1.2. Hardware Dependency

Linux tries to maintain a neat distinction between hardware-dependent and hardware-independent source code. To that end, both the arch and the include directories include 23 subdirectories that correspond to the different types of hardware platforms supported. The standard names of the platforms are:

arm, arm26

ARM processor-based computers such as PDAs and embedded devices

i386

IBM-compatible personal computers based on 80x86 microprocessors

ia64

Workstations based on the Intel 64-bit Itanium microprocessor

mips

Workstations based on MIPS microprocessors, such as those marketed by Silicon Graphics

x86_64

Workstations based on the AMD's 64-bit microprocessorssuch Athlon and Opteron and Intel's ia32e/EM64T 64-bit microprocessors