OpenBSD/i386

i386

Installation with Other Operating Systems:

The OpenBSD/i386 port can be installed to share the system disks with other operating systems such as MSDOS, Windows or Linux using the MSDOS MBR/partition scheme and an optional boot selector. Everyday operation is trouble free, but setup requires care and Windows '95 installation is known to be careless about pre-existing MBR/partition information. See the Installation Notes for more details.

Binary compatibility with other Operating Systems:

The OpenBSD/i386 port can run Linux, FreeBSD, BSD/OS, SVR4 (including Solaris), and IBCS2 binaries.

Supported Hardware:

The OpenBSD/i386 port works across a broad range of standard PC's and clones, with a wide variety of processors and I/O bus architecures. It can be expected to install and run with minimal difficulty on most current products. The cases where problems may be encountered are typically older proprietary PC's, Laptops or specialized server boxes that rely on a custom BIOS to paper over implementation differences.

OpenBSD does not currently support multiple processors (SMP), but will run using one processor on a multi-processor system board.

Most laptops are supported. We have a page that details the specifics of most common laptops.

All CPU chips compatible with the Intel 80386 architecture
- 386/486 (SX/DX)
- Intel Pentium/Pentium-MMX
- Intel Pentium Pro/II/III/Celeron
- AMD K5/K6/K6-2/K6-3
- AMD Athlon
- Cyrix MediaGX/M1/M2
- Rise mP6
- IDT WinChip
- NexGen 586
- VIA Joshua
Everything that is a clone of the 386 or up should work fine. The only CPU that is known to work poorly (due to flawed motherboard designs) is the Cyrix 386DLC.
All standard ISA, EISA, VLB, PCI, or PCMCIA bus based machines.
The MCA bus found in various official IBM PCs is not supported.
Cardbus (ie. 32-bit PC-CARD) is not yet supported.
Floppy controllers.
ISA MFM, ESDI, IDE, and RLL hard disk controllers.
PCI IDE controllers:
- Acer Labs M5229
- CMD Tech PCI0643 and PCI0646
- Contaq Microsystems/Cypress CY82C693
- Intel PIIX, PIIX3, and PIIX4
- Intel 82801 (ICH/ICH0)
- Promise PDC20246 (Ultra/33) and PDC20262 (Ultra/66)
- Silicon Integrated System 5513
- VIA Technologies VT82C586 and VT82C586A
- Should support any PCI IDE-compliant controller, but those not specifically listed many not be capable of DMA modes
SCSI host adapters:
- Adaptec AHA-154xA, -B, -C, and -CF
- Adaptec AHA-174x
- Adaptec AIC-6260 and AIC-6360 based boards, including the Adaptec AHA-152x and the SoundBlaster SCSI host adapter. (Note that you cannot boot from these boards if they do not have a boot ROM; only the AHA-152x and motherboards using this chip are likely to be bootable, consequently.)
- Adaptec AIC-7770-based SCSI host adapters (including the Adaptec AHA-274x, AHA-284x families).
- Adaptec AHA-[23]94x[W] cards and some onboard PCI designs using the AIC7870 and AIC7880 chips.
- Buslogic 54x (Adaptec AHA-154x clones)
- BusLogic 445, 74x, 9xx (But not the new "FlashPoint" series of BusLogic SCSI adapters)
- Symbios Logic (NCR) 53C8xx-based PCI SCSI host adapters (Including generic/no name cards, old ASUS cards, the DTC-3130 series, Diamond Fireport series, etc.)
- Ultrastor 14f, 34f, and (possibly) 24f
- Seagate/Future Domain ISA SCSI adapter cards, including
  - ST01/02
  - Future Domain TMC-885
  - Future Domain TMC-950
- WD-7000 SCSI host adapters
- QLogic PCI SCSI controllers
- AdvanSys `U' and `UW' PCI SCSI controllers
MDA, CGA, VGA, SVGA, and HGC Display Adapters (Note that not all of the display adapters OpenBSD/i386 can work with are supported by X. See the XFree86 FAQ for more information.)
Serial ports:
