path: root/en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml

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 <sect1 id="hardware-supported">
 <title>Supported Hardware</title>
<para>

Debian does not impose hardware requirements beyond the requirements
of the Linux kernel and the GNU tool-sets.  Therefore, any
architecture or platform to which the Linux kernel, libc,
<command>gcc</command>, etc. have been ported, and for which a Debian
port exists, can run Debian. Please refer to the Ports pages at
<ulink url="&url-ports;"></ulink> for
more details on &arch-title; architecture systems which have been
tested with Debian.

</para><para>

Rather than attempting to describe all the different hardware
configurations which are supported for &arch-title;, this section
contains general information and pointers to where additional
information can be found.

</para>

  <sect2><title>Supported Architectures</title>
<para>

Debian &release; supports eleven major architectures and several
variations of each architecture known as <quote>flavors</quote>.

</para><para>

<informaltable>
<tgroup cols="4">
<thead>
<row>
  <entry>Architecture</entry><entry>Debian Designation</entry>
  <entry>Subarchitecture</entry><entry>Flavor</entry>
</row>
</thead>

<tbody>
<row>
  <entry>Intel x86-based</entry>
  <entry>i386</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>

<row>
  <entry>AMD64 &amp; Intel EM64T</entry>
  <entry>amd64</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>

<row>
  <entry>DEC Alpha</entry>
  <entry>alpha</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>

<row>
  <entry morerows="4">ARM</entry>
  <entry morerows="1">arm</entry>
  <entry>Netwinder and CATS</entry>
  <entry>netwinder</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>Versatile</entry>
  <entry>versatile</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry morerows="2">arm and armel</entry>
  <entry>Intel IOP32x</entry>
  <entry>iop32x</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>Intel IXP4xx</entry>
  <entry>ixp4xx</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>Marvell Orion</entry>
  <entry>orion5x</entry>
</row>

<row>
  <entry morerows="1">HP PA-RISC</entry>
  <entry morerows="1">hppa</entry>
  <entry>PA-RISC 1.1</entry>
  <entry>32</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>PA-RISC 2.0</entry>
  <entry>64</entry>
</row>

<row>
  <entry>Intel IA-64</entry>
  <entry>ia64</entry>
  <entry></entry>
  <entry></entry>
</row>

<row>
  <entry morerows="5">MIPS (big endian)</entry>
  <entry morerows="5">mips</entry>
  <entry>SGI IP22 (Indy/Indigo 2)</entry>
  <entry>r4k-ip22</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>SGI IP32 (O2)</entry>
  <entry>r5k-ip32</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>MIPS Malta (32 bit)</entry>
  <entry>4kc-malta</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>MIPS Malta (64 bit)</entry>
  <entry>5kc-malta</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>Broadcom BCM91250A (SWARM)</entry>
  <entry>sb1-bcm91250a</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>Broadcom BCM91480B (BigSur)</entry>
  <entry>sb1a-bcm91480b</entry>
</row>

<row>
  <entry morerows="4">MIPS (little endian)</entry>
  <entry morerows="4">mipsel</entry>
  <entry>Cobalt</entry>
  <entry>cobalt</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>MIPS Malta (32 bit)</entry>
  <entry>4kc-malta</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>MIPS Malta (64 bit)</entry>
  <entry>5kc-malta</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>Broadcom BCM91250A (SWARM)</entry>
  <entry>sb1-bcm91250a</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>Broadcom BCM91480B (BigSur)</entry>
  <entry>sb1a-bcm91480b</entry>
</row>

<row arch="m68k">
  <entry morerows="5">Motorola 680x0</entry>
  <entry morerows="5">m68k</entry>
  <entry>Atari</entry>
  <entry>atari</entry>
</row><row arch="m68k">
  <entry>Amiga</entry>
  <entry>amiga</entry>
</row><row arch="m68k">
  <entry>68k Macintosh</entry>
  <entry>mac</entry>
</row><row arch="m68k">
  <entry morerows="2">VME</entry>
  <entry>bvme6000</entry>
</row><row arch="m68k">
  <entry>mvme147</entry>
</row><row arch="m68k">
  <entry>mvme16x</entry>
</row>

<row>
  <entry morerows="1">IBM/Motorola PowerPC</entry>
  <entry morerows="1">powerpc</entry>
  <entry>PowerMac</entry>
  <entry>pmac</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>PReP</entry>
  <entry>prep</entry>
</row>

