Table of Contents
-----------------
0. Document Conventions
1. Default Configuration (GENERIC kernel)
2. Using UserConfig to change FreeBSD kernel settings
3. LINT - other possible configurations
4. Supported Hardware
See TROUBLE.TXT for Q&A on known hardware problems.
=========================================================================
0. Document Conventions
-- --------------------
We have `underlined' text which represents user input with `-' symbols
throughout this document to differentiate it from the machine output.
1. Default (GENERIC) Configuration
-- -------------------------------
The following table contains a list of all of the devices that are
present in the GENERIC kernel. This is the essential part of the
operating system that is placed in your root partition during the
installation process. A compressed version of the GENERIC kernel is
also used on the installation floppy diskette and DOS boot image.
The table describes the various parameters used by the driver to
communicate with the hardware in your system. There are four
parameters in the table, though not all are used by each and every
device:
Port The starting I/O port used by the device, shown in hexadecimal.
IOMem The lowest (or starting) memory address used by the device,
also shown in hexadecimal.
IRQ The interrupt the device uses to alert the driver to an event,
given in decimal.
DRQ The DMA (direct memory access) channel the device uses to move
data to and from main memory, also given in decimal.
If an entry in the table has `n/a' for a value then it means that the
parameter in question does not apply to that device. A value of `dyn'
means that the correct value should be determined automatically by the
kernel when the system boots and that you don't need to worry about
it.
If an entry is marked with an *, it means that support is currently
not available for it but should be back as soon as someone converts
the driver to work within the new 3.0 framework.
FreeBSD GENERIC kernel:
Port IRQ DRQ IOMem Description
---- --- --- ----- ---------------------------------
fdc0 3f0 6 2 n/a Floppy disk controller
wdc0 1f0 14 n/a n/a IDE/MFM/RLL disk controller
wdc1 170 15 n/a n/a IDE/MFM/RLL disk controller
adv0 n/a n/a n/a n/a AdvanSys Narrow SCSI controllers
adw0 n/a n/a n/a n/a AdvanSys Wide SCSI controllers
ncr0 n/a n/a n/a n/a NCR PCI SCSI controller
bt0 330 dyn dyn dyn Buslogic SCSI controller
uha0* 330 dyn 6 dyn Ultrastore 14f
aha0 330 dyn 5 dyn Adaptec 154x/1535 SCSI controller
ahb0 dyn dyn dyn dyn Adaptec 174x SCSI controller
ahc0 dyn dyn dyn dyn Adaptec 274x/284x/294x SCSI controller
aic0* 340 11 dyn dyn Adaptec 152x/AIC-6360 SCSI
controller
isp0 dyn dyn dyn dyn QLogic 10X0, 2100 SCSI/FC controllers
dpt n/a n/a n/a n/a DPT RAID SCSI controllers.
wt0 300 5 1 dyn Wangtek and Archive QIC-02/QIC-36
psm0 60 12 n/a n/a PS/2 Mouse
mcd0 300 10 n/a n/a Mitsumi CD-ROM
matcd0 230 n/a n/a n/a Matsushita/Panasonic CD-ROM
scd0 230 n/a n/a n/a Sony CD-ROM
sio0 3f8 4 n/a n/a Serial Port 0 (COM1)
sio1 2f8 3 n/a n/a Serial Port 1 (COM2)
ppc0 dyn 7 n/a n/a Parallel Port Chipset
ax0 dyn dyn n/a dyn ASIX AX88140A PCI based cards
de0 n/a n/a n/a n/a DEC DC21x40 PCI based cards
(including 21140 100bT cards)
ed0 280 10 dyn d8000 WD & SMC 80xx; Novell NE1000 &
NE2000; 3Com 3C503; HP PC Lan+
eg0 310 5 dyn dyn 3Com 3C505
ep0 300 10 dyn dyn 3Com 3C509
ex0 dyn dyn dyn n/a Intel EtherExpress Pro/10 cards
fe0 300 dyn n/a n/a Allied-Telesis AT1700, RE2000 and
Fujitsu FMV-180 series cards.
