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Wiki Syntax

List of Wiki Tags

Name	Tag	Result	Description
bold	text [b]bold[/b]	text bold	text bold
italic	text [i]italic[/i]	text italic	text italic
del	text [del]deleted[/del]	text ~~deleted~~	text deleted
underline	text [u]underlined[/u]	text underlined	text underlined
head 1	[h1]heading[/h1]	heading	head 1
head 2	[h2]heading[/h2]	heading	head 2
head 3	[h3]heading[/h3]	heading	head 3
paragraph	…[p]new paragraph[/p]	… new paragraph	new paragraph
Ordered Lists	[list] []first item[/] []second item[/] [/list]	first item second item	make a list of items
Numbered List	[enum] []first item[/] []second item[/] [/enum]	first item second item	make a numbered list of items
list item	[]item[/]	item	add an item to a list
code	[code]some code[/code]	some code	some code
simple link	[a]url[/a]	url	simple link
link with text	[a]url\|text[/a]	text	link with text
notebook	[notebook]id[/notebook]	`id`	link to the notebook with the identifier equal to id (the identifier of each device model is written in the page of the device itself, next to the model name)
wifi	[wifi]id[/wifi]	`id`	link to the wifi with the identifier equal to id (the identifier of each device model is written in the page of the device itself, next to the model name)
videocard	[videocard]id[/videocard]	`id`	link to the videocard with the identifier equal to id (the identifier of each device model is written in the page of the device itself, next to the model name)

Compatibility classes

Notebooks

Class A (Platinum): All the notebook devices work with a very good performance.; Example: all the devices work, the 3D acceleration is supported
Class B (Gold): All the notebook devices work but not at full performance.; A typical example: all the devices work, but the 3D acceleration is not supported
Class C (Silver): One main device is not supported.; Example: the internal wifi card does not work. You need an external USB card
Class D (Bronze): More than one device is not supported
Class E (Garbage): The notebook does not work with free software

Printers

Class A (Full): All device functions and features are supported
Class B (Partial): Printing supported but possibly at limited speed or print quality; scanning and/or faxing on some multifunction devices may not be supported
Class C (None): The printer does not work with free software

Scanners

Class A (Full): All device functions and features are supported
Class B (Partial): Scanning supported but possibly at limited speed or quality; some other features may not be supported
Class C (None): The scanner does not work with free software

Discover your hardware

(Thanks lluvia)

In order to know the details of your hardware you can carry out the following actions:

How to discover the model name of your notebook

See below your notebook or netbook

How to discover the model name of your device (if it is not a notebook)

If the device is integrated (example: a video card)

Open a terminal and type the following command:

lspci

lspci > FILENAME          # output to a file

You will obtain the list of your PCI devices, similar to the one written below

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 02)
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G86 [GeForce 8400M GS] (rev a1)

Note: The name of each device is written after the colon (see the text in bold in the above list)

If the device is an USB device (example: an external USB wifi card)

Open a terminal and type the following command:

lsusb -v

lsusb -v > FILENAME          # output to a file

You will obtain the list of your USB devices, similar to the one written below

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0846:4260 NetGear, Inc. WG111v3 54 Mbps Wireless [realtek RTL8187B]
Device Descriptor:
	bLength						18
	bDescriptorType				1
	bcdUSB						2.00
	bDeviceClass				0 (Defined at Interface level)
	bDeviceSubClass				0
	bDeviceProtocol				0
	bMaxPacketSize0				64
	idVendor					0x0846 NetGear, Inc.
	idProduct					0x4260 WG111v3 54 Mbps Wireless [realtek RTL8187B]
	bcdDevice					2.00
	iManufacturer				1
	iProduct					2
	iSerial						3
	...
	...