<row>
  <entry morerows="1">Sun SPARC</entry>
  <entry morerows="1">sparc</entry>
  <entry>sun4u</entry>
  <entry morerows="1">sparc64</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>sun4v</entry>
</row>

<row>
  <entry morerows="1">IBM S/390</entry>
  <entry morerows="1">s390</entry>
  <entry>IPL from VM-reader and DASD</entry>
  <entry>generic</entry>
</row><row>
  <entry>IPL from tape</entry>
  <entry>tape</entry>
</row>

</tbody></tgroup></informaltable>

</para><para>

This document covers installation for the
<emphasis>&arch-title;</emphasis> architecture.  If you are looking
for information on any of the other Debian-supported architectures
take a look at the
<ulink url="http://www.debian.org/ports/">Debian-Ports</ulink> pages.

</para><para condition="new-arch">

This is the first official release of &debian; for the &arch-title;
architecture.  We feel that it has proven itself sufficiently to be
released. However, because it has not had the exposure (and hence
testing by users) that some other architectures have had, you may
encounter a few bugs. Use our
<ulink url="&url-bts;">Bug Tracking System</ulink> to report any
problems; make sure to mention the fact that the bug is on the
&arch-title; platform. It can be necessary to use the
<ulink url="&url-list-subscribe;">debian-&arch-listname; mailing list</ulink>
as well.

</para>
  </sect2>

<!-- supported cpu docs -->
&supported-alpha.xml;
&supported-amd64.xml;
&supported-arm.xml;
&supported-hppa.xml;
&supported-i386.xml;
&supported-ia64.xml;  <!-- FIXME: currently missing -->
&supported-m68k.xml;
&supported-mips.xml;
&supported-mipsel.xml;
&supported-powerpc.xml;
&supported-s390.xml;
&supported-sparc.xml;

  <sect2 arch="x86" id="laptops"><title>Laptops</title>
<para>

Laptops are also supported and nowadays most laptops work out of the box.
In case a laptop contains specialized or proprietary hardware, some specific
functions may not be supported.  To see if your particular laptop works well
with GNU/Linux, see for example the
<ulink url="&url-x86-laptop;">Linux Laptop pages</ulink>.

</para>
   </sect2>

  <sect2 condition="defaults-smp">
  <title>Multiple Processors</title>
<para>

Multiprocessor support &mdash; also called <quote>symmetric multiprocessing</quote>
or SMP &mdash; is available for this architecture.  The standard Debian
&release; kernel image has been compiled with SMP support.  The standard
kernel is also usable on non-SMP systems, but has a slight overhead which
will cause a small reduction in performance. For normal system use this
will hardly be noticable.

</para><para>

In order to optimize the kernel for single CPU systems, you'll have to
replace the standard Debian kernel.  You can find a discussion of how
to do this in <xref linkend="kernel-baking"/>.  At this time
(kernel version &kernelversion;) the way you disable SMP is to deselect
<quote>&smp-config-option;</quote> in the <quote>&smp-config-section;</quote>
section of the kernel config.

</para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2 condition="smp-alternatives">
<title>Multiple Processors</title>

<para>

Multiprocessor support &mdash; also called <quote>symmetric
multiprocessing</quote> or SMP &mdash; is available for this architecture.
The standard Debian &release; kernel image has been compiled with
<firstterm>SMP-alternatives</firstterm> support. This means that the kernel
will detect the number of processors (or processor cores) and will
automatically deactivate SMP on uniprocessor systems.

</para><para arch="i386">

The 486 flavour of the Debian kernel image packages for &arch-title;
is not compiled with SMP support.

</para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2 condition="supports-smp">
  <title>Multiple Processors</title>
<para>

Multiprocessor support &mdash; also called <quote>symmetric
multiprocessing</quote> or SMP &mdash; is available for this architecture.
However, the standard Debian &release; kernel image does not support
SMP.  This should not prevent installation, since the standard,
non-SMP kernel should boot on SMP systems; the kernel will simply use
the first CPU.

</para><para>

In order to take advantage of multiple processors, you'll have to
replace the standard Debian kernel.  You can find a discussion of how
to do this in <xref linkend="kernel-baking"/>.  At this time
(kernel version &kernelversion;) the way you enable SMP is to select
<quote>&smp-config-option;</quote> in the <quote>&smp-config-section;</quote>
section of the kernel config.

