en/hardware/network-cards.xml

<!-- retain these comments for translator revision tracking -->
<!-- $Id$ -->

 <sect2 id="network-cards">
 <title>Network Connectivity Hardware</title>
<para>

Almost any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel
should also be supported by the installation system; modular drivers
should normally be loaded automatically.

<phrase arch="x86">This includes most PCI and PCMCIA cards.</phrase>
<phrase arch="i386">Many older ISA cards are supported as well.</phrase>

<phrase arch="m68k">Again, see <ulink url="&url-m68k-faq;"></ulink>
for complete details.</phrase>

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

This includes a lot of generic PCI cards (for systems that have PCI) and
the following NICs from Sun:

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>

Sun LANCE

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

Sun Happy Meal

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

Sun BigMAC

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

Sun QuadEthernet

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

MyriCOM Gigabit Ethernet

</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</para><para arch="s390">

The list of supported network devices is:

<itemizedlist>
 <listitem><para>

Channel to Channel (CTC) and ESCON connection (real or emulated)

</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>

OSA-2 Token Ring/Ethernet and OSA-Express Fast Ethernet (non-QDIO)

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

OSA-Express in QDIO mode, HiperSockets and Guest-LANs

</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</para>

<para arch="arm">

On &arch-title;, most built-in Ethernet devices are supported and modules
for additional PCI and USB devices are provided.  The major exception is
the IXP4xx platform (featuring devices such as the Linksys NSLU2) which
needs a proprietary microcode for the operation of its built-in Ethernet
device.  Unofficial images for Linksys NSLU2 with this proprietary
microcode can be obtained from the <ulink
url="&url-slug-firmware;">Slug-Firmware site</ulink>.

</para><para arch="x86">

ISDN is supported, but not during the installation.

</para>

  <sect3 condition="supports-wireless" id="nics-wireless">
  <title>Wireless Network Cards</title>
<para>

Wireless networking is in general supported as well and a growing number of
wireless adapters is supported by the official Linux kernel, although many
of them do require firmware to be loaded.
Wireless NICs that are not supported by the official Linux kernel can generally
be made to work under &debian;, but are not supported during the installation.

</para><para>

The use of wireless networking during installation is still under development
and whether it will work depends on the type of adaptor and the configuration
of your wireless access point.
If there is no other NIC you can use during the installation, it is still
possible to install &debian; using a full CD-ROM or DVD image. Select the
option to not configure a network and install using only the packages
available from the CD/DVD. You can then install the driver and firmware you
need after the installation is completed (after the reboot) and configure
your network manually.

</para><para>

In some cases the driver you need may not be available as a Debian package.
You will then have to look if there is source code available in the internet
and compile the driver yourself. How to do this is outside the scope of this
manual.
<phrase arch="x86">If no Linux driver is available, your last resort is to
use the <classname>ndiswrapper</classname> package, which allows you to use
a Windows driver.</phrase>

</para>
  </sect3>

  <sect3 arch="sparc" id="nics-sparc-trouble">
  <title>Known Issues for &arch-title;</title>
<para>

There are a couple of issues with specific network cards that are worth
mentioning here.

</para>

   <sect4><title>Conflict between tulip and dfme drivers</title>
<!-- BTS: #334104; may also affect other arches, but most common on sparc -->
<para>

<!-- BTS: #334104; may also affect other arches, but most common on sparc -->
There are various PCI network cards that have the same PCI identification,
but are supported by related, but different drivers. Some cards work with
the <literal>tulip</literal> driver, others with the <literal>dfme</literal>
driver. Because they have the same identification, the kernel cannot
distinguish between them and it is not certain which driver will be loaded.
If this happens to be the wrong one, the NIC may not work, or work badly.

</para><para>

This is a common problem on Netra systems with a Davicom (DEC-Tulip
compatible) NIC. In that case the <literal>tulip</literal> driver is
probably the correct one.
You can prevent this issue by blacklisting the wrong driver module as
described in <xref linkend="module-blacklist"/>.