fxp0 dyn dyn n/a dyn Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B
ie0 300 10 dyn d0000 AT&T StarLAN 10 and EN100;
3Com 3C507; NI5210
ix0 300 10 dyn d0000 Intel EtherExpress cards
ex0 dyn dyn dyn dyn Intel EtherExpress Pro/10 cards
le0 300 5 dyn d0000 Digital Equipment EtherWorks
2 and EtherWorks 3
lnc0 280 10 n/a dyn Lance/PCnet cards
(Isolan, Novell NE2100, NE32-VL,
some PCnet-PCI cards)
mx0 dyn dyn n/a dyn Macronix 98713/15/25 PCI based cards
pn0 dyn dyn n/a dyn Lite-On PNIC PCI based cards
rl0 dyn dyn n/a dyn RealTek 8129/8139 fast ethernet
tl0 dyn dyn n/a dyn TI TNET100 'ThunderLAN' cards.
wb0 dyn dyn n/a dyn Winbond W89C840F PCI based cards.
vr0 dyn dyn n/a dyn VIA VT3043/VT86C100A PCI based cards.
vx0 dyn dyn n/a dyn 3Com 3c59x ((Fast) Etherlink III)
xl0 dyn dyn n/a dyn 3Com 3c900, 3c905 and 3c905B
((Fast) Etherlink XL)
cs0 0x300 dyn n/a n/a Crystal Semiconductor CS89x0-based
cards.
ze0 300 5 n/a d8000 IBM/National Semiconductor
PCMCIA Ethernet Controller
zp0 300 10 n/a d8000 3Com 3c589 Etherlink III
PCMCIA Ethernet Controller
--- End of table ---
If the hardware in your computer is not set to the same settings as
those shown in the table and the item in conflict is not marked 'dyn',
you will have to either reconfigure your hardware or use UserConfig
to reconfigure the kernel to match the way your hardware is currently set
(see the next section).
If the settings do not match, the kernel may be unable to locate
or reliably access the devices in your system.
2. Using UserConfig to change FreeBSD kernel settings
-- --------------------------------------------------
The FreeBSD kernel on the install floppy contains drivers for every
piece of hardware that could conceivably be used to install the rest
of the system with. Unfortunately, PC hardware being what it is, some
of these devices can be difficult to detect accurately, and for some,
the process of detecting another can cause irreversible confusion.
To make this process easier, FreeBSD provides UserConfig. With this
UserConfig, the user can configure and disable device drivers before
the kernel is loaded, avoiding potential conflicts, and eliminating
the need to reconfigure hardware to suit the default driver settings.
Once FreeBSD is installed, it will remember the changes made using
UserConfig, so that they only need be made once.
It is important to disable drivers that are not relevant to a system
in order to minimize the possibility of interference, which can cause
problems that are difficult to track down.
UserConfig features a command line interface for users with serial
consoles or a need to type commands, and a full screen 'visual'
interface, which provides point-and-shoot configuration functionality.
Here is a sample UserConfig screen shot in 'visual' mode:
---Active Drivers---------------------------10 Conflicts------Dev---IRQ--Port--
Storage : (Collapsed)
Network :
NE1000,NE2000,3C503,WD/SMC80xx Ethernet adapters CONF ed0 5 0x280
NE1000,NE2000,3C503,WD/SMC80xx Ethernet adapters CONF ed1 5 0x300
Communications : (Collapsed)
Input : (Collapsed)
Multimedia :
---Inactive Drivers-------------------------------------------Dev--------------
Storage :
Network : (Collapsed)
Communications :
Input :
Multimedia :
PCI :
---Parameters-for-device-ed0---------------------------------------------------
Port address : 0x280 Memory address : 0xd8000
IRQ number : 5 Memory size : 0x2000
Flags : 0x0000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IO Port address (Hexadecimal, 0x1-0x2000)
[TAB] Change fields [Q] Save device parameters
The screen is divided into four sections :
- Active Drivers. Listed here are the device drivers that are currently
enabled, and their basic parameters.
