Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO

Steven Pritchard

Southern Illinois Linux Users Group / K&S Pritchard Enterprises, Inc.

3.2.4

Copyright 20012007 Steven Pritchard

Copyright 19971999 Patrick Reijnen

20070522

This document attempts to list most of the hardware known to be either supported or unsupported underLinux.

Copyright

This HOWTO is free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNUGeneral Public License as published by the Free software Foundation; either version 2 of the license, or (atyour option) any later version.

http://www.silug.org/http://www.kspei.com/mailto:steve@silug.org

Table of Contents1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................1

1.1. Notes on binaryonly drivers...........................................................................................................11.2. Notes on proprietary drivers.............................................................................................................11.3. System architectures.........................................................................................................................11.4. Related sources of information.........................................................................................................21.5. Known problems with this document...............................................................................................21.6. New versions of this document.........................................................................................................21.7. Feedback and corrections..................................................................................................................21.8. Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................................31.9. Revision History...............................................................................................................................3

2. Computers/Motherboards/BIOS...................................................................................................................52.1. Specific system/motherboard/BIOS..................................................................................................52.2. Unsupported......................................................................................................................................6

3. Laptops.............................................................................................................................................................73.1. Specific laptops.................................................................................................................................73.2. PCMCIA...........................................................................................................................................7

4. CPU/FPU.........................................................................................................................................................84.1. Intel...................................................................................................................................................84.2. AMD.................................................................................................................................................84.3. Cyrix.................................................................................................................................................84.4. IDT....................................................................................................................................................84.5. Transmeta..........................................................................................................................................84.6. Misc. notes........................................................................................................................................9

5. Memory..........................................................................................................................................................10

6. Video cards....................................................................................................................................................116.1. XFree86...........................................................................................................................................116.2. Kernel Framebuffer (fbdev)............................................................................................................526.3. SVGALIB (graphics for console)...................................................................................................52

7. Controllers (hard drive)...............................................................................................................................537.1. Alpha, Beta drivers.........................................................................................................................53

8. Controllers (SCSI)........................................................................................................................................548.1. Supported........................................................................................................................................548.2. Alpha, Beta drivers.........................................................................................................................568.3. Unsupported....................................................................................................................................57

9. SCSI RAID Controllers................................................................................................................................58

10. IDE RAID Controllers................................................................................................................................59

Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO

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Table of Contents11. Controllers (I/O)..........................................................................................................................................60

12. Controllers (multiport)...............................................................................................................................6112.1. Nonintelligent cards....................................................................................................................61

12.1.1. Supported.............................................................................................................................6112.2. Intelligent cards.............................................................................................................................61

12.2.1. Supported.............................................................................................................................6112.2.2. Alpha, Beta drivers..............................................................................................................62

13. Network adapters........................................................................................................................................6313.1. Supported......................................................................................................................................63

13.1.1. Ethernet...............................................................................................................................6313.1.2. ISDN....................................................................................................................................6413.1.3. WAN Cards.........................................................................................................................6513.1.4. Wireless...............................................................................................................................6713.1.5. Frame Relay, X.25, Synchronous PPP, Cisco HDLC.........................................................6713.1.6. Pocket and portable adapters...............................................................................................6713.1.7. Slotless.................................................................................................................................6713.1.8. ARCnet................................................................................................................................6713.1.9. TokenRing...........................................................................................................................6713.1.10. FDDI..................................................................................................................................6813.1.11. Amateur radio (AX.25).....................................................................................................6813.1.12. PCMCIA cards..................................................................................................................68

13.2. Alpha, Beta drivers.......................................................................................................................6813.2.1. Ethernet...............................................................................................................................6813.2.2. ISDN....................................................................................................................................6813.2.3. ATM....................................................................................................................................6813.2.4. Wireless.........................