A.1 An Overview of Our Support Policy

In order to receive support it is necessary to register the product via the World Wide Web at
http://www.redhat.com/support/register or by sending mail including the registration number to [email protected].

After registering successfully, support may be obtained by sending a specially formatted message to [email protected]. The message format is described in the support HOW-TO, located at:

http://www.redhat.com/support/register/support-how2.html

This e-mail will then be delivered to Red Hat Software support where it will be distributed to a Red Hat Support Engineer.

As the name implies, installation support centers on helping you successfully install Red Hat Linux on your computer. This includes support in three distinct areas:

• Answering questions you may have prior to installation, such as:
  • Hardware compatibility issues.
  • Basic approaches to partitioning your hard drive.

• Helping you get through the installation process:
  • Getting any supported hardware necessary for installation recognized by the installation program.
    (See http://www.redhat.com/hardware)
  • Assisting with the creation of a root and swap partition using the free space available on your hard drive.
  • Using the installation program to configure LILO to boot Red Hat Linux, and one other operating system (such as DOS, Windows 95, or Windows NT) already residing on your hard drive.

• Assisting with final configuration tasks, such as:
  • The successful configuration of the X window system on supported hardware, using either the Metro-X or XFree86 software. (Additional configuration, such as automatically starting X on reboot, or changing/customizing window managers is your responsibility.)
  • Configuring a printer connected directly to the Red Hat Linux system, enabling it to print text.
  • Setting up a mouse to be used with the text-based console, or with the X window system.
  • Getting access to the CD-ROM, so that information can be read from it.

Naturally, although our installation support service will get your system running Red Hat Linux, there are many other optional tasks that you might want to undertake, such as compiling a customized kernel, adding support for devices not included in the installation process, and so on.

For assistance with these tasks, please consider the many books on Linux at your local bookstore, or various on-line resources. A starting point in your on-line search for Linux information should always be:

http://www.redhat.com/support/

for information specific to Red Hat Linux, or:

http://www.redhat.com/linuxindex/index.html

for more general Linux information. Another good resource is http://www.linux.org/.

Red Hat Software can only support customers that have purchased the official Red Hat Linux Box set. If you have obtained Red Hat from any other publisher, you must contact them for support. Examples of other publishers would be:

• Macmillan/Sams
• Cheapbytes
• Pacific Hi-Tech (PHT)
• Infomagic
• Linux Systems Labs (LSL)
• ADRAS Computing

Also, RHL-Intel obtained via any of the following methods does not qualify for support from Red Hat Software:

• Red Hat Linux PowerTools Archive
• Downloaded via FTP on the Internet.
• Included in a package such as Applixware or Motif.
• Copied or installed from another user's CD.