Fedora on Multicore Machines
The second half of 2005 brought significant availability of dual-core processors from Intel, AMD, and Power. As always, Linux was at the forefront of support for new computing platforms, and dual-core processors were no different. Fedora natively supports multi-core, and significant speed enhancements can be had from using such machines. Dual-core processors are prevalent today, but four-way processors are starting to appear in mainstream PCs, most notably in the dual quad-core Mac Pro (a total of eight cores), which is supported by Fedora.
APPENDIX B
Installation Resources
installing a new operating system is always a major event, especially if you have never had to install an OS before. This is especially true if you are used to running Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista that has been preinstalled for you on your computer. In many cases, 'recovery' discs are supplied that contain a mirror image of how your system was the day it rolled off the production line; so in reality you are not actually installing Windows, just copying some files. With Fedora you get a lot of options that you can choose from, making it easy to tailor make your installation to suit your end goals. This appendix is all about helping you prepare for installing Fedora, taking you through some of the considerations that you perhaps do not realize are important to think about.
Linux has a formidable reputation as being difficult to install. You had to know every conceivable fact and specification about all the components of your computer to ensure that the installation went smoothly. Thankfully, for the most part that reputation is in the past, and now Fedora does most of the hard work for you, having much improved hardware detection and autoconfiguration. This is definitely a good thing, and vastly reduces the time needed to install Fedora. Another good thing is the advent of Live CDs for Fedora, which give you a fully functional operating system on a CD. If you have ever been concerned about whether your system is compatible with Linux, take one of these Live CDs for a spin to help you make your decision.
This appendix is intended to prepare you for installing Fedora on your computer. We start off with a look at some of the things you should take in to account when considering moving to Linux, including what your aims and objectives are for using Fedora. We also take a look at the hardware requirements of Fedora, along with information on how to check whether your hardware is compatible with Fedora. By the end of this appendix, you should recognize just how flexible Fedora really is, both in the software it provides and also in the many ways in which you can install it.
Planning Your Fedora Deployment
The first thing you need to decide is why you are installing Fedora. By working out the 'end-use scenario' for the proposed installation, you then can begin to make choices and decisions about hardware specifications and software options. Before planning the specific steps of an installation, you need to make decisions about the type of deployment you want to undertake. For example, if you were going to use Fedora for 3D graphics work, you would need to factor in the amount of space needed to store the sometimes intricate 3D models and graphics, as well as the graphics card needed for rendering, not to mention the amount of system memory and processor speed. On the flip side, if all you are doing is providing an elderly relative with a quick and easy way to access the Internet, RAM, hard drive storage, and processor speed are less likely to be important rather than a decent monitor, keyboard, and mouse. You learn more about these issues in the sections that follow. These sections also include a table you can use as a predeployment planning checklist and some final advice for planning the installation.
Business Considerations
Making a choice of operating system for business can often be a thorny issue. Certainly there is a monopoly already in place from Microsoft, and a lot of users have only ever used Microsoft products. This alone is a powerful argument to go down the Microsoft path, but there are other ways to implement Fedora in business. Your company may have been the target of a virus attack, or perhaps you have had to deal with one too many spyware and adware outbreaks on users desktops. Making the switch to Linux can eradicate many of these problems, increasing the uptime of users and reducing the security risk. The important thing is to work closely with the business to ensure that whatever is delivered is in line with the business requirements. If you consider that Linux is still in a minority, you need to think about how other companies will be able to work with you. Staff training and overall cost of change needs to be closely monitored at all times to ensure a smooth delivery. However, don't expect it to be perfect; anyone who has worked on a project knows that unexpected problems can and will occur, and you need to be as prepared as possible to deal with them. Bear in mind that what works for your company may not work for another, so when swapping stories over a beer with other long-suffering sysadmins, think about how their successes can be adapted to your enterprise, but also pay close attention to things that went wrong. Even better, get one of their business users to present to your users and management to demonstrate the impact that moving to Linux has had. It's surprising how much good a relationship with other companies can do for your own IT infrastructure.
As an example of inter company relationships, most of the large law firms in London have their own soccer teams that regularly meet to do battle on the soccer field. They also meet to discuss IT issues and swap ideas between each other which benefits all of them. Why not set up a local corporate Linux user group in your area? You don't have to make it a sports-related meeting; just make it clear that you want to share ideas and best practice.
Browse to Red Hat's Migration Center at http://www.redhat.com/business/utol/success/ to read success stories, market analyses, and technical reports on using Red Hat's Enterprise Linux products for business.
One of the great things about Linux is that it allows you to try it before committing your self. What other operating system do you know that can be booted up from a single CD and allow you to have a fully operational system, complete with applications? Although it sound like black magic, this kind of thing actually exists in the form of Live CDs and there are plenty to choose from, including the two that are available for Fedora (Gnome and KDE based). Boot your system with one of these CDs to give you an idea of how well your hardware will cope with Linux.
Of course, if you are happy with the move to Linux, you can ease the change by down loading versions of OpenOffice.org, Firefox, and Thunderbird for your existing platform so that users can test them out before the migration.
Sometimes it is not always the visible changes that make the most difference. Give careful thought to the potential deployment of Linux into such areas as web servers and file and print servers. You can extend the life of existing hardware long beyond its useful 'Windows' life by deploying them as print or web servers. Thankfully, Linux
