= line points to the label=linux as the default image to use when booting the system. To change the default image to use when booting, simply change the default= line to point to the correct label value (in this example, linux-old). Save /etc/lilo.conf and run the lilo -v -v command to save the change. For older Red Hat Linux systems, you will also need to edit the /etc/lilo.conf file. However, since these versions cannot specify a default= line, you will need to change the order of the operating systems that LILO sees in its configuration file. In other words, you will need to place the lines that point to the operating system you would like to boot by default ahead of the others. In the following example we change the order of booting so that DOS gets booted by default instead of Linux: pico /etc/lilo.conf Here is the old version: boot=/dev/hda map=/boot/map

install=/boot/boot.b prompt timeout=50 image=/boot/vmlinux-2.2.12-20 label=linux root=/dev/hda2 read-only other = /dev/hda1 label = dos table = /dev/hda You would then change it to the following: boot=/dev/hda map=/boot/map install=/boot/boot.b prompt timeout=50 other = /dev/hda1 label = dos table = /dev/hda image=/boot/vmlinux-2.2.12-20 label=linux root=/dev/hda2 read-only Save your changes to the file. At the shell prompt, run the command /sbin/lilo -v and the updated LILO will be written to the boot device. On reboot, the machine will now boot into DOS by default instead of Linux. Removing LILO Information from the Master Boot Record (MBR) Question: How can I remove the LILO information from my Master Boot Record (MBR)? Answer: There are several methods to removing LILO from the Master Boot Record of the machine. Inside of Linux, you can replace the MBR with an earlier saved version of the MBR using the /sbin/lilo command: /sbin/lilo -u In DOS, NT, and Windows 95 you can use the fdisk command to create a new MBR with the "undocumented" flag /mbr. This will rewrite the MBR to only boot the primary DOS partition: fdisk /mbr

X Window System Questions

Installing X Question: I didn't install the X Window System during the install. How can I install it now? Answer: First, mount your CD-ROM and cd into your RPMS directory. From that point, you will want to follow the directions at our http://www.redhat.com/support/resources/howto/XFree86-upgrade/XFree86-upgrade.html. Black Screen While Starting X Question: I run startx and get a black screen. What do I do? Answer: To get out of the black screen mode, try typing [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Backspace]. This keystroke combination should cause the X server to exit, if possible. If that does not work, you may need to reboot the system. After the system has come up again, you should make certain that all your video hardware is compatible. Check the Hardware Compatibility List at http://hardware.redhat.com. Also, make sure that you have the latest version of XFree86 from http://www.redhat.com/support/errata. We have an update HOWTO for XFree86 located at http://www.redhat.com/support/resources/howto/XFree86upgrade/XFree86-upgrade.html. It is possible that your video card or monitor was not configured correctly. You may need to reconfigure the hardware. To do this, log in as root and run either Xconfigurator (recommended first) or XF86Setup and specify the type of hardware that you are using. Then try running startx again. errno 111 When Starting X Question: When I run startx, I get errno 111. What does this mean? Answer: This is a message from an X client (any program running on your XFree86 X server, for example the window manager) telling you that it tried to connect to the X server but failed to do so for some reason. You generally only see the last few lines of the error message. For the entire message (to help troubleshoot this issue) type:

X -probeonly >& startx.out This will create a file called start.out which contains the complete error message. Read through the error information carefully for clues concerning the real problem with starting X. Getting X to Start on Boot Question: How do I have X start up at boot versus having to type startx every time? Answer:

To enable X to run at boot time (assuming you are using gdm, kdm, or xdm to log in) you need to change the /etc/inittab file. Edit your /etc/inittab file by replacing the line: id:3:initdefault: With this one: id:5:initdefault:

Hardware Questions Problems With Linux Finding All of a Machine's RAM Question: My machine has 128 MB of RAM. However, Linux only sees 64 MB of it. What is going on, and how can I fix it? Answer: On most systems, the reason is that the BIOS has a limit of how much memory it will tell the operating system is present in the machine, even though the motherboard can have more. Common limits seen with this problem are 16M, 32M, 64M, and 128M. To get around this, we need to explicitly specify the amount of memory to the kernel at boot time via the mem=<actual_memory_goes_here> flag. In the following example, we have a 128M machine but only 64M are being seen by Linux. At the LILO: prompt, type: LILO: linux mem=128M After the machine boots, we use the free command to see if the larger amount of memory was recognized by the kernel. If so, we can add an append= line to the /etc/lilo.conf file and rerun LILO to make it happen permanently. The example from above would to edit their lilo.conf file to look like the following: boot=/dev/sda map=/boot/map install=/boot/boot.b prompt timeout=50 image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20 label=linux root=/dev/sda1 initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img read-only append="mem=128M" Do not forget to run /sbin/lilo -v after editing the file. Problems with Machine Speed and Large Amounts of RAM

