Debian does not impose hardware requirements beyond the requirements of the Linux or kFreeBSD kernel and the GNU tool-sets. Therefore, any architecture or platform to which the Linux or kFreeBSD kernel, libc, gcc, etc. have been ported, and for which a Debian port exists, can run Debian. Please refer to the Ports pages at http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/ for more details on 32-bit PC architecture systems which have been tested with Debian GNU/Linux.
Rather than attempting to describe all the different hardware configurations which are supported for 32-bit PC, this section contains general information and pointers to where additional information can be found.
Debian GNU/Linux 8 supports ten major architectures and several variations of each architecture known as “flavors”.
Architecture | Debian Designation | Subarchitecture | Flavor |
---|---|---|---|
Intel x86-based | i386 | ||
AMD64 & Intel 64 | amd64 | ||
ARM | armel | Intel IXP4xx | ixp4xx |
Marvell Kirkwood | kirkwood | ||
Marvell Orion | orion5x | ||
Versatile | versatile | ||
ARM with hardware FPU | armhf | multiplatform | armmp |
multiplatform for LPAE-capable systems | armmp-lpae | ||
64bit ARM | arm64 | ||
MIPS (big endian) | mips | SGI IP22 (Indy/Indigo 2) | r4k-ip22 |
SGI IP32 (O2) | r5k-ip32 | ||
MIPS Malta (32 bit) | 4kc-malta | ||
MIPS Malta (64 bit) | 5kc-malta | ||
MIPS (little endian) | mipsel | MIPS Malta (32 bit) | 4kc-malta |
MIPS Malta (64 bit) | 5kc-malta | ||
IBM/Motorola PowerPC | powerpc | PowerMac | pmac |
PReP | prep | ||
Power Systems | ppc64el | IBM POWER8 or newer machines | |
64bit IBM S/390 | s390x | IPL from VM-reader and DASD | generic |
This document covers installation for the 32-bit PC architecture using the Linux kernel. If you are looking for information on any of the other Debian-supported architectures take a look at the Debian-Ports pages.
Debian's support for graphical interfaces is determined by the underlying support found in X.Org's X11 system, and the kernel. Basic framebuffer graphics is provided by the kernel, whilst desktop environments use X11. Whether advanced graphics card features such as 3D-hardware acceleration or hardware-accelerated video are available, depends on the actual graphics hardware used in the system and in some cases on the installation of additional “firmware” images (see Section 2.2, “Devices Requiring Firmware”).
Details on supported graphics hardware and pointing devices can be found at http://xorg.freedesktop.org/. Debian 8 ships with X.Org version 7.7.
Almost any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel should also be supported by the installation system; drivers should normally be loaded automatically.
Wireless networking is in general supported as well and a growing number of wireless adapters are supported by the official Linux kernel, although many of them do require firmware to be loaded.
If firmware is needed, the installer will prompt you to load firmware. See Section 6.4, “Loading Missing Firmware” for detailed information on how to load firmware during the installation.
Wireless NICs that are not supported by the official Linux kernel can generally be made to work under Debian GNU/Linux, but are not supported during the installation.
If there is a problem with wireless and there is no other NIC you can use during the installation, it is still possible to install Debian GNU/Linux 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.
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.