Debian does not impose hardware requirements beyond the requirements of the Linux kernel and the GNU tool-sets. Therefore, any architecture or platform to which the Linux kernel, libc, gcc, etc. have been ported, and for which a Debian port exists, can run Debian. Please refer to the Ports pages at http://www.debian.org/ports/mips/ for more details on Mips architecture systems which have been tested with Debian.
Rather than attempting to describe all the different hardware configurations which are supported for Mips, this section contains general information and pointers to where additional information can be found.
Debian 3.1 supports eleven major architectures and several variations of each architecture known as 'flavors'.
| Architecture | Debian Designation | Subarchitecture | Flavor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intel x86-based | i386 | vanilla | |
| speakup | |||
| linux26 | |||
| Motorola 680x0 | m68k | Atari | atari |
| Amiga | amiga | ||
| 68k Macintosh | mac | ||
| VME | bvme6000 | ||
| mvme147 | |||
| mvme16x | |||
| DEC Alpha | alpha | ||
| Sun SPARC | sparc | sun4cdm | |
| sun4u | |||
| ARM and StrongARM | arm | netwinder | |
| riscpc | |||
| shark | |||
| lart | |||
| IBM/Motorola PowerPC | powerpc | CHRP | chrp |
| PowerMac | pmac | ||
| PReP | prep | ||
| APUS | apus | ||
| HP PA-RISC | hppa | PA-RISC 1.1 | 32 |
| PA-RISC 2.0 | 64 | ||
| Intel ia64-based | ia64 | ||
| MIPS (big endian) | mips | SGI Indy/Indigo 2 | r4k-ip22 |
| r5k-ip22 | |||
| Broadcom BCM91250A (SWARM) | sb1-swarm-bn | ||
| MIPS (little endian) | mipsel | Cobalt | cobalt |
| DECstation | r4k-kn04 | ||
| r3k-kn02 | |||
| Broadcom BCM91250A (SWARM) | sb1-swarm-bn | ||
| IBM S/390 | s390 | IPL from VM-reader and DASD | generic |
| IPL from tape | tape |
This document covers installation for the Mips architecture. If you are looking for information on any of the other Debian-supported architectures take a look at the Debian-Ports pages.
Debian on Mips currently supports two subarchitectures:
SGI IP22: this platform includes the SGI machines Indy, Indigo 2 and Challenge S. Since these machines are very similar, whenever this document refers to the SGI Indy, the Indigo 2 and Challenge S are meant as well.
Broadcom BCM91250A (SWARM): this is an ATX form factor evaluation board from Broadcom based on their SiByte processor family.
Complete information regarding supported mips/mipsel machines can be found at the Linux-MIPS homepage. In the following, only the systems supported by the Debian installer will be covered. If you are looking for support for other subarchitectures, please contact the debian-mips mailing list.
On SGI IP22, SGI Indy, Indigo 2 and Challenge S with R4000, R4400, R4600 and R5000 processors are supported by the Debian installation system on big endian MIPS. The Broadcom BCM91250A evaluation board comes with an SB1250 chip with two SB-1 cores which are supported in SMP mode by this installer.
Some MIPS machines can be operated in both big and little endian mode. For little endian MIPS, please read the documentation for the mipsel architecture.
Debian's support for graphical interfaces is determined by the underlying support found in XFree86's X11 system. The newer AGP video slots are actually a modification on the PCI specification, and most AGP video cards work under XFree86. Details on supported graphics buses, cards, monitors, and pointing devices can be found at http://www.xfree86.org/. Debian 3.1 ships with XFree86 version 4.3.0.
The XFree86 X11 window system is only supported on the SGI Indy. The Broadcom BCM91250A evaluation board has standard 3.3v PCI slots and supports VGA emulation or Linux framebuffer on a selected range of graphics cards. A compatibility listing for the BCM91250A is available.