The Fedora Core 9 installation media allows you to install the operating system on X86, 64 bit and PPC architectures. There are separate system requirements for each architecture and separate requirements of text versus graphical installations.
Minimum System Requirements
The Fedora Core 9 Release Notes specify the absolute minimum system requirements.
x_86
The Fedora Core 9 specifications are written for Intel Processors but the equivalent processors from other manufacturers (AMD, Cyrix, and VIA) may be substituted with no problem.
Installation via text mode requires:
200 MHz Pentium-class processor or better
128 MB of RAM.
Installation via graphical mode requires:
400 MHz Pentium II processor or better.
Minimum RAM: 192MB.
Recommended RAM: 256MB.
x86_64
Installation via text mode requires:
128 MB of RAM
Installation via graphical mode requires:
Minimum RAM: 384MB.
Recommended RAM: 512MB.
PPC
Fedora Core 9 supports the “New World” generation of Apple Power Macintosh, shipped from circa 1999 onward (Older versions need a special boot loader); IBM RS/6000, pSeries, iSeries, and Cell Broadband Engine machines; Sony PlayStation 3; Genesi Pegasos II; Efika; and the P.A. Semiconductor ‘Electra’ machines. The minimum recommended CPU is the PowerPC G3 / POWER3.
Installation via text mode requires:
233 MHz G3 or better
128MB of RAM
Installation via graphical mode requires:
400 MHz G3 or better
256MB of RAM
Hard Drive Size
The required hard drive size remains the same across all architectures. For a complete package installation, you will need at least a 9G hard drive. The installation will require an additional 90 Mb for a minimal installation and 175 Mb for a larger installation.
Of course, that is only for installation, not for the actual use of the system. In order for the system to actually work, you will need an additional 5% of space; and, of course, you will need space for user data. In practical terms, anything less than 20 G will probably hamper your use of the system.
Actual System Requirements
It is possible to run the OS on a minimum requirements. I have run Fedora Core 9 on a 64 bit processor with 512Mb of RAM. However, it was slow and uncomfortable to use. Anything with a heavy resource load halted the system. It may also be possible to install and run the OS on a legacy system as long as you remove many (if not most) of the packages.
If you want to have a useable system by today’s standards (doesn’t grind to a halt when you are watching a video while working on a spreadsheet), you will need to increase the CPU size and the amount of memory. If you are using a 64-bit processor, you can take the road I did and use the x86 installation instead of the x86_64 installation. That is obviously a poor use of your 64-bit processor, but it will give you a little bit of boost.
The important thing to remember when you are reading system requirements for any Linux distribution is that they are the bare minimum requirements. Which means the system will run, but it will not run at optimal speed and efficiency.
