FreeBSD currently runs on a wide variety of ISA, VLB, EISA, and PCI bus based PCs, ranging from the 386SX to Pentium class machines (though the 386SX is not recommended). Support for generic IDE or ESDI drive configurations, various SCSI controllers, and network and serial cards is also provided. FreeBSD also supports IBM's microchannel (MCA) bus.
In order to run FreeBSD, a recommended minimum of eight megabytes of RAM is suggested. Sixteen megabytes is the preferred amount of RAM as you may have some trouble with anything less than sixteen depending on your hardware.
What follows is a list of hardware currently known to work with FreeBSD. There may be other hardware that works as well, but we have simply not received any confirmation of it.
WD1003 (any generic MFM/RLL)
WD1007 (any generic IDE/ESDI)
IDE
ATA
Adaptec 1535 ISA SCSI controllers
Adaptec 154X series ISA SCSI controllers
Adaptec 174X series EISA SCSI controllers in standard and enhanced mode
Adaptec 274X/284X/2920C/294X/2950/3940/3950 (Narrow/Wide/Twin) series EISA/VLB/PCI SCSI controllers
Adaptec AIC-7850, AIC-7860, AIC-7880, AIC-789X on-board SCSI controllers
Adaptec 1510 series ISA SCSI controllers (not for bootable devices)
Adaptec 152X series ISA SCSI controllers
Adaptec AIC-6260 and AIC-6360 based boards, which include the AHA-152X and SoundBlaster SCSI cards
AdvanSys SCSI controllers (all models)
BusLogic MultiMaster ``W'' Series Host Adapters including BT-948, BT-958, BT-9580
BusLogic MultiMaster ``C'' Series Host Adapters including BT-946C, BT-956C, BT-956CD, BT-445C, BT-747C, BT-757C, BT-757CD, BT-545C, BT-540CF
BusLogic MultiMaster ``S'' Series Host Adapters including BT-445S, BT-747S, BT-747D, BT-757S, BT-757D, BT-545S, BT-542D, BT-742A, BT-542B
BusLogic MultiMaster ``A'' Series Host Adapters including BT-742A, BT-542B
AMI FastDisk controllers that are true BusLogic MultiMaster clones are also supported.
Note: BusLogic/Mylex ``Flashpoint'' adapters are NOT yet supported.
DPT SmartCACHE Plus, SmartCACHE III, SmartRAID III, SmartCACHE IV, and SmartRAID IV SCSI/RAID are supported. The DPT SmartRAID/CACHE V is not yet supported.
Compaq Intelligent Disk Array Controllers: IDA, IDA-2, IAES, SMART, SMART-2/E, Smart-2/P, SMART-2SL, Integrated Array, and Smart Arrays 3200, 3100ES, 221, 4200, 4200, 4250ES.
SymBios (formerly NCR) 53C810, 53C810a, 53C815, 53C820, 53C825a, 53C860, 53C875, 53C875j, 53C885, and 53C896 PCI SCSI controllers including ASUS SC-200, Data Technology DTC3130 (all variants), Diamond FirePort (all), NCR cards (all), SymBios cards (all), Tekram DC390W, 390U, and 390F, and Tyan S1365
QLogic 1020, 1040, 1040B, and 2100 SCSI and Fibre Channel Adapters
DTC 3290 EISA SCSI controller in 1542 evaluation mode
With all supported SCSI controllers, full support is provided for SCSI-I and SCSI-II peripherals, including hard disks, optical disks, tape drives (including DAT and 8mm Exabyte), medium changers, processor target devices, and CDROM drives. WORM devices that support CDROM commands are supported for read-only access by the CDROM driver. WORM/CD-R/CD-RW writing support is provided by cdrecord, which is in the ports tree.
