hardware/supported/i386.xml

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


  <sect2 arch="i386"><title>CPU, Main Boards, and Video Support</title>
<para>

Complete information concerning supported peripherals can be found at
<ulink url="&url-hardware-howto;">Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO</ulink>.
This section merely outlines the basics.

</para>

   <sect3><title>CPU</title>
<para>

Nearly all x86-based (IA-32) processors still in use in personal computers
are supported, including all varieties of Intel's "Pentium" series.
This also includes 32-bit AMD and VIA (former Cyrix) processors, and
processors like the Athlon XP and Intel P4 Xeon.

</para>
<note><para>

If your system has a 64-bit processor from the AMD64 or Intel EM64T families,
you will probably want to use the installer for the amd64 architecture instead
of the installer for the (32-bit) i386 architecture.

</para></note>
<para>

However, Debian GNU/Linux &releasename; will <emphasis>not</emphasis> run
on 386 or earlier processors.  Despite the architecture name "i386", support
for actual 80386 processors (and their clones) was dropped with the Sarge
(r3.1) release of Debian<footnote>

<para>
We have long tried to avoid this, but in the end it was necessary due a
unfortunate series of issues with the compiler and the kernel, starting
with an bug in the C++ ABI provided by GCC.  You should still be able to
run Debian GNU/Linux on actual 80386 processors if you compile your own
kernel and compile all packages from source, but that is beyond the
scope of this manual.
</para>

</footnote>. (No version of Linux has ever supported the 286 or earlier
chips in the series.)  All i486 and later processors are still
supported<footnote>

<para>

Many Debian packages will actually run slightly faster on modern computers
as a positive side effect of dropping support for these old chips.  The
i486, introduced in 1989, has three opcodes (bswap, cmpxchg, and xadd)
which the i386, introduced in 1986, did not have. Previously, these could not
be easily used by most Debian packages; now they can.

</para>

</footnote>.

</para><para>

</para>
   </sect3>

   <sect3 id="bus"><title>I/O Bus</title>
<para>

The system bus is the part of the motherboard which allows the CPU to
communicate with peripherals such as storage devices.  Your computer
must use the ISA, EISA, PCI, the Microchannel Architecture (MCA, used
in IBM's PS/2 line), or VESA Local Bus (VLB, sometimes called the VL
bus).  Essentially all personal computers sold in recent years use one
of these.

</para>
   </sect3>
  </sect2>

1	toff	3354	<!-- retain these comments for translator revision tracking -->
2	joeyh	11648	<!-- $Id$ -->
3	toff	3316
4	toff	3354
5	fjp	39870	<sect2 arch="i386"><title>CPU, Main Boards, and Video Support</title>
6	toff	3225	<para>
7	toff	3273
8	toff	3225	Complete information concerning supported peripherals can be found at
9	barbier	4214	<ulink url="&url-hardware-howto;">Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO</ulink>.
10			This section merely outlines the basics.
11	toff	3273
12	toff	3225	</para>
13
14			<sect3><title>CPU</title>
15			<para>
16	toff	3273
17	fjp	39898	Nearly all x86-based (IA-32) processors still in use in personal computers
18			are supported, including all varieties of Intel's "Pentium" series.
19	fjp	43730	This also includes 32-bit AMD and VIA (former Cyrix) processors, and
20	fjp	39898	processors like the Athlon XP and Intel P4 Xeon.
21	toff	3273
22	toff	3225	</para>
23	fjp	39898	<note><para>
24
25	fjp	43730	If your system has a 64-bit processor from the AMD64 or Intel EM64T families,
26	fjp	39898	you will probably want to use the installer for the amd64 architecture instead
27	fjp	42036	of the installer for the (32-bit) i386 architecture.
28	fjp	39898
29			</para></note>
30			<para>
31
32			However, Debian GNU/Linux &releasename; will <emphasis>not</emphasis> run
33	fjp	43730	on 386 or earlier processors. Despite the architecture name "i386", support
34			for actual 80386 processors (and their clones) was dropped with the Sarge
35			(r3.1) release of Debian<footnote>
36	fjp	39898
37			<para>
38			We have long tried to avoid this, but in the end it was necessary due a
39			unfortunate series of issues with the compiler and the kernel, starting
40			with an bug in the C++ ABI provided by GCC. You should still be able to
41			run Debian GNU/Linux on actual 80386 processors if you compile your own
42			kernel and compile all packages from source, but that is beyond the
43			scope of this manual.
44			</para>
45
46			</footnote>. (No version of Linux has ever supported the 286 or earlier
47			chips in the series.) All i486 and later processors are still
48			supported<footnote>
49
50			<para>
51
52			Many Debian packages will actually run slightly faster on modern computers
53			as a positive side effect of dropping support for these old chips. The
54			i486, introduced in 1989, has three opcodes (bswap, cmpxchg, and xadd)
55			which the i386, introduced in 1986, did not have. Previously, these could not
56			be easily used by most Debian packages; now they can.
57
58			</para>
59
60			</footnote>.
61
62			</para><para>
63
64			</para>
65	toff	3225	</sect3>
66
67			<sect3 id="bus"><title>I/O Bus</title>
68			<para>
69	toff	3273
70	toff	3225	The system bus is the part of the motherboard which allows the CPU to
71			communicate with peripherals such as storage devices. Your computer
72			must use the ISA, EISA, PCI, the Microchannel Architecture (MCA, used
73			in IBM's PS/2 line), or VESA Local Bus (VLB, sometimes called the VL
74	fjp	39898	bus). Essentially all personal computers sold in recent years use one
75			of these.
76	toff	3273
77	toff	3225	</para>
78			</sect3>
79			</sect2>
80	toff	3316