182 lines
8.9 KiB
HTML
182 lines
8.9 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
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<HTML>
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<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="SGML-Tools 1.0.9">
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<TITLE>Linux Information Sheet: Hardware Issues</TITLE>
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<LINK HREF="INFO-SHEET-4.html" REL=next>
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<LINK HREF="INFO-SHEET-2.html" REL=previous>
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<LINK HREF="INFO-SHEET.html#toc3" REL=contents>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<A HREF="INFO-SHEET-4.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="INFO-SHEET-2.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="INFO-SHEET.html#toc3">Contents</A>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s3">3. Hardware Issues</A></H2>
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<H2><A NAME="ss3.1">3.1 Minimal configuration</A>
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</H2>
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<P>The following is probably the smallest possible configuration that
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Linux will work on: 386SX/16, 1 MB RAM, 1.44 MB or 1.2 MB floppy, any
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supported video card (+ keyboards, monitors, and so on of course).
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This should allow you to boot and test whether it works at all on the
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machine, but you won't be able to do anything useful.
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See
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<A HREF="http://rsphy1.anu.edu.au/~gpg109/mem.html">http://rsphy1.anu.edu.au/~gpg109/mem.html</A> for minimal
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Linux configurations
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<P>In order to do something, you will want some hard disk space as well,
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5 to 10 MB should suffice for a very minimal setup (with only the most
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important commands and perhaps one or two small applications
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installed, like, say, a terminal program). This is still very, very
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limited, and very uncomfortable, as it doesn't leave enough room to do
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just about anything, unless your applications are quite limited. It's
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generally not recommended for anything but testing if things work, and
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of course to be able to brag about small resource requirements.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss3.2">3.2 Usable configuration</A>
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</H2>
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<P>If you are going to run computationally intensive programs, such as
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gcc, X, and TeX, you will probably want a faster processor than a
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386SX/16, but even that should suffice if you are patient.
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<P>In practice, you will want at least 4 MB of RAM if you don't use X, and 8
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MB if you do. Also, if you want to have several users at a time, or
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run several large programs (compilations for example) at a time, you
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may want more than 4 MB of memory. It may still work with a smaller
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amount of memory, but it will use virtual
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memory (using the hard drive as <B>slow</B> memory) and that will be so
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slow as to be unusable. If you use many programs at the same time, 16 MB will
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reduce swapping considerably. If you don't want to swap appreciably
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under normal load, 32 MB will probably suffice for a single user.
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If you run lots of memory-intensive applications at once, 64 MB may
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be necessary to avoid lots of swapping. Of course, if
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you run memory-hungry applications, you may want more.
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<P>The amount of hard disk you need depends on what software you want to
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install. The normal basic set of Unix utilities, shells, and
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administrative programs should be comfortable in less than 10 MB, with
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a bit of room to spare for user files. For a more complete system,
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get Red Hat, Debian, or another distribution, and assume
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that you will need 60 to 600 MB, depending on what you choose to install
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and what distribution you get. Add whatever space you want to
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reserve for user files to these totals. With today's prices on hard
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drives, if you are buying a new system, it makes no sense to buy a
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drive that is too small. Get at least 2 GB, preferably 4 GB
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or more, and you will not regret it. Linux will happily handle
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very large hard drive such as the recently popular 11 GB IDE hard
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drives or 18 GB SCSI hard drives.
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<P>Add more memory, more hard disk, a faster processor and other
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stuff depending on your needs, wishes and budget to go beyond
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the merely usable. In general, one big difference from DOS is
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that with Linux, adding memory makes a large difference,
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whereas with DOS, extra memory doesn't make that much
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difference. This of course has something to do with DOS's
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640KB limit, which is completely nonexistent under Linux.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss3.3">3.3 Supported hardware</A>
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</H2>
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<P>
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<DL>
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<DT><B>CPU:</B><DD><P>Anything that runs 386 protected mode programs. All
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models of 386s 486s, Pentiums, Pentium Pros, Pentium IIs,
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and clones of these chips should work. (286s and
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below may someday be supported on a smaller kernel called ELKS
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(Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset), but don't expect the same
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capabilities).
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A version for the 680x0 CPU (for
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<EM>x</EM> = 2 with external MMU, 3, 4, and 6) which runs on Amigas
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and Ataris can be found at
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tsx-11.mit.edu in the 680x0 directory. Many DEC Alphas, SPARCs,
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and PowerPC machines are supported. Ports are also being
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done to the ARM, StrongARM, and MIPS architectures. More details
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are available elsewhere.
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<P>
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<DT><B>Architecture:</B><DD><P>PCI, ISA, EISA, and VLB busses. MCA (mostly true
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blue PS/2s) support is incomplete but improving (see above).
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Linux puts higher demands on hardware than DOS, Windows, and
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in fact most operating systems. This means that some marginal hardware
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that doesn't fail when running less demanding operating system may fail
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when running Linux. Linux is an excellent memory tester...
