Debian 不會超出 Linux 核心與 GNU 工具集所支援的硬體範圍之外。因此，任何移植了 Linux 核心、libc、gcc，以及針對 Debian 移植的硬體架構或平台都可以運行 Debian。請參考移植網頁 http://www.debian.org/ports/i386/ 以瞭解更多已被 Debian 測試過的 Intel x86 架構。
本章僅包含一些通用的資訊以及在何處可以取得更多資訊的指引，而不試圖列出所有支援 Intel x86 的硬體配置。
Debian 6.0 supports eleven major architectures and several variations of each architecture known as “flavors”.
| 架構 | Debian 命名 | 子架構 | 風味 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intel x86-based | i386 | ||
| AMD64 & Intel EM64T | amd64 | ||
| ARM | armel | Intel IOP32x | iop32x |
| Intel IXP4xx | ixp4xx | ||
| Marvell Kirkwood | kirkwood | ||
| Marvell Orion | orion5x | ||
| Versatile | versatile | ||
| HP PA-RISC | hppa | PA-RISC 1.1 | 32 |
| PA-RISC 2.0 | 64 | ||
| Intel IA-64 | ia64 | ||
| MIPS (big endian) | mips | SGI IP22 (Indy/Indigo 2) | r4k-ip22 |
| SGI IP32 (O2) | r5k-ip32 | ||
| MIPS Malta (32 bit) | 4kc-malta | ||
| MIPS Malta (64 bit) | 5kc-malta | ||
| MIPS (little endian) | mipsel | Cobalt | cobalt |
| MIPS Malta (32 bit) | 4kc-malta | ||
| MIPS Malta (64 bit) | 5kc-malta | ||
| IBM/Motorola PowerPC | powerpc | PowerMac | pmac |
| PReP | prep | ||
| Sun SPARC | sparc | sun4u | sparc64 |
| sun4v | |||
| IBM S/390 | s390 | IPL from VM-reader and DASD | generic |
| IPL from tape | type |
本文件涵蓋了 Intel x86 架構下的安裝資訊。如果您在尋找其他 Debian 所支援的硬體架構相關資訊，請瀏覽 Debian 移植網頁。
被支援的周邊設備資訊可以在 Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO 中找到。本節只是基本的概況。
Nearly all x86-based (IA-32) processors still in use in personal computers are supported, including all varieties of Intel's "Pentium" series. This also includes 32-bit AMD and VIA (former Cyrix) processors, and processors like the Athlon XP and Intel P4 Xeon.
However, Debian GNU/Linux squeeze will not run on 386 or earlier processors. Despite the architecture name "i386", support for actual 80386 processors (and their clones) was dropped with the Sarge (r3.1) release of Debian[2]. (No version of Linux has ever supported the 286 or earlier chips in the series.) All i486 and later processors are still supported[3].
If your system has a 64-bit processor from the AMD64 or Intel EM64T families, you will probably want to use the installer for the amd64 architecture instead of the installer for the (32-bit) i386 architecture.
The system bus is the part of the motherboard which allows the CPU to communicate with peripherals such as storage devices. Your computer must use the ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIe, or VESA Local Bus (VLB, sometimes called the VL bus). Essentially all personal computers sold in recent years use one of these.
Laptops are also supported and nowadays most laptops work out of the box. In case a laptop contains specialized or proprietary hardware, some specific functions may not be supported. To see if your particular laptop works well with GNU/Linux, see for example the Linux Laptop pages.
Multiprocessor support — also called “symmetric multiprocessing” or SMP — is available for this architecture. The standard Debian 6.0 kernel image has been compiled with SMP-alternatives support. This means that the kernel will detect the number of processors (or processor cores) and will automatically deactivate SMP on uniprocessor systems.
The 486 flavour of the Debian kernel image packages for Intel x86 is not compiled with SMP support.
您應該讓終端控制台使用 VGA 相容的顯示介面。幾乎所有的新顯卡都相容 VGA。在不使用 X11 支援的情況下，您也可以用古老的 CGA, MDA 或 HGA 工作。 注意，在本文所述的安裝過程中並不會使用 X11 圖形界面。
Debian's support for graphical interfaces is determined by the underlying support found in X.Org's X11 system. Most AGP, PCI and PCIe video cards work under X.Org. Details on supported graphics buses, cards, monitors, and pointing devices can be found at http://xorg.freedesktop.org/. Debian 6.0 ships with X.Org version 7.3.
Almost any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel should also be supported by the installation system; modular drivers should normally be loaded automatically. This includes most PCI and PCMCIA cards. Many older ISA cards are supported as well.
ISDN is supported, but not during the installation.
Wireless networking is in general supported as well and a growing number of wireless adapters is supported by the official Linux kernel, although many of them do require firmware to be loaded. Wireless NICs that are not supported by the official Linux kernel can generally be made to work under Debian GNU/Linux, but are not supported during the installation.
The use of wireless networking during installation is still under development and whether it will work depends on the type of adaptor and the configuration of your wireless access point. If there is no other NIC you can use during the installation, it is still possible to install Debian GNU/Linux using a full CD-ROM or DVD image. Select the option to not configure a network and install using only the packages available from the CD/DVD. You can then install the driver and firmware you need after the installation is completed (after the reboot) and configure your network manually.
In some cases the driver you need may not be available as a Debian package. You will then have to look if there is source code available in the internet and compile the driver yourself. How to do this is outside the scope of this manual. If no Linux driver is available, your last resort is to use the ndiswrapper package, which allows you to use a Windows driver.
Support for braille displays is determined by the underlying support found in brltty. Most displays work under brltty, connected via either a serial port, USB or bluetooth. Details on supported braille devices can be found on the brltty website. Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 ships with brltty version 3.10.
Support for hardware speech synthesis devices is determined by the underlying support found in speakup. speakup only supports integrated boards and external devices connected to a serial port (no USB or serial-to-USB adapters are supported). Details on supported hardware speech synthesis devices can be found on the speakup website. Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 ships with speakup version 3.0.3.
Linux 支援眾多的硬體設備，例如：滑鼠、印表機、掃瞄器、PCMCIA 和 USB 設備。然而，在安裝系統的時候並不需要其中的大部分設備。
USB hardware generally works fine, only some USB keyboards may require additional configuration (see 節 3.6.4, “需要留意的硬體問題”).
另外，請參閱 Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO 來判斷您的硬體是否由 Linux 支援。
[2] We have long tried to avoid this, but in the end it was necessary due a unfortunate series of issues with the compiler and the kernel, starting with an bug in the C++ ABI provided by GCC. You should still be able to run Debian GNU/Linux on actual 80386 processors if you compile your own kernel and compile all packages from source, but that is beyond the scope of this manual.
[3] Many Debian packages will actually run slightly faster on modern computers as a positive side effect of dropping support for these old chips. The i486, introduced in 1989, has three opcodes (bswap, cmpxchg, and xadd) which the i386, introduced in 1986, did not have. Previously, these could not be easily used by most Debian packages; now they can.