Bus 002 Device 003: ID 08ff:2580 AuthenTec, Inc. AES2501 Fingerprint Sensor
Device Descriptor:
	bLength						18
	bDescriptorType				1
	bcdUSB						1.10
	bDeviceClass				255 Vendor Specific Class
	bDeviceSubClass			 	255 Vendor Specific Subclass
	bDeviceProtocol			 	255 Vendor Specific Protocol
	bMaxPacketSize0				8
	idVendor					0x08ff AuthenTec, Inc.
	idProduct					0x2580 AES2501 Fingerprint Sensor
	bcdDevice					6.23
	iManufacturer				0
	iProduct					1 Fingerprint Sensor
	iSerial						0
	bNumConfigurations			1
	...
	...

Note: The name of each device is written at the row starting with "idProduct" (see the text in bold in the above list)

How to discover the model name of your notebook

See below your notebook or netbook

How to discover the model name of your device (if it is not a notebook)

If the device is integrated (example: a video card)

Open a terminal and type the following command:

lspci

lspci > FILENAME          # output to a file

How to discover the kernel libre version you are using

Open a terminal and type the following command:

uname -r

How to discover the name of your video card

Open a terminal and type the following command:

sudo lspci

Then look for the row containing the string VGA or Display controller. You can also try one of the following commands:

lspci | grep "Display controller"

lspci | grep "VGA"

How to discover the VendorID and the ProductID of your device (VendorID:ProductID code)

(Thanks Michał Masłowski and Julius22)

If the device is integrated (example: a video card)

Open a terminal and type the following command:

sudo lspci -nnk

You should obtain a list of hardware similar to the one written below

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 02)
	Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
	Kernel modules: ssb
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation G86 [GeForce 8400M GS] [10de:0427] (rev a1)
	Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidiafb

The strings in bold and placed inside the square brackets (in the above list) are the code you are looking for. The first set of digits (before the colon) are the VendorID, the second set of digits are the ProductID. In the above example: the VendorID:ProductID code of the wifi card (note the strings "Network controller" and "WLAN") is 14e4:4311 while the VendorID:ProductID code of the video card (note the string "VGA") is 10de:0427

If the device is an USB device (example: an external USB wifi card)

Open a terminal and type the following command:

sudo lsusb

You should obtain a list of hardware similar to the one written below

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0846:4260 NetGear, Inc. WG111v3 54 Mbps Wireless [realtek RTL8187B]
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 08ff:2580 AuthenTec, Inc. AES2501 Fingerprint Sensor

The strings in bold (in the above list) are the code you are looking for. The first set of digits (before the colon) are the VendorID, the second set of digits are the ProductID. In the above example: the VendorID:ProductID code of the external USB wifi card (note the strings "Wireless") is 0846:4260

How to discover if the video card works

Install rss-glx by means of the package manager of your distribution or compiling it from source and try some screensavers (for example Skyrocket or Solarwinds). Check if you can play the screensaver (and/or if you can play it smoothly)

How to discover if the 3D acceleration works

Try to enable compiz

How to discover the name of your wifi card

Open a terminal and type the following command:

sudo lspci

Then look for the row containing the string Wireless or Network controller. You can also try one of the following commands:

lspci | grep "Wireless"

lspci | grep "Network"

How to discover the printer driver you are using

If you are using cups

Open a terminal and type the following command:

dpkg-query -W -f '${Version}\n' cups

How to discover the architecture of your notebook

Open a terminal and type the following command:

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "lm"

If you get a message like this:

flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts
acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts aperfmperf pni dtes64
monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm lahf_lm

then you machine is x86-64/amd64 capable and you could choose a x86-64/amd64 distro to run on it

Fully free GNU/Linux Distributions

Following are the GNU/Linux distributions we know of which have a firm policy commitment to only include and only propose free software. They reject non-free applications, non-free programming platforms, non-free drivers, or non-free firmware “blobs”. If by mistake they do include any, they remove it. To learn more about what makes for a free GNU/Linux distribution, see GNU Guidelines for Free System Distributions.

All of the distributions that follow are installable to a computer's hard drive and most can be run live.

(listed in alphabetical order)