</para><para>

An alternative solution during the installation is to switch to a shell
and unload the wrong driver module using
<userinput>modprobe -r <replaceable>module</replaceable></userinput> (or
both, if they are both loaded). After that you can load the correct module
using <userinput>modprobe <replaceable>module</replaceable></userinput>.
Note that the wrong module may then still be loaded when the system is
rebooted.

</para>
   </sect4>

   <sect4><title>Sun B100 blade</title>
<!-- BTS: #384549; should be checked for kernels >2.6.18 -->
<para>

The <literal>cassini</literal> network driver does not work with Sun B100
blade systems.

</para>
   </sect4>
  </sect3>
 </sect2>
1	toff	3219	<!-- retain these comments for translator revision tracking -->
2	joeyh	11648	<!-- $Id$ -->
3	toff	3219
4	fjp	56244	<sect2 id="network-cards">
5	toff	3219	<title>Network Connectivity Hardware</title>
6	fjp	43624	<para>
7	toff	3219
8	fjp	43624	Almost any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel
9			should also be supported by the installation system; modular drivers
10			should normally be loaded automatically.
11	toff	3273
12	fjp	43624	<phrase arch="x86">This includes most PCI and PCMCIA cards.</phrase>
13			<phrase arch="i386">Many older ISA cards are supported as well.</phrase>
14	toff	3273
15	fjp	43624	<phrase arch="m68k">Again, see <ulink url="&url-m68k-faq;"></ulink>
16			for complete details.</phrase>
17	joeyh	18613
18	fjp	43630	</para><para arch="sparc">
19	toff	3273
20	fjp	43624	This includes a lot of generic PCI cards (for systems that have PCI) and
21			the following NICs from Sun:
22	toff	3273
23	toff	3219	<itemizedlist>
24	fjp	43624	<listitem><para>
25	toff	3273
26	toff	3219	Sun LANCE
27	toff	3273
28			</para></listitem>
29	fjp	43624	<listitem><para>
30	toff	3273
31	toff	3219	Sun Happy Meal
32	toff	3273
33			</para></listitem>
34	fjp	43624	<listitem><para>
35	toff	3219
36			Sun BigMAC
37	toff	3273
38			</para></listitem>
39	fjp	43624	<listitem><para>
40	toff	3273
41	toff	3219	Sun QuadEthernet
42	toff	3273
43			</para></listitem>
44	fjp	43624	<listitem><para>
45	toff	3273
46	toff	3219	MyriCOM Gigabit Ethernet
47	toff	3273
48			</para></listitem>
49	toff	3219	</itemizedlist>
50	toff	3273
51	toff	4076	</para><para arch="s390">
52	toff	3219
53	fjp	43624	The list of supported network devices is:
54	toff	3219
55			<itemizedlist>
56			<listitem><para>
57	toff	3273
58	fjpop-guest	25971	Channel to Channel (CTC) and ESCON connection (real or emulated)
59	toff	3273
60			</para></listitem>
61	toff	3219	<listitem><para>
62	toff	3273
63	fjpop-guest	25971	OSA-2 Token Ring/Ethernet and OSA-Express Fast Ethernet (non-QDIO)
64	toff	3273
65	toff	3219	</para></listitem>
66			<listitem><para>
67	toff	3273
68	fjpop-guest	25971	OSA-Express in QDIO mode, HiperSockets and Guest-LANs
69	toff	3273
70	toff	3219	</para></listitem>
71			</itemizedlist>
72	toff	3273
73	toff	3219	</para>
74
75	toff	4076	<para arch="arm">
76	toff	3273
77	fjp	43693	On &arch-title;, most built-in Ethernet devices are supported and modules
78	tbm	43687	for additional PCI and USB devices are provided. The major exception is
79			the IXP4xx platform (featuring devices such as the Linksys NSLU2) which
80			needs a proprietary microcode for the operation of its built-in Ethernet
81			device. Unofficial images for Linksys NSLU2 with this proprietary
82			microcode can be obtained from the <ulink
83	fjp	43693	url="&url-slug-firmware;">Slug-Firmware site</ulink>.
84	toff	3273
85	fjp	43624	</para><para arch="x86">
86
87	fjp	56248	ISDN is supported, but not during the installation.
88	fjp	43624
89	toff	3219	</para>
90
91	fjp	56244	<sect3 condition="supports-wireless" id="nics-wireless">
92	fjp	43624	<title>Wireless Network Cards</title>
93			<para>
94
95	fjp	56257	Wireless networking is in general supported as well and a growing number of