The following CD-ROM type systems are supported at this time:
cd - SCSI interface (includes ProAudio Spectrum and SoundBlaster SCSI)
matcd - Matsushita/Panasonic (Creative Soundblaster) proprietary interface (562/563 models)
scd - Sony proprietary interface (all models)
acd - ATAPI IDE interface
The following drivers were supported under the old SCSI subsystem, but are NOT YET supported under the new CAM SCSI subsystem:
NCR5380/NCR53400 (``ProAudio Spectrum'') SCSI controller
UltraStor 14F, 24F, and 34F SCSI controllers
Seagate ST01/02 SCSI controllers
Future Domain 8XX/950 series SCSI controllers
WD7000 SCSI controller
Note: There is work-in-progress to port the UltraStor driver to the new CAM framework, but no estimates on when or if it will be completed.
Unmaintained drivers, which might or might not work for your hardware:
Floppy tape interface (Colorado/Mountain/Insight)
mcd - Mitsumi proprietary CD-ROM interface (all models)
Adaptec Duralink PCI fast ethernet adapters based on the Adaptec AIC-6195 fast ethernet controller chip, including the following:
ANA-62011 64-bit single port 10/100baseTX adapter
ANA-62022 64-bit dual port 10/100baseTX adapter
ANA-62044 64-bit quad port 10/100baseTX adapter
ANA-69011 32-bit single port 10/100baseTX adapter
ANA-62020 64-bit single port 100baseFX adapter
Allied-Telesyn AT1700 and RE2000 cards
Alteon Networks PCI gigabit ethernet NICs based on the Tigon 1 and Tigon 2 chipsets including the Alteon AceNIC (Tigon 1 and 2), 3Com 3c985-SX (Tigon 1 and 2), Netgear GA620 (Tigon 2), Silicon Graphics Gigabit Ethernet, DEC/Compaq EtherWORKS 1000, NEC Gigabit Ethernet
AMD PCnet/PCI (79c970 and 53c974 or 79c974)
RealTek 8129/8139 fast ethernet NICs including the following:
Allied-Telesyn AT2550
Allied-Telesyn AT2500TX
Genius GF100TXR (RTL8139)
NDC Communications NE100TX-E
OvisLink LEF-8129TX
OvisLink LEF-8139TX
Netronix Inc. EA-1210 NetEther 10/100
KTX-9130TX 10/100 Fast Ethernet
Accton ``Cheetah'' EN1027D (MPX 5030/5038; RealTek 8139 clone?)
SMC EZ Card 10/100 PCI 1211-TX
Lite-On 98713, 98713A, 98715, and 98725 fast ethernet NICs, including the LinkSys EtherFast LNE100TX, NetGear FA310-TX Rev. D1, Matrox FastNIC 10/100, Kingston KNE110TX
Macronix 98713, 98713A, 98715, 98715A, and 98725 fast ethernet NICs including the NDC Communications SFA100A (98713A), CNet Pro120A (98713 or 98713A), CNet Pro120B (98715), SVEC PN102TX (98713)
Macronix/Lite-On PNIC II LC82C115 fast ethernet NICs including the LinkSys EtherFast LNE100TX version 2
Winbond W89C840F fast ethernet NICs including the Trendware TE100-PCIE
VIA Technologies VT3043 ``Rhine I'' and VT86C100A ``Rhine II'' fast ethernet NICs including the Hawking Technologies PN102TX and D-Link DFE-530TX
Silicon Integrated Systems SiS 900 and SiS 7016 PCI fast ethernet NICs
Sundance Technologies ST201 PCI fast ethernet NICs including the D-Link DFE-550TX
SysKonnect SK-984x PCI gigabit ethernet cards including the SK-9841 1000baseLX (single mode fiber, single port), the SK-9842 1000baseSX (multimode fiber, single port), the SK-9843 1000baseLX (single mode fiber, dual port), and the SK-9844 1000baseSX (multimode fiber, dual port).
