Linuxmafia.com Knowledgebase
Top: Hardware
AIC-7xxx - Red Hat problems on some Adaptec AIC-7xxx chipsets, and workaround
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro - Correct XFree86 driver for the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
ATX Power Switch Software Shutdown - Driver software for ATX motherboard chipsets' soft power switches
BIOS Flashing - How to reflash your BIOS or other electrically programmable ROMs using only open-source Linux tools
BIOS Passwords - List of BIOS manufacturers' built-in service passwords in various PC BIOSes, and other workarounds for breaking into CMOS setup programs
BIOS Replacements - Sources of replacement motherboard BIOS code
Burn-in - Tips for stress-testing / burn-in of all hardware on a Linux computer using the Cerberus Test Control System
Buses - Technical overview of system buses through PCI-Express
Bus Speeds - Bandwidth ceilings of various buses used in PC architectures
CD-ROM Access Causes Reboots - What does it mean if my system spontaneously reboots when I access the CD-ROM?
CD-ROM Not Valid Block Device - What does it mean when it says '/dev/cdrom not a valid block device'?
Cerberus FAQ - FAQ for the Cerberus Test Control System, an open-source hardware stress-testing suite
cpuburn - Robert Redelmeier's 'cpuburn' utility will stress-test Pentium, P6, K6, and K7 chips. Versions for Linux/BSD and Win32.
Detecting Hardware - Detecting hardware using lspci, dmesg, and /proc entries
Device Driver Check - Submit the output of 'lspci -n' and you will get a suggested list of compatible drivers suitable for your hardware.
DVD - DVD support and software
DVD Burning - Script to verify and burn DVDs from the Linux command line, using growisofs from dvdrtools, dvdimgcmp, and mkisofs from cdrtools
EasyDisk Flashdrive - Linux software setup for a USB flash memory device
eepro100 Full Duplex - How do I force full-duplex operation with an Intel eepro100 NIC?
Ethernet Channel Bonding - How do I bond multiple ethernet interfaces for greater throughput?
Ethernet pinouts - Full details of ethernet cabling standards through 1000Base-T, including pinout diagrams and instructions for making regular and crossover cables
Ethernet Speed / Duplex - How do I determine what speed and/or duplex setting my ethernet card is operating at?
F00F Bug - Details of the F00F 'halt and catch fire' defect in all Pentium and Pentium MMX CPUs through late 1997
EIDE - 'All about EIDE' article, by Rick Moen
Gigabit Ethernet - Rundown of Gigabit Ethernet support in Linux
Hard Drive Data Recovery - 'Recovering Unrecoverable Data', a whitepaper by Charles H. Sobey about hard drives work at a detailed level, and methods to recover their data from various failure modes
Hard Drive Utilities - Information and links for various manufacturers' hard drive diagnostic, repair, and pseudo-low-level formatting utilities
Hardware Chart - How to map out hardware resources available/used in your IA32 PC, article by Rick Moen
Hardware for Linux - Hardware4linux.info is a collaborative Web site to lookup and report hardware compatibility and incompatibility with Linux distributions.
Hardware RAID Partitioning - How do I partition a hardware RAID volume?
hdparm Tip - Tuning ATA ('IDE') device performance using hdparm
Help Resources - List of info. resources for all hardware categories -- plus Linux news / reference and application-info resources
iBook G4 HOWTO - Draft HOWTO on solving iBook-specific Linux installation/operating problems
IDE Tape Drive Support - Does Linux support IDE tape drives?
Incompatibility List - Collaborative list of hardware that does not work with the Linux operating system
Intellimouse - Intellimouse / mousewheel support in Linux
Iomega Zip Plus - How do I get Linux to use my Iomega Zip Plus drive?
iPod Support - Article detailing 10 apps for managing iPods (but see also 'iTunes' in knowledgebase category Apps/AV)
Jaz Drive Mounting - How do I mount my Iomega Jaz drive?
Laptops - Laptop information sites
Laptop 06/2004 Summary - Chander Kant's lecture giving overview of Linux laptop support as of June 2004
Linksys WAP - Why Linksys wireless access points and wireless cards became problematic for Linux starting 2003: a switch to unsupported chipsets
Linux Notes - Collection of Linux notes by R.W. Kramer, including how to mount Zip100 disks, how to reliably initialise PCI non-winmodems, etc.