- 8250/16450-based ports
- 16550-based ports
- ST16650-based ports
- XR16850-based ports (only in the pccom driver)
- AST-style 4-port serial boards ⁽¹⁾
- BOCA 8-port serial cards ⁽¹⁾
- Cyclades Cyclom-{4, 8, 16}Y serial boards ⁽¹⁾
- IBM PC-RT 4-port serial boards ⁽¹⁾
Parallel ports.
PCMCIA:
- ATA cards
  - ATA/IDE card drives
  - ATA/IDE CDROM adapters
  - CF/ATA flash cards and disk drives.
- SCSI host adapters:
  - Adaptec SlimSCSI APA-14[56]0
- Serial ports:
  - Virtually all modems, digital cellular modems, and serial cards should work.
- Ethernet adapters:
  - 3COM 3c589
  - D-Link DE-660
  - D-Link DFE-650 Fast Ethernet
  - Genius ME 3000II SE
  - Hawking Ethernet Combo
  - IC-Card
  - Kingston KNE-PC2
  - Linksys PCMPC100
  - Netgear FA410TX Fast Ethernet
  - Xircom ethernet adapters
  - Ambicom NE-2000
- Wireless
  - Wavelan (all models)
ATM adapters:
- Efficient Networks EN-155 and Adaptec ANA-590x ATM interfaces ⁽¹⁾ (en)
FDDI adapters:
- Digital DEFEA EISA FDDI adapters (fea)
- Digital DEFPA PCI FDDI adapters (fpa)
WAN adapters:
- Lan Media Corporation SSI (T1)/HSSI/DS1/DS3 WAN interfaces. (lmc)
Ethernet adapters:
- SMC/WD 8216 (the SMC "Elite16 Ultra" ISA boards) (See special care notice in INSTALL.i386)
- SMC 8416 ("EtherEZ") PNP cards
- SMC 9432 ("EtherPower II") EPIC 10/100
- Intel EtherExpress 16 (ie)
- Novell NE1000, NE2000 (PCI and ISA variants thereof) (ne)
- Intel 8255x-based PCI ethernet adapters, (fxp) including:
  - Intel EtherExpress PRO/10 and PRO/10+
  - Intel EtherExpress PRO/100, PRO/100B, and PRO/100+ cards
  - Intel EtherExpress PRO/100+ "Management Adapter"
  - Intel EtherExpress PRO/100 Dual Port cards
- Texas Instruments ThunderLAN PCI Ethernet adapters, (tl) including:
  - Compaq Netelligent PCI Adapters
  - Compaq NetFlex 3/P
  - Compaq Deskpro integrated adapter
  - Compaq Prosignia integrated adapter
  - Olicom OC2135, OC2183, OC2325, OC2326
  - Racore 8165 and 8148
  - TI ThunderLAN adapters
- RealTek 8129/8139 based adapters, (rl) including:
  - Accton MPX 5030/5038
  - Allied Telesyn AT2550
  - Encore ENL832-TX 10/100 M PCI
  - Genius GF100TXR
  - KTX-9130TX 10/100 Fast Ethernet
  - Longshine LCS-8038TX-R
  - NDC NE100TX-E
  - Netronix EA-1210 Net Ether 10/100
  - OvisLink LEF-8129TX, LEF-8139TX
  - SMC EZ Card 10/100 PCI 1211-TX
- Macronix 98713/98715/98725 Ethernet adapters, (mx) including:
  - Addtron AEF-320TX/AEF-330TX
  - NDC Communications SOHOware SFA110
  - SVEC PN102-TX fast ethernet card
- VIA Rhine/RhineII Ethernet adapters, (rl) including:
  - Addtron AEF-360TX
  - Hawking PN102TX
  - D-Link DFE530TX
- Lite-On PNIC/PNIC-II adapters, (pn) including:
  - Netgear FA310TX rev D1
  - LinkSys LNE100TX
  - Matrox Networks FastNIC 10/100
- Winbond W89C840F Ethernet adapters, (wb) including:
  - Trendware TE100-PCIE
  - Compex RL100-ATX 10/100
- SysKonnect SK-984x (9841/9842/9843/9844) Gigabit Ethernet adapters (sk)
Many kinds of ISA Plug-and-Play cards
- Nearly all SB-style audio cards
- Nearly all joystick ports
- Nearly all Yamaha-style audio cards
- Nearly all ne2000-style ethernet cards
- Nearly all SMC-style ethernet cards
- Most serial port or modem cards
- 3c509 cards in PNP mode
- NE2100 ethernet cards
- ... If a device does not work, be sure to mail the output of dmesg(1) to dmesg@openbsd.org, and we will try to add support.
Tape drives:
- Most SCSI tape drives
- Most SCSI tape changers
- QIC-02 and QIC-36 format (Archive- and Wangtek- compatible) tape drives ^{(1) (2)}
CD-ROM drives:
- Mitsumi CD-ROM drives ^{(1) (2)} [Note: The Mitsumi driver device probe is known to cause trouble with several devices!]