Texas Instruments ThunderLAN PCI NICs, including the Compaq Netelligent 10, 10/100, 10/100 Proliant, 10/100 Dual-Port, 10/100 TX Embedded UTP, 10 T PCI UTP/Coax, and 10/100 TX UTP, the Compaq NetFlex 3P, 3P Integrated, and 3P w/BNC, the Olicom OC-2135/2138, OC-2325, OC-2326 10/100 TX UTP, and the Racore 8165 10/100baseTX and 8148 10baseT/100baseTX/100baseFX multi-personality cards
ADMtek AL981-based and AN985-based PCI fast ethernet NICs
ASIX Electronics AX88140A PCI NICs including the Alfa Inc. GFC2204 and CNet Pro110B
DEC EtherWORKS III NICs (DE203, DE204, and DE205)
DEC EtherWORKS II NICs (DE200, DE201, DE202, and DE422)
DEC DC21040, DC21041, or DC21140 based NICs (SMC Etherpower 8432T, DE245, etc.)
DEC FDDI (DEFPA/DEFEA) NICs
Efficient ENI-155p ATM PCI
FORE PCA-200E ATM PCI
Fujitsu MB86960A/MB86965A
HP PC Lan+ cards (model numbers: 27247B and 27252A)
Intel EtherExpress ISA (not recommended due to driver instability)
Intel EtherExpress Pro/10
Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B PCI Fast Ethernet
Isolan AT 4141-0 (16 bit)
Isolink 4110 (8 bit)
Novell NE1000, NE2000, and NE2100 Ethernet interfaces
PCI network cards emulating the NE2000, including the RealTek 8029, NetVin 5000, Winbond W89C940, Surecom NE-34, VIA VT86C926
3Com 3C501, 3C503 Etherlink II, 3C505 Etherlink/+, 3C507 Etherlink 16/TP, 3C509, 3C579, 3C589 (PCMCIA), 3C590/592/595/900/905/905B/905C PCI and EISA (Fast) Etherlink III / (Fast) Etherlink XL, 3C980/3C980B Fast Etherlink XL server adapter, 3CSOHO100-TX OfficeConnect adapter
Toshiba ethernet cards
PCMCIA ethernet cards from IBM and National Semiconductor are also supported
A wide range of USB peripherals are supported. Owing to the generic nature of most USB devices, with some exceptions any device of a given class will be supported even if not explicitly listed here.
USB keyboards
USB mice
USB printers and USB to parallel printer conversion cables
USB hubs
Motherboard chipsets:
ALi Aladdin-V
Intel 82371SB (PIIX3) and 82371AB and EB (PIIX4) chipsets
NEC uPD 9210 Host Controller
VIA 83C572 USB Host Controller
and any other UHCI or OHCI compliant motherboard chipset (no exceptions known).
PCI plug-in USB host controllers
ADS Electronics PCI plug-in card (2 ports)
Entrega PCI plug-in card (4 ports)
Specific USB devices reported to be working:
Agiler Mouse 29UO
Andromeda hub
Apple iMac mouse and keyboard
ATen parallel printer adapter
Belkin F4U002 parallel printer adapter and Belkin mouse
BTC BTC7935 keyboard with mouse port
Cherry G81-3504
Chic mouse
Cypress mouse
Entrega USB-to-parallel printer adapter
Genius Niche mouse
Iomega USB Zip 100 MB
Kensington Mouse-in-a-Box
Logitech M2452 keyboard
Logictech wheel mouse (3 buttons)
Logitech PS/2 / USB mouse (3 buttons)
MacAlly mouse (3 buttons)
MacAlly self-powered hub (4 ports)
Microsoft Intellimouse (3 buttons)
Microsoft keyboard
NEC hub
Trust Ami Mouse (3 buttons)
Asuscom I-IN100-ST-DV (experimental, may work)
Asuscom ISDNlink 128K
AVM A1
AVM Fritz!Card classic
AVM Fritz!Card PCI
AVM Fritz!Card PCMCIA (currently FreeBSD 3.x only)
AVM Fritz!Card PnP (currently FreeBSD 3.x only)
Creatix ISDN-S0/8
Creatix ISDN-S0/16
Creatix ISDN-S0 PnP
Dr.Neuhaus Niccy 1008
Dr.Neuhaus Niccy 1016
Dr.Neuhaus Niccy GO@ (ISA PnP)
Dynalink IS64PH (no longer maintained)
ELSA 1000pro ISA
ELSA 1000pro PCI
ELSA PCC-16
ITK ix1 micro (currently FreeBSD 3.x only)
ITK ix1 micro V.3 (currently FreeBSD 3.x only)
Sagem Cybermod (ISA PnP, may work)
Sedlbauer Win Speed
Siemens I-Surf 2.0
Stollman Tina-pp (under development)
Teles S0/8
Teles S0/16
Teles S0/16.3 (the ``c'' Versions - like 16.3c - are unsupported!)