</para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2 condition="supports-smp-sometimes">
  <title>Multiple Processors</title>
<para>

Multiprocessor support &mdash; also called <quote>symmetric
multiprocessing</quote> or SMP &mdash; is available for this architecture,
and is supported by a precompiled Debian kernel image. Depending on your
install media, this SMP-capable kernel may or may not be installed by
default. This should not prevent installation, since the standard,
non-SMP kernel should boot on SMP systems; the kernel will simply use
the first CPU.

</para><para>

In order to take advantage of multiple processors, you should check to see
if a kernel package that supports SMP is installed, and if not, choose an
appropriate kernel package.

</para><para>

You can also build your own customized kernel to support SMP. You can find
a discussion of how to do this in <xref linkend="kernel-baking"/>.  At this
time (kernel version &kernelversion;) the way you enable SMP is to select
<quote>&smp-config-option;</quote> in the <quote>&smp-config-section;</quote>
section of the kernel config.

</para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="gfx" arch="not-s390"><title>Graphics Card Support</title>
<para arch="x86">

You should be using a VGA-compatible display interface for the console
terminal. Nearly every modern display card is compatible with
VGA. Ancient standards such CGA, MDA, or HGA should also work,
assuming you do not require X11 support.  Note that X11 is not used
during the installation process described in this document.

</para><para>

Debian's support for graphical interfaces is determined by the
underlying support found in X.Org's X11 system.  Most AGP, PCI and
PCIe video cards work under X.Org.  Details on supported graphics
buses, cards, monitors, and pointing devices can be found at
<ulink url="&url-xorg;"></ulink>.  Debian &release; ships
with X.Org version &x11ver;.

</para><para arch="mips">

<!-- FIXME: mention explicit graphics chips and not system names -->
The X.Org X Window System is only supported on the SGI Indy and the O2.  The
Broadcom BCM91250A and BCM91480B evaluation boards have standard 3.3v PCI
slots and support VGA emulation or Linux framebuffer on a selected range
of graphics cards.  A <ulink url="&url-bcm91250a-hardware;">compatibility
listing</ulink> for Broadcom evaluation boards is available.

</para><para arch="mipsel">

The Broadcom BCM91250A and BCM91480B evaluation boards have standard 3.3v PCI
slots and support VGA emulation or Linux framebuffer on a selected range
of graphics cards.  A <ulink url="&url-bcm91250a-hardware;">compatibility
listing</ulink> for Broadcom evaluation boards is available.

</para><para arch="sparc">

Most graphics options commonly found on Sparc-based machines are supported.
X.org graphics drivers are available for sunbw2, suncg14, suncg3, suncg6,
sunleo and suntcx framebuffers, Creator3D and Elite3D cards (sunffb driver),
PGX24/PGX64 ATI-based video cards (ati driver), and PermediaII-based cards
(glint driver). To use an Elite3D card with X.org you additionally need to
install the <classname>afbinit</classname> package, and read the documentation
included with it on how to activate the card.

</para><para arch="sparc">

It is not uncommon for a Sparc machine to have two graphics cards in a
default configuration. In such a case there is a possibility that the
Linux kernel will not direct its output to the card initially used by the
firmware. The lack of output on the graphical console may then be mistaken
for a hang (usually the last message seen on console is 'Booting Linux...').
One possible solution is to physically remove one of the video cards;
another option is to disable one of the cards using a kernel boot parameter.
Also, if graphical output is not required or desired, serial console may be
used as an alternative. On some systems use of serial console can be
activated automatically by disconnecting the keyboard before booting the
system.

</para>
  </sect2>

&network-cards.xml;
&supported-peripherals.xml;

 </sect1>

 <sect1 arch="not-s390" id="hardware-firmware">
 <title>Devices Requiring Firmware</title>
<para>

Besides the availability of a device driver, some hardware also requires
so-called <firstterm>firmware</firstterm> or <firstterm>microcode</firstterm>
to be loaded into the device before it can become operational. This is most
common for network interface cards (especially wireless NICs), but for example
some USB devices and even some hard disk controllers also require firmware.

</para><para>

In most cases firmware is non-free according to the criteria used by the
&debian; project and thus cannot be included in the main distribution
or in the installation system. If the device driver itself is included in
the distribution and if &debian; legally can distribute the firmware,
it will often be available as a separate package from the non-free section
of the archive.

</para><para>

However, this does not mean that such hardware cannot be used during an
installation. Starting with &debian; 5.0, &d-i; supports loading
firmware files or packages containing firmware from a removable medium,
such as a floppy disk or USB stick.
See <xref linkend="loading-firmware"/> for detailed information on how to
load firmware files or packages during the installation.

</para>
 </sect1>