- Most SCSI CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD drives.
- Most ATAPI (IDE) CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD drives.
Mice:
- "Logitech"-style bus mice ^{(1) (2)}
- "Microsoft"-style bus mice ^{(1) (2)}
- "PS/2"-style mice ^{(1) (2)}
- Serial mice (uses serial port driver)
APM power management
Brooktree 848/849, 878/879 based Video Capture Cards: ^{(1) (2)}
- Hauppage Wincast TV
- STB TV PCI Television Tuner
- Miro PC TV
- Intel Smart Video Recorder III
- IMS TV Turbo
- AVer Media TV/FM
Sound Cards:
- SoundBlaster ISA cards and 100% compatibles ^{(1) (2)}
- Gravis Ultrasound and Ultrasound Max ^{(1) (2)}
- Ensoniq AudioPCI ^{(1) (2)}
- SoundBlaster PCI128 ^{(1) (2)}
- [The following drivers are not extensively tested]
  - S3 SonicVibes ^{(1) (2)}
  - Personal Sound System ^{(1) (2)}
  - Windows Sound System ^{(1) (2)}
  - ProAudio Spectrum ^{(1) (2)}
ISAPNP cards: Roughly said, the following cards definitely work. Others may work as well -- support is continually being improved.
- "3Com 3C509B EtherLink III, TCM5090, PNP80F7, "
- "3Com 3C509B EtherLink III, TCM5095, PNP80F7, "
- "3Com 3C509B EtherLink III, TCM5098, PNP80F7, "
- "ACCTON EN166X MPX2 ETHERNET CAR, @@@9519, PNP80D6, "
- "CMI8330. Audio Adapter, @X@0001, , "
- "Creative AWE64 PnP, CTL0045, , Audio"
- "Creative AWE64 PnP, CTL7002, PNPB02F, Game"
- "Creative SB AWE64 PnP, CTL0045, , Audio"
- "Creative SB AWE64 PnP, CTL7002, PNPB02F, Game"
- "Creative SB AWE64 Gold, CTL0044, , Audio"
- "Creative SB AWE64 Gold, CTL7002, PNPB02F, Game"
- "Creative SB AWE64 PnP, CTL0042, , Audio"
- "Creative SB AWE64 PnP, CTL0045, , Audio"
- "Creative SB AWE64 PnP, CTL7002, PNPB02F, Game"
- "Creative SB16 PnP, CTL0031, , Audio"
- "Creative SB16 PnP, CTL7001, PNPB02F, Game"
- "Creative SB32 PnP, CTL0031, , Audio"
- "Creative SB32 PnP, CTL0041, , Audio"
- "Creative SB32 PnP, CTL0051, , StereoEnhance"
- "Creative SB32 PnP, CTL2011, PNP0600, IDE"
- "Creative SB32 PnP, CTL7001, PNPB02F, Game"
- "Creative ViBRA16C PnP, CTL0001, , Audio"
- "Creative ViBRA16C PnP, CTL7001, PNPB02F, Game"
- "Creative ViBRA16X PnP, CTL7005, PNPB02F, Game"
- "ESS ES1868 Plug and Play AudioD, ESS0001, , "
- "ESS ES1868 Plug and Play AudioD, ESS1868, , "
- "OPL3-SA2 Sound Chip , YMH0021, , "
- "OPL3-SA2 Sound Chip , YMH0022, PNPB02F, "
- "OPL3-SA3 Snd System, YMH0021, , "
- "OPL3-SA3 Snd System, YMH0022, PNPB02F, "
- "RealTek Plug & Play Ethernet Ca, RTL8019, PNP80D6, "

⁽¹⁾ Drivers for hardware marked with (1) are NOT included on the distribution floppies.

⁽²⁾ Support for devices marked with (2) IS included in the "generic" kernels, although it is not in the kernel on the installation floppy.

Unsupported Hardware

Unsupported hardware may be supported in the future, your donation of time, hardware, or documentation can accelerate this support!

Adaptec 2940U2W (aic7890) (but the 2940UW is supported)
"Micro Channel" MCA bus used in many IBM PS/2 models
NCR 5380-based and 53400-based SCSI host adapters
QIC-40 and QIC-80 tape drives (Those are the tape drives that connect to the floppy disk controller)
Multiprocessor motherboards (Though they will run fine using one processor only). There exists a project aiming to support these.
Sony and Panasonic proprietary CDROM interfaces
Parallel-port ZIP drives (SCSI and ATAPI ZIP drives work fine)
Cardbus controllers and adapters
PCMCIA:
- 3COM 3c574
- Memory cards
- Most multifunction cards

If you are looking for to test new pre-release features, you can try one of the snapshots. For the i386 architecture, snapshots are made available from time to time

www@openbsd.org
$OpenBSD: i386.html,v 1.124 2000/02/24 23:17:30 rohee Exp $