Question: I have over 64 MB in my Pentium or greater machine. However, it seems sluggish when doing anything. If I tell Linux to use only 64 MB with the mem=64M option in the lilo.conf file and rerun lilo -v, it seems to speed up the machine. What is going on and can I do anything about it? Answer: The most likely answer to this problem has to do with the motherboard of the computer. Many motherboards limit the L2 cache to be able to access up to 64 MB. The ones that we know of to be affected by this problem are the NX (I believe this was only for Pentium 60-90), FX, VX, and TX boards from Intel. These are limited to a maximum of 512K of L2 cache. There may be other boards that have this problem, but these are our current candidates. The following is from a user who researched the problem for us: ... typically have a maximum of 512k of L2 cache (either on the motherboard, or in a COAST module - looks a little like a DIMM, but a bit shorter) and can only cache up to 64 meg. If Linux utilizes memory the same way as Microsoft OSes do, it goes from the top of the memory stack and works its way down. This can result in a pretty significant slowdown unless you really need the additional memory. The exception to this was the HX chipset, which was also the only chipset (i think) that could handle dual or quad processor Pentium boards (and even MMX). However, the vast majority of HX boards that I have seen also required a TAG-ram chip to cache over 64 meg, and still had a limit as to how much it could cache (the exact number escapes me at the moment). There were ways around this - the most obvious being a non-Intel based motherboard. The VIA motherboards are a good option here, and very often can be found with 1 meg of cache (or even, a little more rarely, 2 meg). These boards can cache between 512 and 1 gig of memory, depending on the exact variation of the chipset. Getting a Zip Drive to Work Question: How can I get my Zip drive to work with Red Hat Linux? Answer: There are excellent references in the ZIP HOWTOs at http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP/HOWTO/HOWTOINDEX/hardware.html#HWJAZZIP. In Red Hat Linux 6.2, there are a few extra steps needed to get a parallel port Zip drive to work: Edit your /etc/conf.modules and add: alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc alias scsi_hostadapter ppa Then log in as root and run modprobe ppa command.

Some people have had problems if they daisy chain a Zip drive and connect a printer to it. Currently, we recommend that you use either the printer or the Zip drive. If you are having problems with an IDE Zip drive, first check and make sure there is a disk in the drive. Also, make sure you are mounting it as partition 4 instead of 1. An example would be hdc4. The reason for this is that Macintosh uses partition 4 for its data partition and has problems if data is on another partition. Configuring the Jaz Drive and Linux Question: How do I configure my Jaz drive under Linux? Answer: Documentation on using Jaz with Linux can be found at http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP/HOWTO/Jaz-DriveHOWTO.html. Moving Data from a Floppy to a Hard Drive Question: How do I get data from a floppy to my hard drive? Answer: Most floppies you will run into are DOS-formatted. However, Red Hat Linux defaults to using its native format called ext2. Because of this, you can run into some difficulties unless you are aware of the following points. If you plan to always look at DOS floppies, it is easy to edit the file /etc/fstab and change the line: /dev/fd0 to: /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy vfat noauto,owner 0 0 /mnt/floppy ext2 noauto,owner 0 0

You will now be able to use the command mount /mnt/floppy to mount the floppy and the command umount /mnt/floppy to unmount the floppy before you eject it. Otherwise you can manually mount the DOS floppy with the following commands: mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy to mount the floppy, and umount /mnt/floppy before you eject it. Finally, if you are using the X Window System with either KDE or GNOME, you can use the file managers to mount and unmount your floppy by right-clicking on the floppy icon on the Desktop. Once the floppy is mounted, you can use the cp command to copy data to the disk:

cp filename /mnt/floppy Using Your CD-ROM Question: How do I mount my CD-ROM drive? Answer: If your system was installed properly, typing mount /mnt/cdrom should work. If it does not, you must edit your /etc/fstab file and add a line that refers to your CD-ROM device. Here's an example: /dev/hdc (CD-ROM device) /mnt/cdrom (mount point) iso9660 noauto,ro 0 0 (filesystem type and options)