96			wireless adapters is supported by the official Linux kernel, although many
97			of them do require firmware to be loaded.
98			Wireless NICs that are not supported by the official Linux kernel can generally
99	fjp	43624	be made to work under &debian;, but are not supported during the installation.
100
101			</para><para>
102
103	fjp	56248	The use of wireless networking during installation is still under development
104			and whether it will work depends on the type of adaptor and the configuration
105			of your wireless access point.
106	fjp	43624	If there is no other NIC you can use during the installation, it is still
107	fjp	56450	possible to install &debian; using a full CD-ROM or DVD image. Select the
108			option to not configure a network and install using only the packages
109			available from the CD/DVD. You can then install the driver and firmware you
110			need after the installation is completed (after the reboot) and configure
111			your network manually.
112	fjp	43624
113			</para><para>
114
115			In some cases the driver you need may not be available as a Debian package.
116			You will then have to look if there is source code available in the internet
117			and compile the driver yourself. How to do this is outside the scope of this
118			manual.
119			<phrase arch="x86">If no Linux driver is available, your last resort is to
120			use the <classname>ndiswrapper</classname> package, which allows you to use
121			a Windows driver.</phrase>
122
123			</para>
124	fjp	56244	</sect3>
125	fjp	43637
126	fjp	56244	<sect3 arch="sparc" id="nics-sparc-trouble">
127	fjp	43637	<title>Known Issues for &arch-title;</title>
128			<para>
129
130			There are a couple of issues with specific network cards that are worth
131			mentioning here.
132
133			</para>
134
135	fjp	56244	<sect4><title>Conflict between tulip and dfme drivers</title>
136	fjp	43637	<!-- BTS: #334104; may also affect other arches, but most common on sparc -->
137			<para>
138
139			<!-- BTS: #334104; may also affect other arches, but most common on sparc -->
140			There are various PCI network cards that have the same PCI identification,
141			but are supported by related, but different drivers. Some cards work with
142			the <literal>tulip</literal> driver, others with the <literal>dfme</literal>
143			driver. Because they have the same identification, the kernel cannot
144			distinguish between them and it is not certain which driver will be loaded.
145			If this happens to be the wrong one, the NIC may not work, or work badly.
146
147			</para><para>
148
149			This is a common problem on Netra systems with a Davicom (DEC-Tulip
150			compatible) NIC. In that case the <literal>tulip</literal> driver is
151			probably the correct one.
152	fjp	48981	You can prevent this issue by blacklisting the wrong driver module as
153			described in <xref linkend="module-blacklist"/>.
154	fjp	43637
155	fjp	48981	</para><para>
156
157			An alternative solution during the installation is to switch to a shell
158			and unload the wrong driver module using
159	fjp	43637	<userinput>modprobe -r <replaceable>module</replaceable></userinput> (or
160			both, if they are both loaded). After that you can load the correct module
161			using <userinput>modprobe <replaceable>module</replaceable></userinput>.
162	fjp	48981	Note that the wrong module may then still be loaded when the system is
163			rebooted.
164	fjp	43637
165			</para>
166	fjp	56244	</sect4>
167	fjp	43637
168	fjp	56244	<sect4><title>Sun B100 blade</title>
169	fjp	43637	<!-- BTS: #384549; should be checked for kernels >2.6.18 -->
170			<para>
171
172			The <literal>cassini</literal> network driver does not work with Sun B100
173			blade systems.
174
175			</para>
176	fjp	56244	</sect4>
177			</sect3>
178			</sect2>