- Inactive Drivers. These drivers are present, but are disabled.
- Parameter edit field. This area is used for editing driver parameters.
- Help area. Keystroke help is displayed here.
One of the Active and Inactive lists is always in use, and the current
entry in the list will be shown with a highlight bar. If there are
more entries in a list than can be shown, it will scroll. The bar can
be moved up and down using the cursor keys, and moved between lists
with the TAB key.
Drivers in the Active list may be marked "CONF". This indicates that
one or more of their parameters conflicts with another device, and
indicates a potential for problems. The total number of conflicts is
displayed at the top of the screen.
As a general rule, conflicts should be avoided, either by disabling
conflicting devices that are not present in the system, or by altering
their configuration so that they match the installed hardware.
In the list areas, drivers are grouped by their basic function.
Groups can be 'Collapsed' to simplify the display (this is the default
state for all groups). If a group is collapsed, it will be shown with
'(Collapsed)' in the list, as above. To Expand a Collapsed group,
position the highlight bar over the group heading and press Enter. To
Collapse it again, repeat the process.
When a device driver in the Active list is highlighted, its full
parameters are displayed in the Parameter edit area. Note that not
all drivers use all possible parameters, and some hardware supported
by drivers may not use all the parameters the driver supports.
To disable a driver, go to the Active list, Expand the group it is in,
highlight the driver and press Del. The driver will move to its group
in the Inactive list. (If the group is collapsed or off the screen,
you may not see the driver in its new location.)
To enable a driver, go to the Inactive list, Expand the group it is
in, highlight the driver and press Enter. The highlight will move to
the Active list, and the driver you have just enabled will be
highlighted, ready to be configured.
To configure a driver, go to the Active list, Expand the group it is
in, highlight the driver and press Enter. The cursor will move to the
Parameter edit area, and the device's parameters may be edited.
While editing parameters, the TAB and cursor keys can be used to move
between fields. Most numeric values (except IRQ) are entered in
hexadecimal, as indicated by the '0x' at the beginning of the field.
The allowable values for a given field are show in the Key Help area
when the field is active.
To finish configuring a driver, press 'Q'.
Note that PCI and EISA devices can be probed reliably, therefore they
are not shown in the table above nor can their settings be changed
using UserConfig. PCI drivers may be seen in the "PCI Devices" section
in the Active Devices list, if you wish to check for their presence.
3. LINT - other possible configurations
-- ------------------------------------
The following drivers are not in the GENERIC kernel but remain
available to those who do not mind compiling a custom kernel (see
section 6 of FreeBSD.FAQ). The LINT configuration file
(/sys/i386/conf/LINT) also contains prototype entries for just about
every device supported by FreeBSD and is a good general reference.
The device names and a short description of each are listed below. The port
numbers, etc, are not meaningful here since you will need to compile a
custom kernel to gain access to these devices anyway and can thus
adjust the addresses to match the hardware in your computer in the process.
The LINT file contains prototype entries for all of the below which you
can easily cut-and-paste into your own file (or simply copy LINT and edit
it to taste):
ctx: Cortex-I frame grabber
cx: Cronyx/Sigma multiport sync/async
cy: Cyclades high-speed serial driver
el: 3Com 3C501
fea: DEC DEFEA EISA FDDI adapter
fpa: DEC DEFPA PCI FDDI adapter
gp: National Instruments AT-GPIB and AT-GPIB/TNT board
gsc: Genius GS-4500 hand scanner
gus: Gravis Ultrasound - Ultrasound, Ultrasound 16, Ultrasound MAX
gusxvi: Gravis Ultrasound 16-bit PCM
hea: Efficient ENI-155p ATM PCI adapter
hfa: FORE PCA-200E ATM PCI adapter
joy: Joystick
labpc: National Instrument's Lab-PC and Lab-PC+
meteor: Matrox Meteor frame-grabber card
bktr: Brooktree Bt848 / Bt878 based frame-grabber cards.