Low-level Format - Low-level formatting and diagnostic software for various brands of hard drive
Machine Check Exceptions - Explanation of what 'Machine Check Exception' errors are all about
Modems - On modems good and bad
Modem Diagnosis - How do I test and configure a modem in Linux?
Modems for Linux - What's a good modem to get for Linux?
Modems, PCI-Type - Problems with some PCI-format modems on Linux
Monitor Has Distorted Lines - How do I fix XFree86 showing a bunch of distorted lines on the side of the display?
Narrow SCSI on Wide Chain - How do I add a narrow-SCSI device such as a DAT tape drive to a wide-SCSI chain?
NE2000 - Outline of a projected article about the NE2000 ethernet design
Neomagic - Outline of the problems caused by laptops using Neomagic video chipset in 1998: of historical significance only
Netgear 310 - Amusing tale of Netgear's monkeyshines with its Tulip-clone chipset
Network Printer Configuration - How do I configure Red Hat to print to a network printer?
Numlock - Code to force Numlock to on, following reboot
Optima Modem Review - Article that in 1996 predicted the present state of the modem market (modem review by Rick Moen)
Password Defaults - Factory-default passwords for a large number of switches, routers, and similar hardware devices
PCI IDs - Canonical listing of all known PCI IDs and what hardware each is, maintained by Martin Mares for the Linux kernel
PCI Modems - Andrew Comech's HOWTO for using PCI internal modems in Linux
PERC - Linux support for the Dell PERC hardware RAID host adapter family
Quicknet - Linux support for Quicknet Internet PhoneJack network-telephony cards
RAM for Linux - Good RAM vendors for Linux boxes
RAM Testing - How do I test for bad RAM on Linux?
RAID on home PCs - Article arguing against the widely believed utility and performance advantages of RAID on home PCs
Removing External SCSI Device Crashes - Why does Linux crash when I remove an external SCSI tape or Jaz disk?
SCSI / ATA - One point of comparison between SCSI and ATA ('IDE')
SCSI Sense Key Errors - I'm getting repeated 'sense key Hardware Error' messages. Is this of concern?
SCSI Tape Drive Termination - Do I need to terminate a SCSI tape drive I add to an internal SCSI chain?
SCSI Taxonomy - Categories of SCSI devices
SCSI Timeout Errors - Should I be worried that I'm getting timeout errors from the SCSI card when doing a tape backup?
Serial ATA - Serial ATA support for Linux distribution installation
SAS - Serial Attached SCSCI support for Linux distribution installation
Serial Support - Explanation of Linux serial support (old)
SMP Testing - How do you verify that Linux is using both processors?
Sound Cards - Recommended sound cards for Linux
Sound Explained - Linux Audio Explained, by Graham Morrison: excellent explanation of Linux's audio software frameworks in 2010 and their problems
Sound Overview - An introduction to Linux sound systems and APIs, by Christian Vincenot: Good overview of Linux sound software frameworks
SPARC Distributions - Linux distributions with SPARC support
SPARC to SVGA - Connecting Sun SPARC boxes to ordinary PC SVGA monitors
Tape Backup Types - Table showing salient characteristics of various backup-tape technologies
top for SMP - Where do I get a version of top that reports for both CPUs?
TV Cards - Recommended TV tuner cards for Linux
USB Flash Drives - Article by Rick Moen, 'Floppies for the New Millennium' about how to use USB flash drives in Linux (Linux Journal article developed from the EasyDisk piece listed above)
USB Mouse - Configuring XFree86 4.x for USB mouse support
USB Speeds - Classes of USB device speeds and protocol names
USB Unsupported - How to add recognition of a USB device to the kernel header file for that purpose
Video Cards - Recommended video cards for Linux
Video Cards for Linux - What's a good video card to use with Linux?
Video Chipset - Explanation of what the term 'video chipset' means
Which Mouse - How to tell what type of mouse you have, and what device file to use
Wireless - How to configure wireless ethernet on Linux
Wireless Chipsets - Detailed table of current wireless gear, including chipset identities
Wireless Standards - Quick-reference comparison of wireless Internet technical standards
XFree86 Beige G3 Mac - XFree86 setup on a Beige Macintosh G3
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