Teles S0 PnP (experimental, may work)
3Com/USRobotics Sportster ISDN TA intern (non-PnP version)
The following soundcards or codecs are supported (devices marked 'experimental' are only supported in FreeBSD-CURRENT and might work only unstably):
16550 UART (Midi) (experimental, needs a trick in the hints file)
Advance Asound 100, 110 and Logic ALS120
Aureal Vortex1/Vortex2 and Vortex Advantage based soundcards by a third party driver
Creative Labs SB16, SB32, SB AWE64 (including Gold), Vibra16, SB PCI (experimental), SB Live! (experimental) and most SoundBlaster compatible cards
Creative Labs SB Midi Port (experimental), SB OPL3 Synthesizer (experimental)
Crystal Semiconductor CS461x/462x Audio Accelerator, the support for the CS461x Midi port is experimental
Crystal Semiconductor CS428x Audio Controller
CS4237, CS4236, CS4232, CS4231 (ISA)
ENSONIQ AudioPCI ES1370/1371
ESS ES1868, ES1869, ES1879, ES1888
Gravis UltraSound PnP, MAX
NeoMagic 256AV/ZX (PCI)
OPTi931 (ISA)
OSS-compatible sequencer (Midi) (experimental)
Trident 4DWave DX/NX (PCI)
Yahama OPL-SAx (ISA)
AST 4 port serial card using shared IRQ
ARNET 8 port serial card using shared IRQ
ARNET (now Digiboard) Sync 570/i high-speed serial
Boca BB1004 4-Port serial card (Modems NOT supported)
Boca IOAT66 6-Port serial card (Modems supported)
Boca BB1008 8-Port serial card (Modems NOT supported)
Boca BB2016 16-Port serial card (Modems supported)
Cyclades Cyclom-y Serial Board
Moxa SmartIO CI-104J 4-Port serial card
STB 4 port card using shared IRQ
SDL Communications RISCom/8 Serial Board
SDL Communications RISCom/N2 and N2pci high-speed sync serial boards
Specialix SI/XIO/SX multiport serial cards, with both the older SIHOST2.x and the new ``enhanced'' (transputer based, aka JET) host cards; ISA, EISA and PCI are supported
Stallion multiport serial boards: EasyIO, EasyConnection 8/32 & 8/64, ONboard 4/16 and Brumby
Adlib, SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster Pro, ProAudioSpectrum, Gravis UltraSound, and Roland MPU-401 sound cards
Connectix QuickCam
Matrox Meteor Video frame grabber
Creative Labs Video Spigot frame grabber
Cortex1 frame grabber
Various frame grabbers based on the Brooktree Bt848 and Bt878 chip
HP4020, HP6020, Philips CDD2000/CDD2660 and Plasmon CD-R drives
Bus mice
PS/2 mice
Standard PC Joystick
X-10 power controllers
GPIB and Transputer drives
Genius and Mustek hand scanners
Floppy tape drives (some rather old models only, driver is rather stale)
Lucent Technologies WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11 PCMCIA and ISA standard speed (2Mbps) and turbo speed (6Mbps) wireless network adapters and workalikes (NCR WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11, Cabletron RoamAbout 802.11 DS)
Note: The ISA versions of these adapters are actually PCMCIA cards combined with an ISA to PCMCIA bridge card, so both kinds of devices work with the same driver.
For questions about FreeBSD, e-mail
<questions@FreeBSD.org>.
For questions about this documentation, e-mail <doc@FreeBSD.org>.