Mandrake Linux can handle a large number of hardware devices, and the list is far too long to be quoted in its entirety here. Nevertheless, some of the steps described in this chapter will help you to find out if your hardware is compatible and configure some of the problematic devices.
You may consult an up-to-date list of supported hardware on our web-site
![]() | Legal disclaimer: The Mandrake Linux Supported Hardware List contains information about hardware devices that have been tested and/or have been reported to function properly with Mandrake Linux. Due to the wide variety of system configurations, MandrakeSoft cannot guarantee that a specific device will work properly on your system. |
Some types of hardware cannot presently be handled by GNU/Linux, either because the support is still in an experimental stage, because nobody has written a driver for the devices in question, or because it has been decided for valid reasons that they cannot be supported. For example:
winmodems, also called controller-less modems or software modems. Support for these peripherals is currently very sparse. Drivers do exist, but are binary only and for a limited range of kernel versions. The difference between a "hardware" modem and a winmodem is that a winmodem cannot function without a special driver which emulates a large number of a hardware modem's functions. You can communicate with a hardware modem by sending it a series of commands, this cannot be done with a winmodem without special drivers (this also explains why GNU/Linux does not need drivers for external modems: it only gives access to the serial port, with an external program sending the commands). If your modem is PCI, it is most likely, but not necessarily, a software modem...
If your modem is a PCI modem, as the root user look at the output of cat /proc/pci. This will tell you the I/O port and the IRQ of the device. Then use the setserial command (for our example, the I/O address is 0xb400 and the IRQ is 10) as follows:
setserial /dev/ttyS3 port 0xb400 irq 10 UART 16550A |
Then see if you can query your modem using minicom or kppp. If it doesn't work, you may have a software modem. If it does work, create the file /etc/rc.d/rc.setserial and place the appropriate setserial command line in it.
A recent project is trying to make software modems work under GNU/Linux. If you happen to have this type of hardware in your machine, you may have a look at Lin-modems and modems and win-modems.
USB devices: support for USB is now extensive. Most peripherals are fully supported, you can get the list of supported hardware at Linux-USB device.
GNU/Linux' hardware resources are now much better supported and, apart from the devices mentioned in the previous section, you can expect the rest of your hardware to work correctly.
Some types of devices are still problematic with GNU/Linux, especially ISA plug'n'play devices: but you can use Windows to discover their working configuration. If you intend to install Mandrake Linux while leaving a version of Windows on your machine, you can ignore this section at first, and then come back here if you experience problems under GNU/Linux.
For this, boot under Windows, right-click on the My Computer icon, choose Properties, select the tab Device Manager, then select View devices byconnection (figure 3-4).
If you have ISA devices, you can view them when you bring up the directory structure (figure 3-5).
You will be able to find the ISA devices in this part of the directory structure. If you only see one entry for the data port, ignore it. If there are devices present, and if there is no conflict, you can then select and click on the button Properties (figure 3-6).
You will have to write down the base address(es) (Input/output range) used, together with the IRQ(s). Also write down the DMA channel(s) used for the sound cards.
If your ISA card is plug'n'play, you will have to configure your BIOS properly, as instructed in the preceding section. But even if you do so, GNU/Linux may not find it. However, you can disable plug'n'play for the particular device. If the manufacturer has provided one, you should have a disk containing a program enabling you to reset the card to non-plug'n'play. The manufacturer provides a setup program which does this. If you have this sort of program (or can get it from the manufacturer's web-site), start it up, set the device's configuration with the parameters used by Windows and disable the plug'n'play. After that, GNU/Linux can then see it during the installation process.
Don't worry too much about sound cards, though. They are in most cases automagically configured, and you can re-configure them after installation and not during installation. See chapter Configuring your hardware.