In more recent versions of Red Hat Linux, your CD-ROM is more likely to be something like /dev/cdrom. To find out what the CD-ROM device is for your system, type dmesg | more and scan it for information regarding your CD-ROM. If you wish to mount the CD-ROM without adding this to your /etc/fstab, just type: mount -t iso9660 /dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom Using Two Ethernet Cards Question: I have two Ethernet cards. How can I get both of them recognized? Answer: First, make certain that both cards are supported. Check the hardware compatibility list at http://hardware.redhat.com. This further depends on whether the cards use the same driver or if they use different drivers. If they use different drivers, you simply need to set up the second network interface and edit your /etc/conf.modules (Red Hat Linux 6.2 and earlier) or /etc/modules.conf (Red Hat Linux 7.0 and greater) file to point to the specific driver for the second card. If they use the same driver, you may need to recompile your kernel, but several modules now allow for multiple cards. It may be that you just need to use boot time arguments, such as: boot: linux ether=11,0x300,eth0 ether=5,0x340,eth1

This option can be made permanent so that you do not have to re-enter it every time your system boots. See the LILO configuration option append= in the lilo.conf man page. The Ethernet HOWTO is an excellent source of information on how to do this. It can be found at http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP/HOWTO/Ethernet-HOWTO.html. Ethernet Card Detection Question: How can I tell if my Ethernet card is being recognized? Answer: There are two commands you can run to verify that your network interface is running properly: ifconfig or netstat. You can also go through some of your files in the /proc directory, such as /proc/interrupts, /proc/pci, and others to see if you can find information about your card there.

WinModems (TM) and Linux Question: How can I get my WinModem(TM) to work with Linux? Answer: Unfortunately, WinModems(TM) are completely incompatible with Red Hat Linux version 6.0 and earlier. There is no work-around for this issue at this time. The problem is that WinModems(TM) and similar type modems use the CPU to emulate various hardware that is removed to save on costs. These hardware parts that are removed would have to be "emulated" by the Linux kernel and would require the hardware maker of the modem to write such drivers. There are a few (very few) winmodem chipsets that are compatible with the 6.x versions of Red Hat Linux. The best place to go for more information on these versions is the www.linmodems.org and http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html. Both have links to information and drivers for various WinModems(TM). For Red Hat 7, there is, unfortunately, even less support. This is because many of the drivers available (such as the popular ltmodem driver) are compiled for versions of the Linux kernel that are old by today's standard. Red Hat 7 ships with the 2.2.16-22 kernel which has shown some trouble with some of the drivers. The ltmodem driver, which was compiled for kernel 2.2.12-20 seems to become unstable at 2.2.14-12 (the errata release kernel for Red Hat 6.2) though it seems to be usable. We have no direct knowledge of other modem drivers, however, and welcome more information (see the contact information at the top of this document).

Printers and Red Hat Linux Question: How do I get my printer to work with Red Hat Linux? Answer: First make certain that your printer is a supported device. Check http://www.redhat.com/support/hardware/index.html for that information. If it is supported, log into the GUI mode (X Window System) as the root user, open your Control Panel and start Printtool or select Printer Configuration from the main GNOME or KDE menu to set up the proper /etc/printcap settings. Additional information is available at the following sites: http://www.redhat.com/support/resources/tips/Printer-Tips/Printer-Tips.html http://www.redhat.com/support/resources/howto/lpd/lpd_remote.html http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP/HOWTO/Printing-HOWTO/index.html

In Red Hat Linux 6.1, there are a few extra steps needed to get a parallel port printer to work. This step is no longer necessary under Red Hat Linux 6.2: Edit your /etc/conf.modules and add: alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc Then log in as root and run modprobe lp. Some people have had problems if they daisy chain a printer through a parallel port Zip drive. Currently, we recommend that you use either the printer or the Zip drive. System Freezes When Trying to Shutdown or Reboot Question: Whenever I try to shutdown my machine or reboot it with the commands (reboot, halt, shutdown -r now, or shutdown -h now), the shutdown process executes correctly, but then the display blanks and the system hangs. Only way to recover is to use a hard reset. Answer: At the point the system hangs, the control has been handed back from Linux to the firmware, and it is up to the firmware to reboot the system correctly. There are some possible workarounds as Linux lets you pick multiple reboot methods to try and deal with broken BIOSes or hardware. At the LILO: boot prompt, you can specify: reboot=X,Y where X is either hard - reboot by reset line bios - reboot by bios vector

and Y is either warm - warm boot (similar to [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Del]) cold - cold boot (similar to So if you boot with LILO: linux reboot=bios,warm Linux will reboot by the BIOS vector with a warm reboot. You can hopefully find a boot sequence that does not trip the bugs in the system BIOS. The append="reboot=..." option in /etc/lilo.conf will let you set it by default by adding: append="reboot=bios,warm" into lilo.conf for the Linux image. Then rerun /sbin/lilo -v to write the change to your boot device. power on)