Student’s name RASILA VHUHONE

Student number 201815351

Name of Campus PRETORIA CITY
Year of Study Semester 1
Programme Diploma: Information Technology
Module Name Linux (Linux+ Preparation)
Module Code
22_HE_FT_DP_IT_LNX320_Y3
Due date 26/08/2022
Date 26/08/2022

QUESTION 1

1.1

Hard Drive Controller Requirements

You do not need a hard drive to run Linux, in fact; you can run a minimal system completely from
floppy! However, using Linux with a hard disk is the standard way of doing things. Linux should
support all MFM, RLL, and IDE controllers. Most, but not all, ESDI controllers are supported--only
those which do ST506 hardware emulation.

Hard Drive Space Requirements

to install Linux, you'll need to have some free space on your hard drive. Linux will support multiple
hard drives in the same machine; you can allocate space for Linux across multiple drives if necessary.
The amount of hard drive space you will require depends greatly on your needs and the amount of
software you're installing. Linux is relatively small as Unix implementations go; you could run a
complete system in 10 to 20 MB of space on your drive. However, if you want to have room for
expansion, and for larger packages, such as the X Window System, you need more space. If you plan
to allow multiple users to use the machine, you need to allocate storage for their files

Monitor and Video Adapter Requirements

Linux supports all standard Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA, IBM monochrome, and Super VGA video cards
and monitors for the default text-based interface. In general, if the video card and monitor coupling
works under another operating system such as Windows, it should work fine with Linux. Original IBM
CGA cards suffer from "snow" under Linux, which is unpleasant.

Miscellaneous Hardware

The previous sections described the hardware required to run a Linux system. However, most users
have a number of "optional" devices such as tape and CD-ROM storage, sound boards, and so on,
and are interested in whether or not this hardware is supported by Linux.

Tape drives and removable storage

There are several types of tape drives available on the market. Many use the SCSI interface, all of
which should be supported by Linux. QIC-02 and so-called "floppy tape" devices (which hang off of
the floppy controller) are well-supported, as are various kinds of removable storage media, such as
DAT, and the Iomega ZIP drive.

Printers Linux

supports the complete range of parallel printers. If you are able to access your printer via the parallel
port from Windows or another operating system, you should be able to access it from Linux as well.
The Linux printing software consists of the Unix standard lp and lpr software. This software also
allows you to print remotely via the network, if you have one available.

Modems

As with printer support, Linux supports the full range of serial modems, both internal and external. If
your modem is accessible from another operating system on the same machine, it is likely that you
can access it from Linux with no difficulty. However, Linux does not support so-called "Winmodems,"
a kludge where the operating system has to take over many of the modem's tasks. In addition, some
internal PCI modems are not supported

Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet Cards

Linux supports nearly every Ethernet and Fast Ethernet card available for the PC platform, and those
that are not supported are more than likely being worked on as this is being written. Linux kernel
Version 2.2 includes drivers for a number of high-performance network interfaces as well, including
the Packet Engines G-NIC, Alteon AceNIC, and 3Com 3C985 PCI Gigabit Ethernet adaptors. A number
of token ring and ATM interface cards are supported, as are various System Area Networks, such as
Myricom's Myrinet.

Memory Requirements

Linux requires very little memory to run compared to other advanced operating systems. You should
have at the very least 8 MB of RAM; however, it's strongly suggested that you have at least 16 MB.
The more memory you have, the faster the system will run. Linux can support the full 32-bit address
range of the 80x86; in other words, it will utilize all of your RAM automatically. Amounts of RAM
greater than 64 MB need a boot-time parameter.

Mice and other pointing devices

For the most part, you will be using a mouse only under a graphical environment, such as the X
Window System. However, several Linux applications not associated with a graphics environment
also use a mouse. Linux supports all standard serial mice, including Logitech, MM series, Mouseman,
Microsoft (two-button), and Mouse Systems (three-button). Linux also supports Microsoft, Logitech,
and ATIXL busmice. The PS/2 mouse interface is supported as well.

QUESTION 2

The operating system loads the application from disk to memory and starts the application. the
application interacts with the user from its interface. If the application needs additional files or
programs, it makes calls to the operating system to start other routines that will require memory
and/or disk resources and potentially other calls to disk. If the user exits the program, the operating
system typically releases the disk and memory resources and any exit clean up routines the
operating system requires

Hardware

Hardware represents all the physical things that you can touch and see which merged and built
together as a single entity called a Personal Computer (PC). It can be a laptop or even your smart
devices in this case.

Operating System

Operating System (OS) is working on top of the hardware. OS is the software that brings you the
interface to be able to communicate with the hardware. Well, of course there is more than that. OS
communicates with the kernel using the device drivers to send “commands” to the hardware to do
the things that you want to do.

Application

Application runs on top of the OS. Without an OS, you cannot install your application. For example,
Google Chrome is an application. Google Chrome can run on top of Linux, Windows, or MacOS.
Linux, Windows, and MacOS are OSs. So, without an OS, application has nowhere to run.
User

User is the so called brain ware of the PC. Notice the word, brain. This is because, user is the person
who controls and uses the application to fulfil his needs

Question 3
Find Linux kernel using uname command

uname is the Linux command for getting system information. You can also use it to find out whether
you’re using a 32-bit or 64-bit system.

Open a terminal and type in the following command:

uname -r

Linux kernel version using dmesg commad

dmesg is a powerful command used for writing kernel messages. It’s also very useful for getting
system information.

Since dmesg provides an awful lot of information, you should normally use a command like less to
read it. But since we’re here just to check the Linux kernel version, grepping on ‘Linux’ should give
the desired output.

Linux kernel using /proc/version file

In Linux, you can also find the kernel information in the file /proc/version. Just look at the contents
of this file:

cat /proc/version

1. uname -r : Find Linux kernel version

2. cat /proc/version : Show Linux kernel version with help of a special file

3. hostnamectl | grep Kernel : For systemd based Linux distro you can use hotnamectl to
display hostname and running Linux kernel version

Question 4