newbie installation question

["Brian M. Godfrey" <brian@wildbirdshop.com>]

Hi,
   I am considering installation of Debian Linux on an older PC - a Compaq
4850.  I want to refamiliarize myself with Unix, after being a Windows user
since early 1993.  I was a user of various versions of Unix for about 12
years prior to then, but I am so rusty and out of date that I am essentially
a newbie at this point.
   Anyway, my question is, do I need to know make/model of all of the
various pieces of hardware inside the PC in order to install Debian?  Or
will it "autodetect" everything?
   Thank you,

--Brian M. Godfrey