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<P>
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<DT><B>RAM:</B><DD><P>Up to 1 GB on Intel; more on 64-bit platforms.
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Some people (including Linus) have noted that adding ram
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without adding more cache at the same time has slowed down
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their machine extremely, so if you add memory and find your
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machine slower, try adding more cache. Some machines can
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only cache certain amounts of memory regardless of how much
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RAM is installed (64 MB is the most one popular chipset can
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cache). Over 64 MB of memory will require
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a boot-time parameter with kernels 2.0.35 and earlier, as the
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BIOS was originally designed to be unable to report more than
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64MB. Recent 2.1.x kernels and later are able to detect more
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memory in a system.
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<P>
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<DT><B>Data storage:</B><DD><P>Generic AT drives (EIDE, IDE, 16 bit HD
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controllers with MFM or RLL, or ESDI) are supported, as are
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SCSI hard disks and CD-ROMs, with a supported SCSI adaptor.
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Generic XT controllers (8 bit controllers with MFM or RLL) are
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also supported. Supported SCSI adaptors: Advansys, Adaptec 1542, 1522,
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1740, 27xx, and 29xx (with some exceptions) series, Buslogic MultiMaster
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and Flashpoint, NCR53c8xx-based
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controllers, DPT controllers, Qlogic ISP and FAS controllers,
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Seagate ST-01 and ST-02, Future Domain TMC-88x
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series (or any board based on the TMC950 chip) and
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TMC1660/1680, Ultrastor 14F, 24F and 34F, Western Digital
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wd7000, and others. SCSI, QIC-02, and some QIC-80 tapes are
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also supported. Besides IDE and SCSU cdroms, several proprietary
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CD-ROM devices are also supported,
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including Matsushita/Panasonic, Mitsumi, Sony, Soundblaster,
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Toshiba, ATAPI (EIDE), SCSI, and others. For exact models, check the hardware
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compatibility HOWTO. <B>N.B.</B> These lists are incomplete, and
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always will be. Distribution vendors maintain more up-to-date lists.
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<P>
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<DT><B>Video:</B><DD><P>VGA, EGA, CGA, or Hercules (and compatibles) work
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in text mode. For graphics and X, there is support for (at
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least) normal VGA, some super-VGA cards (most of the cards
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based on Tseng, Paradise, and some Trident chipsets),
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S3, 8514/A, ATI, Matrox, and Hercules. (Linux uses
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the XFree86 X server, so that determines what cards are
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supported. A full list of supported chipsets alone takes over
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a page. See
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<A HREF="http://www.XFree86.org/">http://www.XFree86.org/</A>)
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<P>
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<DT><B>Networking:</B><DD><P>Ethernet support includes 3COM 503/509/579/589/595/905 (501/505/507 are
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supported but not recomended), AT&T GIS (neé NCR) WaveLAN, most
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WD8390-based cards, most WD80x3-based cards, NE1000/2000 and most clones,
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AC3200, Apricot 82596, AT1700, ATP, DE425/434/435/500, D-Link DE-600/620,
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DEPCA, DE100/101, DE200/201/202 Turbo, DE210, DE422, Cabletron E2100
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(not recommended), Intel EtherExpress (not recommended), EtherExpress Pro,
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EtherExpress 100, DEC EtherWORKS
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3, HP LAN, HP PCLAN/plus, most AMD LANCE-based cards, NI5210, ni6510,
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SMC Ultra, DEC 21040 (tulip), Zenith Z-Note ethernet, All Zircom cards
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and all Cabletron cards other than the E2100 are unsupported, due to
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the manufacturers unwillingness to release programming information freely.
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<P>FDDI support currently includes the DEF<I>xx</I> cards from
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DEC.
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<P>Point-to-Point networking support include PPP, SLIP, CSLIP, and PLIP.
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PPP support is available for both standard asyncronous devices like
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modems, and syncronous connections like ISDN.
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<P>Limited Token Ring support is available.
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<P>
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<DT><B>Serial:</B><DD><P>Most 16450 and 16550 UART-based boards, including
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AST Fourport, the Usenet Serial Card II, and others.
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Intelligent boards supported include Cyclades
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Cyclom series (supported by the manufacturer), Comtrol
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Rocketport series (supported by the manufacturer), Stallion
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(most boards; supported by the manufacturer), and Digi (some
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boards; supported by the manufacturer). Some ISDN, frame
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relay, and leased line hardware is supported.
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<P>
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<DT><B>Other hardware:</B><DD><P>SoundBlaster, ProAudio Spectrum 16,
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Gravis Ultrasound, most other sound cards, most (all?)
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flavours of bus mice (Microsoft, Logitech, PS/2), etc.
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</DL>
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<P>
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<HR>
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<A HREF="INFO-SHEET-4.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="INFO-SHEET-2.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="INFO-SHEET.html#toc3">Contents</A>
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