2. Getting Started
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” —Lao-Tsu
Now that you’ve read about the ideas and philosophy behind Linux and Debian, it’s time to start putting it on your computer! We start by talking about how to prepare for a Debian install, then about partitioning your disk, and finally, how to start up the installation system.
2.1 Supported Hardware
Debian does not impose hardware requirements beyond the requirements of the Linux kernel and the GNU tools.
Rather than attempting to describe all the different hardware configurations that are supported for the PC platform, this section contains general information and pointers to where additional information can be found.
There are two excellent places to check for detailed information: the Debian System Requirements[[1]] list and the Linux Documentation Project Hardware Compatibility HOWTO[[2]]. For information on video card support, you may also want to look at the XFree86[[3]] Project web site.
[1] http://www.debian.org/releases/slink/i386/ch-hardware-req.en.html
[2] http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO.html
[3] http://www.xfree86.org/