Appendix A. General Parameters and Modules
This appendix is provided to illustrate some of the possible parameters that may be needed by certain drivers. It should be noted that, in most cases, these additional parameters are unnecessary. Also included is a list of network hardware and the associated modules required by that hardware.
Please keep in mind that if a device you are attempting to use requires one of these parameters, and support for that device is not compiled into the kernel, the traditional method of adding the parameter to the LILO boot command will not work. Drivers loaded as modules require that these parameters are specified when the module is loaded. The Red Hat Linux installation program gives you the option to specify module parameters when a driver is loaded.
A Note About Kernel Drivers
During installation of Red Hat Linux, there are some limits placed on the filesystems and other drivers supported by the kernel. However, after installation there is support for all filesystems available under Linux. At install time the modularized kernel has support for (E)IDE devices, (including ATAPI CD-ROM drives), SCSI adapters, and network cards. Additionally, all mice, SLIP, CSLIP, PPP, PLIP, FPU emulation, console selection, ELF, SysV IPC, IP forwarding, firewalling and accounting, reverse ARP, QIC tape and parallel printers, are supported.
 | Because Red Hat Linux supports installation on many different types of hardware, many drivers (including those for SCSI adapters, network cards, and many CD-ROMs) are not built into the Linux kernel used during installation; rather, they are available as modules and loaded as you need them during the installation process. If necessary, you will have the chance to specify options for these modules at the time they are loaded, and in fact these drivers will ignore any options you specify for them at the boot: prompt. |
After the installation is complete you may want to rebuild a kernel that includes support for your specific hardware configuration. See the section called Building a Custom Kernel in Chapter 2 for information on building a customized kernel. Note that, in most cases, a custom-built kernel is not necessary.