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<!-- $Id: network-cards.xml 36732 2006-04-27 09:33:13Z fjp $ -->
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<sect1 id="network-cards">
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<title>Network Connectivity Hardware</title>
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<!-- last updated for kernel-image_2.0.36-2 -->
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Most PCI and many older ISA network cards are supported.
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Some network interface cards are not supported by most Ubuntu
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installation disks, such as AX.25 cards and protocols;
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NI16510 EtherBlaster cards; Schneider & Koch G16 cards;
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and the Zenith Z-Note built-in network card. Microchannel (MCA) network
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cards are not supported by the standard installation system, but see
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<ulink url="&url-linux-mca;">Linux on MCA</ulink> for some (old)
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FDDI networks are also not supported by the installation disks, both
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<!-- missing-doc FIXME You can create a custom kernel which supports an
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otherwise unsupported card and then substitute in the installer (see
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<xref linkend="rescue-replace-kernel"/>). -->
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</para><para arch="x86">
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As for ISDN, the D-channel protocol for the (old) German 1TR6 is not
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supported; Spellcaster BRI ISDN boards are also not supported by the
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Any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel should
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also be supported by the boot disks. You may need to load your
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network driver as a module. Again, see
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<ulink url="&url-m68k-faq;"></ulink> for complete details.
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The following network interface cards (NICs) are supported from the bootable
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Almost any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel
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should also be supported by the installation system; modular drivers
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should normally be loaded automatically.
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<phrase arch="x86">This includes most PCI and PCMCIA cards.</phrase>
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<phrase arch="i386">Many older ISA cards are supported as well.</phrase>
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<phrase arch="m68k">Again, see <ulink url="&url-m68k-faq;"></ulink>
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for complete details.</phrase>
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</para><para arch="sparc">
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This includes a lot of generic PCI cards (for systems that have PCI) and
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the following NICs from Sun:
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</para><para arch="sparc">
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The following network interface cards are supported as modules. They
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can be enabled once the drivers are installed during the setup.
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However, due to the magic of OpenPROM, you still should be able to
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boot from these devices:
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MyriCOM Gigabit Ethernet
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</para><para arch="alpha">
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Any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel should
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also be supported by the boot disks. You may need to load your
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network driver as a module.
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</para><para arch="powerpc">
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Any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel should
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also be supported by the boot disks. You may need to load your
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network driver as a module.
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</para><para arch="hppa">
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Any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel should
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also be supported by the boot disks. You may need to load your
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network driver as a module.
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</para><para arch="ia64">
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Any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel should
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also be supported by the boot disks. You may need to load your
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network driver as a module.
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</para><para arch="mips">
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Any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel should
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also be supported by the boot disks. You may need to load your
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network driver as a module.
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</para><para arch="mipsel">
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Due to kernel limitations only the onboard network interfaces on
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The following network interface cards are supported directly by the
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boot disks on Netwinder and CATS machines:
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</para><para arch="arm">
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The following network interface cards are supported directly by the
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boot disks on RiscPCs:
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</para><para arch="arm">
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If your card is mentioned in the lists above, the complete installation
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can be carried out from the network with no need for CD-ROMs or floppy
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</para><para arch="arm">
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Any other network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel
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should also be supported by the boot disks. You may need to load your
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network driver as a module; this means that you will have to install
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the operating system kernel and modules using some other media.
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On &arch-title;, most built-in Ethernet devices are supported and modules
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for additional PCI and USB devices are provided. The major exception is
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the IXP4xx platform (featuring devices such as the Linksys NSLU2) which
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needs a proprietary microcode for the operation of its built-in Ethernet
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device. Unofficial images for Linksys NSLU2 with this proprietary
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microcode can be obtained from the <ulink
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url="&url-slug-firmware;">Slug-Firmware site</ulink>.
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</para><para arch="x86">
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As for ISDN, the D-channel protocol for the (old) German 1TR6 is not
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supported; Spellcaster BRI ISDN boards are also not supported by the
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&d-i;. Using ISDN during the installation is not supported.
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<sect2 arch="not-s390" id="nics-firmware">
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<title>Drivers Requiring Firmware</title>
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The installation system currently does not support retrieving firmware.
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This means that any network cards that use a driver that requires firmware
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to be loaded, is not supported by default.
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If there is no other NIC you can use during the installation, it is still
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possible to install &debian; using a full CD-ROM or DVD image. Select the
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option to not configure a network and install using only the packages
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available from the CD/DVD. You can then install the driver and firmware you
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need after the installation is completed (after the reboot) and configure
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your network manually. Note that the firmware may be packaged separately
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from the driver and may not be available in the <quote>main</quote> section
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of the &debian; archive.
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If the driver itself <emphasis>is</emphasis> supported, you may also be
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able to use the NIC during installation by copying the firmware from some
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medium to <filename>/usr/lib/hotplug/firmware</filename>. Don't forget to
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also copy the firmware to that location for the installed system before
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the reboot at the end of the installation.
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<sect2 condition="supports-wireless" id="nics-wireless">
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<title>Wireless Network Cards</title>
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Wireless NICs are in general supported as well, with one big proviso.
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A lot of wireless adapters require drivers that are either non-free or have
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not been accepted into the official Linux kernel. These NICs can generally
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be made to work under &debian;, but are not supported during the installation.
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If there is no other NIC you can use during the installation, it is still
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possible to install &debian; using a full CD-ROM or DVD image. Use the same
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procedure as described above for NICs that require firmware.
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In some cases the driver you need may not be available as a Debian package.
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You will then have to look if there is source code available in the internet
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and compile the driver yourself. How to do this is outside the scope of this
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<phrase arch="x86">If no Linux driver is available, your last resort is to
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use the <classname>ndiswrapper</classname> package, which allows you to use
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a Windows driver.</phrase>
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<sect2 arch="sparc" id="nics-sparc-trouble">
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<title>Known Issues for &arch-title;</title>
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There are a couple of issues with specific network cards that are worth
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<sect3><title>Conflict between tulip and dfme drivers</title>
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<!-- BTS: #334104; may also affect other arches, but most common on sparc -->
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<!-- BTS: #334104; may also affect other arches, but most common on sparc -->
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There are various PCI network cards that have the same PCI identification,
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but are supported by related, but different drivers. Some cards work with
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the <literal>tulip</literal> driver, others with the <literal>dfme</literal>
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driver. Because they have the same identification, the kernel cannot
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distinguish between them and it is not certain which driver will be loaded.
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If this happens to be the wrong one, the NIC may not work, or work badly.
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This is a common problem on Netra systems with a Davicom (DEC-Tulip
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compatible) NIC. In that case the <literal>tulip</literal> driver is
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probably the correct one.
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During the installation the solution is to switch to a shell and unload the
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wrong driver module using
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<userinput>modprobe -r <replaceable>module</replaceable></userinput> (or
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both, if they are both loaded). After that you can load the correct module
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using <userinput>modprobe <replaceable>module</replaceable></userinput>.
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<sect3><title>Sun B100 blade</title>
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<!-- BTS: #384549; should be checked for kernels >2.6.18 -->
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The <literal>cassini</literal> network driver does not work with Sun B100