Minimum Hardware Requirments

IMPORTANT LINKS: Mandriva Hardware Database - Mandriva Users Harware Help - AIGLX - XGL

Nailing down a definitive list of hardware that Mandriva will and will not run on is not an easy task, as the world of Linux support drivers is a moving target.

However, based on the information from the Mandriva web site here's a place to start:

Basic Desktop & Server (standard KDE, GNOME, IceWM, etc.):

CPU:

• All Pentium, Celeron, Athlon, Duron, Sempron, K6 and Via C3 processors

• 128 MB minimum, 256 MB recommended

• 1.5 GB minimum, 4 GB recommended (Discovery/Lx)
• 500 MB minimum, 4 GB recommended (PowerPack and PowerPack+)
• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, DVD-ROM required for PowerPack and PowerPack+

• Most Controllers supported in non-Raid mode

• NVIDIA®
• ATI™
• Intel® i8xx and i9xx

• All Sound Blaster and AC97 compatible cards

3D Desktop Support (AIGLX / XGL):

The 3D accelerated desktop envionment requires more system resources in order to function properly. It has been recommended that a system be at least a Pentium III (or equivalent) and have at least 256MB of RAM. It also requires a 3D accelerated graphics card.

There are two 3D graphical environments used in Mandriva's 2007 release. They are AIGLX and XGL. Each of these systems are similar but work slightly different from one another.

According to each of the development websites, these are the graphics cards that will and will not work with them at this time:

AIGLX

Known Working

• ATI: Radeon 7000 through X850 (r100 through r400 generations)
• Intel: i830 through i945

• Intel: i810. Should work but not tested.
• 3dfx: voodoo3 through voodoo5. Might need NV_texture_rectangle emulation.

• ATI: Rage 128. Looks like driver locking issue.
• ATI: Mach64. No DRM support in Fedora, still insecure.
• Matrox: MGA G200 to G550. Needs at least a driver update to fix DRI locking. PCI cards probably have other issues as well.
• nVidia: Any. No open DRI driver. Closed driver support coming soon though.
• 3dfx: Voodoo 1 and 2. No DRI driver.
• ATI: Radeon 8500 through X850 with the closed fglrx driver. Uses an ancient version of the DRI driver API that can't work with the new driver loader. No ETA on closed driver support.
• Anything without a free 3d driver.

• via, s3 savage, sis. No intrinsic reason why these wouldn't work, as far as we know, but no one has tested them yet.

XGL

Known to work / potentially working

• Intel graphics chips need the newest packages of Xgl and compiz for running flawlessly.
• NVIDIA cards need the proprietary driver for running Xgl. Currently you will need to uninstall and reinstall the xgl rpm after installing the proprietary NVidia driver.
• NVIDIA GeForce 4xxx series - XVideo is not accelerated on these cards.
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5xxx series, Quadro FX series - Accelerated XVideo is hitting a slow path on these cards, it is under investigation.
• NVIDIA GeForce 6xxx series
• NVIDIAGeForce 7xxx series
• ATI - Mobility Radeon 9700 SE: Xgl running with proprietary fglrx driver 8.23
• ATI - Radeon X300: Xgl running with proprietary fglrx driver 8.23

• Intel i915, i945 - Accelerated XVideo is broken on these cards.
• ATI - Mobility Radeon M6 LY (7000), Mobility Radeon M9 (9000) and Mobility Radeon M9+ (9200)
• ATI - Radeon 9200
• ATI - Radeon XPRESS 200M 5955 (PCIE)
• Intel - i855GM
• Intel - i815, i845