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, gcc, etc. have been ported, and for which a Debian port exists, can run Debian. Please refer to the Ports pages at for more details on &arch-title; architecture systems which have been tested with Debian. 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. Debian &release; supports eleven major architectures and several variations of each architecture known as 'flavors'. Architecture | Debian Designation / Flavor ---------------------+---------------------------- Intel x86-based | i386 | - vanilla | - idepci | - compact | - bf2.4 (experimental) | Motorola 680x0: | m68k - Atari | - atari - Amiga | - amiga - 68k Macintosh | - mac - VME | - bvme6000 | - mvme147 | - mvme16x | DEC Alpha | alpha | - generic | - jensen | - nautilus | Sun SPARC | sparc | - sun4cdm | - sun4u | ARM and StrongARM | arm | - netwinder | - riscpc | - shark | - lart | IBM/Motorola PowerPC | powerpc - CHRP | - chrp - PowerMac | - powermac, new-powermac - PReP | - prep - APUS | - apus | HP PA-RISC | hppa - PA-RISC 1.1 | - 32 - PA-RISC 2.0 | - 64 | Intel ia64-based | ia64 | MIPS (big endian) | mips - SGI Indy/I2 | - r4k-ip22 | MIPS (little endian) | mipsel - DEC Decstation | - r4k-kn04 | - r3k-kn02 | IBM S/390 | s390 | - tape | - vmrdr | ---------------------+---------------------------- This document covers installation for the &arch-title; architecture. If you are looking for information on any of the other Debian-supported architectures take a look at the Debian-Ports pages. 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 Bug Tracking System 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 debian-&architecture; mailing list as well. &supported-alpha.xml; &supported-arm.xml; &supported-hppa.xml; &supported-i386.xml; &supported-ia64.xml; &supported-m68k.xml; &supported-mips.xml; &supported-mipsel.xml; &supported-powerpc.xml; &supported-s390.xml; &supported-sparc.xml; 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. Debian's support for graphical interfaces is determined by the underlying support found in XFree86's X11 system. The newer AGP video slots are actually a modification on the PCI specification, and most AGP video cards work under XFree86. Details on supported graphics buses, cards, monitors, and pointing devices can be found at . Debian &release; ships with X11 revision &x11ver;. The XFree86's X11 system is only supported on the SGI Indy. Laptops are also supported. Laptops are often specialized or contain proprietary hardware. To see if your particular laptop works well with GNU/Linux, see the Linux Laptop pages Multi-processor support — also called ``symmetric multi-processing'' or SMP — is supported for this architecture. The standard Debian &release; kernel image was compiled with SMP support. This should not prevent installation, since the SMP kernel should boot on non-SMP systems; the kernel will simply cause a bit more overhead. 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 . At this time (kernel version &kernelversion;) the way you disable SMP is to deselect ``symmetric multi-processing'' in the ``General'' section of the kernel config. Multi-processor support — also called ``symmetric multi-processing'' or SMP — is supported 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. 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 . At this time (kernel version &kernelversion;) the way you enable SMP is to select ``symmetric multi-processing'' in the ``General'' section of the kernel config.