mpu: Roland MPU-401 stand-alone card
mse: Microsoft, Logitech, ATI bus mouse ports
mss: Microsoft Sound System
nic: Dr Neuhaus NICCY 3008, 3009 & 5000 ISDN cards
opl: Yamaha OPL-2 and OPL-3 FM - SB, SB Pro, SB 16, ProAudioSpectrum
pas: ProAudioSpectrum PCM and MIDI
pca: PCM audio ("/dev/audio") through your PC speaker
pcm: PCM audio on most modern ISA audio codecs
psm: PS/2 mouse port
rc: RISCom/8 multiport card
rdp: RealTek RTL 8002 Pocket Ethernet adapter
sb: SoundBlaster PCM - SoundBlaster, SB Pro, SB16, ProAudioSpectrum
sbmidi: SoundBlaster 16 MIDI interface
sbxvi: SoundBlaster 16
si: Specialix SI/XIO/SX (old and enhanced ISA, PCI, EISA) serial
spigot: Creative Labs Video Spigot video-acquisition board
uart: Stand-alone 6850 UART for MIDI
wds: Western Digital WD7000 IDE
--- end of list ---
4. Supported Hardware
-- ------------------
FreeBSD currently runs on a wide variety of ISA, VLB, EISA and PCI bus
based PC's, ranging from 386sx to Pentium class machines (though the
386sx is not recommended). Support for generic IDE or ESDI drive
configurations, various SCSI controller, network and serial cards is
also provided.
What follows is a list of all peripherals currently known to work with
FreeBSD. Other configurations may also work, we have simply not as yet
received confirmation of this.
4.1. Disk Controllers
---- ----------------
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 controller in standard and enhanced mode.
Adaptec 274X/284X/2920C/2930U2/294x/2950/3940/3950 (Narrow/Wide/Twin) series
EISA/VLB/PCI SCSI controllers.
Adaptec AIC7850, AIC7860, AIC7880, AIC789x, on-board SCSI controllers.
AdvanSys SCSI controllers (all models).
BusLogic MultiMaster controllers:
[ Please note that BusLogic/Mylex "Flashpoint" adapters are NOT yet supported ]
BusLogic MultiMaster "W" Series Host Adapters:
BT-948, BT-958, BT-958D
BusLogic MultiMaster "C" Series Host Adapters:
BT-946C, BT-956C, BT-956CD, BT-445C, BT-747C, BT-757C, BT-757CD, BT-545C,
BT-540CF
BusLogic MultiMaster "S" Series Host Adapters:
BT-445S, BT-747S, BT-747D, BT-757S, BT-757D, BT-545S, BT-542D, BT-742A,
BT-542B
BusLogic MultiMaster "A" Series Host Adapters:
BT-742A, BT-542B
AMI FastDisk controllers that are true BusLogic MultiMaster clones are also
supported.
DPT SmartCACHE Plus, SmartCACHE III, SmartRAID III, SmartCACHE IV and
SmartRAID IV SCSI/RAID controllers are supported. The DPT SmartRAID/CACHE V
is not yet supported.
SymBios (formerly NCR) 53C810, 53C810a, 53C815, 53C820, 53C825a,
53C860, 53C875, 53C875j, 53C885, 53C895 and 53C896 PCI SCSI controllers:
ASUS SC-200
Data Technology DTC3130 (all variants)
Diamond FirePort (all)
NCR cards (all)
Symbios cards (all)
Tekram DC390W, 390U and 390F
Tyan S1365
QLogic 1020, 1040, 1040B and 2100 SCSI and Fibre Channel Adapters
DTC 3290 EISA SCSI controller in 1542 emulation mode.
