While the Red Hat Linux installation program is loading, you may see a screen that asks
you for a driver disk. The driver disk screen is most often seen in three
scenarios:
If you run the installation program in expert
mode
If you run the installation program by entering linux
dd at the boot: prompt
If you run the installation program on a computer which does not have
any PCI devices
A driver disk adds support for hardware that is not otherwise supported
by the installation program. The driver disk could be produced by Red Hat,
it could be a disk you make yourself from drivers found on the
Internet, or it could be a disk that a hardware vendor includes with a
piece of hardware.
There is no need to use a driver disk unless you need a particular
device in order to install Red Hat Linux. Driver disks are most often used for
non-standard or very new CD-ROM drives, SCSI adapters, or NICs. These
are the only devices used during the installation that might require
drivers not included on the Red Hat Linux CD-ROMs (or boot disk, if you
created an installation boot disk to begin the install process).
 | Note |
|---|
| | If an unsupported device is not needed to install Red Hat Linux on your
system, continue with the installation and add support for the new
piece of hardware once the installation is complete.
|
The Red Hat Linux CD-ROM 1 includes a driver disk image
(images/drivers.img) containing many rarely used
drivers. If you suspect that your system may require one of these
drivers, you should create the driver disk before beginning
your Red Hat Linux installation.
Another option for finding specialized driver disk information is on
Red Hat's website at http://www.redhat.com/support/errata under the section called
Bug Fixes. Occasionally, popular hardware may be
made available after a release of Red Hat Linux that will not work with
drivers already in the installation program or included on the driver
disk image on the Red Hat Linux CD-ROM 1. In such cases, the Red Hat website may
contain a link to a driver disk image.
If you have a driver disk image that you need to write to a
floppy disk, this can be done
from within DOS or Red Hat Linux.
To create a driver disk from a driver disk image using Red Hat Linux:
Insert a blank, formatted floppy disk into the first floppy drive.
From the same directory containing the driver disk image, such
as dd.img, type
dd if=dd.img
of=/dev/fd0 as root.
To create a driver disk from a driver disk image using DOS:
Insert a blank, formatted floppy disk into the a: drive.
From the same directory containing the driver disk image, such
as dd.img, type rawrite
dd.img a: at the command
line.
Having a driver disk is not enough; you must specifically tell the
Red Hat Linux installation program to load that driver disk and use it during
the installation process.
| Note |
|---|
| | A driver disk is different than a boot disk. If you require a boot
disk to begin the Red Hat Linux installation, you will still need to create
that floppy and boot from it
before using the driver disk.
If you do not already have an installation boot disk and your system
does not support booting from the CD-ROM, you should create an
installation boot disk. For instructions on how make a boot disk,
see the section called Making Installation Diskettes in Chapter 1.
|
Once you have created your driver disk, begin the installation process
by booting from the Red Hat Linux CD-ROM 1 (or the installation boot disk).
At the boot: prompt, enter either
linux expert or linux
dd. Refer to the section called Booting the Installation Program in Chapter 3 for
details on booting the installation program.
The Red Hat Linux installation program will ask you to insert the driver
disk. Once the driver disk is read by the installer, it can apply
those drivers to hardware discovered on your system later in the
installation process.
