Determining Your Hardware's Chipsets

Most hardware in use in x86 computers today is built around one or more chipsets. A chipset is one or more chips that provide most of the electronic functionality of the device. As I describe shortly, understanding what chipset a device uses is often critical to coaxing the device into a functioning state on an OS.

Note

It is not always necessary to know the chipset used in your hardware. Manufacturers often include drivers for several OSs with their products. As a general rule, knowing the chipset is more critical for unusual OSs that aren't supported by the product's manufacturer than for more common OSs. You should probably check for support by product name before you try to determine the chipset a board ...

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