1.8. Hardware Support
There are billions of devices across hundreds of models and architectures globally. We aim to develop drivers for the most commonly used devices to reach a wider audience. Support is dependent on the specific hardware, as some drivers are tailored to specific devices while others are architecture-specific.
You can check HARDWARE.md for a list of all tested computers.
CPU
Intel: 64-bit (x86_64) and 32-bit (i686) from Pentium II onwards with certain limitations.
AMD: 64-bit (AMD64) and 32-bit.
ARM: 64-bit (Aarch64) with some limitations.
Why aren't CPUs older than i686 supported?
i686 (essentially Pentium II) introduced a variety of features that are crucial for the vortexOS kernel. While it's technically possible to support older CPUs like the i486, doing so would mean losing valuable functions such as fxsave/fxrstor, and we would need to build the userspace without any SSE code. Additionally, i386 lacks atomic operations entirely, making it an unlikely target.
Hardware Interfaces
ACPI
PCI
(USB support coming soon)
Video
VGA - (BIOS)
GOP (UEFI)
LLVMpipe (OpenGL CPU emulation)
(Support for Intel/AMD and others in the future)
Sound
Intel chipsets
Realtek chipsets
PC speaker
(Sound Blaster support coming soon)
Storage
IDE (PATA)
SATA (AHCI)
NVMe
(USB support coming soon)
Input
PS/2 keyboards, mice, and touchpads
USB keyboards, mice, and touchpads
Internet
Intel Gigabit Ethernet
Intel 10 Gigabit Ethernet
Realtek Ethernet
(Support for Wi-Fi and Atheros Ethernet coming soon)
I have a low-end computer, would vortexOS work on it?
A CPU is one of the most complex machines in the world; even the oldest processors are capable of handling some tasks but may struggle with others. The primary challenge with older computers is the limited amount of RAM available (as they were sold during a time when RAM was expensive) and the lack of SSE/AVX extensions (which modern programs use to accelerate algorithms). As a result, some contemporary software may not function properly or may require substantial amounts of RAM to handle complex tasks.
vortexOS itself will generally operate if the processor architecture is supported by the system, but the performance and stability can vary depending on the program.
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