With all supported SCSI controllers, full support is provided for
SCSI-I & 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 (also includes ProAudio Spectrum and
SoundBlaster SCSI)
(matcd) Matsushita/Panasonic (Creative SoundBlaster) proprietary
interface (562/563 models)
(scd) Sony proprietary interface (all models)
(wcd) ATAPI IDE interface
The following drivers were supported under the old SCSI subsystem, but are
NOT YET supported under the new CAM SCSI subsystem:
Tekram DC390 and DC390T controllers (maybe other cards based on the
AMD 53c974 as well).
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.
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 includes the AHA-152x
and SoundBlaster SCSI cards.
[ Note: There is work-in-progress to port the AIC-6260/6360 and
UltraStor drivers to the new CAM SCSI framework, but no estimates on
when or if they will be completed. ]
Unmaintained drivers, they might or might not work for your hardware:
Floppy tape interface (Colorado/Mountain/Insight)
(mcd) Mitsumi proprietary CD-ROM interface (all models)
4.2. Network cards
---- -------------
Allied-Telesis AT1700 and RE2000 cards
Alteon Networks PCI gigabit ethernet NICs based on the Tigon 1 and Tigon 2
chipsets, including the following:
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 & 53c974 or 79c974)
SMC Elite 16 WD8013 ethernet interface, and most other WD8003E,
WD8003EBT, WD8003W, WD8013W, WD8003S, WD8003SBT and WD8013EBT
based clones. SMC Elite Ultra is also supported.
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 82c168/82c169 PNIC fast ethernet NICs including the following:
LinkSys EtherFast LNE100TX
NetGear FA310-TX Rev. D1
Matrox FastNIC 10/100
Macronix 98713, 98713A, 98715, 98715A and 98725 fast ethernet NICs
NDC Communications SFA100A (98713A)
CNet Pro120A (98713 or 98713A)
CNet Pro120B (98715)
SVEC PN102TX (98713)
Winbond W89C840F fast ethernet NICs including the following:
Trendware TE100-PCIE
VIA Technologies VT3043 "Rhine I" and VT86C100A "Rhine II" fast ethernet
NICs including the following:
Hawking Technologies PN102TX
D-Link DFE530TX
Texas Instruments ThunderLAN PCI NICs, including the following:
Compaq Netelligent 10, 10/100, 10/100 Proliant, 10/100 Dual-Port
Compaq Netelligent 10/100 TX Embedded UTP, 10 T PCI UTP/Coax, 10/100 TX UTP
Compaq NetFlex 3P, 3P Integrated, 3P w/ BNC
Olicom OC-2135/2138, OC-2325, OC-2326 10/100 TX UTP
Racore 8165 10/100baseTX
Racore 8148 10baseT/100baseTX/100baseFX multi-personality
ASIX Electronics AX88140A PCI NICs, including the following:
Alfa Inc. GFC2204
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 (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 interface.
PCI network cards emulating the NE2000: RealTek 8029, NetVin 5000,
Winbond W89C940, Surecom NE-34, VIA VT86C926.
3Com 3C501 cards
3Com 3C503 Etherlink II
3Com 3c505 Etherlink/+
3Com 3C507 Etherlink 16/TP
3Com 3C509, 3C579, 3C589 (PCMCIA), 3C590/592/595/900/905/905B PCI and EISA
(Fast) Etherlink III / (Fast) Etherlink XL
3Com 3c980 Fast Etherlink XL server adapter
Toshiba ethernet cards
PCMCIA ethernet cards from IBM and National Semiconductor are also
supported.
Note that NO token ring cards are supported at this time as we're
still waiting for someone to donate a driver for one of them. Any
takers?
4.3. Misc
---- ----
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.
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 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 drivers.
Genius and Mustek hand scanners.
Floppy tape drives (some rather old models only, driver rather stale)
FreeBSD currently does NOT support IBM's microchannel (MCA) bus.