Some hardware manufacturers have created devices which are
compatible with MS-DOS and Windows 95/98 only. They seem to
emulate part of the normally available hardware in the devices by
software packages sold together with the device. Specification on
these devices are not presented to the world so it is almost
impossible to write drivers for these devices. Below a list of
devices reported as being Linux incompatible will be given.
Simply put, it is best to avoid hardware which states things
like "Needs Windows" or "Windows only".
Printers
The following is old information and will be removed
in a future version of this document:
Canon LBP-465 printer
Sharp JX-9210 printer
Modems
3Com 3CXM356/3CCM356 and 3CXM656/3CCM656 PCMCIA
AOpen FM56-P and FM56-H
Boca Research 28.8 internal modem (model MV34AI)
Boca Research 33.6 internal modem (model MV34)(Joe
Harjung has succeeded in configuring the modem under
Win95 and then soft booting into Linux with the
modem still working. Filippo is using this modem
under Linux directly without any problems and
without soft booting from Windows. I definitely need
more info on these Boca Research modems.) The Boca
Research 33.6 modem (model M336I) is mentioned to
work with Linux. The only thing that needed to be
done was diabling Plug and Play. Here are the specs
of the modem
Three stickers saying "MC2920A-3.3",
"E6030D 4035-01" and "1721 8011 A"
Chips etc on the board
Cirrus Logic CL-MD3450D-SC-B
Cirrus Logic MD1724-11VC-D
Datatronic VLM301-1??
Omron G5V-1 (2 of them)
AST (?) M628032-20E1
Cirrus Logic CL-MD4450C-SC-A
Abracon 23-040-20
two empty places for additional
chips, one of which might be a Cirrus
Logic CL-MD1724D
4 jumpers for COM port selection
10 jumpers for IRQ selection
other unknown jumpers
Compaq 192 PCMCIA modem/serial card
HP Fastmodem D4810B
Multiwave Innovation CommWave V.34 modem
Megahertz XJ/CC2560 PCMCIA
New Media Winsurfer PCMCIA modem/serial card
Rockwell SoftK56
US Robotics WinModem series
Zoltrix 33.6 Win HSP Voice/Speaker Phone modem