This section contains information about what hardware you need to get started with Debian. You will also find links to further information about hardware supported by GNU and Linux.
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.
There are, however, some limitations in our boot floppy set with respect to supported hardware. Some Linux-supported platforms might not be directly supported by our boot floppies. If this is the case, you may have to create a custom rescue disk (see Replacing the Rescue Floppy Kernel, Section 9.3), or investigate network installations.
Rather than attempting to describe all the different hardware configurations which are supported for SPARC, this section contains general information and pointers to where additional information can be found.
Debian 2.2 supports six architectures: Intel x86-based architectures; Motorola 680x0 machines such as Atari, Amiga, and Macintoshes; DEC Alpha machines; Sun SPARC machines; ARM and StrongARM machines; and some IBM/Motorola PowerPC machines, including CHRP, PowerMac and PReP machines. These are referred to as i386, m68k, alpha, sparc, arm, and powerpc, respectively.
This document covers installation for the sparc architecture. If you
look for information on other architectures take a look at the Debian-Ports pages.
Currently the sparc port supports several types of Sparc systems. The
most common identifiers for Sparc systems are sun4, sun4c, sun4m, sun4d and
sun4u. Currently we do not support very old sun4 hardware. However, the other
systems are supported. Sun4d has been tested the least of these, so expect
possible problems with regard to the kernel stability. Sun4c and Sun4m, the
most common of the older Sparc hardware, includes such systems as SparcStation
1,1+,IPC,IPX and SparcStation LX,5,10,20 respectively. The UltraSPARC class
systems fall under the sun4u identifier, and are supported using the sun4u set
of install images. Some systems that fall under these supported identifiers
are known to not be supported. Known unsupported systems are the AP1000
multicomputer and the Tadpole Sparcbook 1. See the Linux for SPARCProcessors
FAQ for complete information.
Multi-processor support -- also called ``symmetric multi-processing'' or SMP -- is supported for this architecture. However, the standard Debian 2.2 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 Compiling a New Kernel, Section
8.4. At this time (kernel version 2.2.19) the way you enable SMP is to
select ``symmetric multi-processing'' in the ``General'' section of the kernel
config. If you compile software on a multiprocessor system, look for the
-j flag in the documentation on make(1).
There are four different media which can be used to install Debian: floppies, CD-ROMs, local disk partitions, or the network. Different parts of the same Debian installation can mix and match these options; we'll go into that in Methods for Installing Debian, Chapter 5.
Floppy disk installation is a common option, although generally, the least desirable. In many cases, you'll have to do your first boot from floppies, using the Rescue Floppy. Generally, all you will need is a high-density (1440 kilobytes) 3.5 inch floppy drive.
CD-ROM based installation is also supported for some architectures. On machines which support bootable CD-ROMs, you should be able to do a completely floppy-less installation. Even if your system doesn't support booting from a CD-ROM, you can use the CD-ROM in conjunction with the other techniques to install your system, once you've booted up by other means; see Booting and/or Installing from a CD-ROM, Section 6.4.
Installation from local disk is another option. If you have free space on partitions other than the partitions you're installing to, this is definitely a good option. Some platforms even have local installers, i.e., for booting from AmigaOS, TOS, or MacOS. Although the SPARC does not allow booting from SunOS (Solaris), you can install from a SunOS partiton (UFS slices).
The last option is network installation. You can install your base system via HTTP or NFS. You can also boot your system over the network. Diskless installation, using network booting and NFS-mounting of all local filesystems, is another option -- you'll probably need at least 16MB of RAM for this option. After your base system is installed, you can install the rest of your system via any sort of network connection (including PPP), via FTP, HTTP, or NFS.
More complete descriptions of these methods, and helpful hints for picking which method is best for you, can be found in Methods for Installing Debian, Chapter 5. Please be sure to continue reading to make sure the device you intend to boot and install from is supported by the Debian installation system.
The Debian boot disks contain a kernel which is built to maximize the number of systems it runs on. Unfortunately, this makes for a larger kernel, with a lot of drivers which will never be used (see Compiling a New Kernel, Section 8.4 to learn how to build your own). However, support for the widest possible range of devices is desirable in order to ensure that Debian can be installed on the widest array of hardware.
Any storage system supported by the Linux kernel is also supported by the boot system. The following SCSI drivers are supported in the default kernel:
IDE systems (such as the UltraSPARC 5) are also supported. See Linux for SPARC Processors
FAQ for more information on SPARC hardware supported by the Linux
kernel.
You must have at least 5MB of memory and 64MB of hard disk. If you want to install a reasonable amount of software, including the X Window System, and some development programs and libraries, you'll need at least 300MB. For a more or less complete installation, you'll need around 800MB. To install everything available in Debian, you'll probably need around 2 GB. Actually, installing everything doesn't even make sense, since some packages conflict with others.
Linux supports a large variety of hardware devices such as mice, printers, scanners, modems, network cards, PCMCIA devices, etc. However, none of these devices are required while installing the system. This section contains information about peripherals specifically not supported by the installation system, even though they may be supported by Linux.
The following network interface cards (NICs) are supported from the bootable kernel directly:
The following network interface cards are supported as modules. They can be enabled once the drivers are installed during the setup. However, due to the magic of OpenPROM, you still should be able to boot from these devices:
There are several vendors, now, who ship systems with Debian or other distributions of GNU/Linux pre-installed. You might pay more for the privilege, but it does buy a level of peace of mind, since you can be sure that the hardware is well-supported by GNU/Linux.
Whether or not you are purchasing a system with Linux bundled, or even a used system, it is still important to check that your hardware is supported by the Linux kernel. Check if your hardware is listed in the references found above. Let your salesperson (if any) know that you're shopping for a Linux system. Support Linux-friendly hardware vendors.
Some hardware manufacturers simply won't tell us how to write drivers for their hardware. Others won't allow us access to the documentation without a non-disclosure agreement that would prevent us from releasing the Linux source code. One example is the IBM laptop DSP sound system used in recent ThinkPad systems -- some of these systems also couple the sound system to the modem. Another example is the proprietary hardware in the older Macintosh line.
Since we haven't been granted access to the documentation on these devices, they simply won't work under Linux. You can help by asking the manufacturers of such hardware to release the documentation. If enough people ask, they will realize that the free software community is an important market.