+@node Supported platforms, , tinc, Introduction
+@section Supported platforms
+
+@cindex platforms
+tinc has been verified to work under Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and Solaris, with
+various hardware architectures. These are some of the platforms
+that are supported by the universal tun/tap device driver or other virtual network device drivers.
+Without such a driver, tinc will most
+likely compile and run, but it will not be able to send or receive data
+packets.
+
+@cindex release
+For an up to date list of supported platforms, please check the list on
+our website:
+@uref{http://tinc.nl.linux.org/platforms.html}.
+
+
+@c ==================================================================
+@subsection Linux
+
+@cindex Linux
+tinc was first written for Linux running on an intel x86 processor, so
+this is the best supported platform. The protocol however, and actually
+anything about tinc, has been rewritten to support random byte ordering
+and arbitrary word length. So in theory it should run on other
+processors that Linux runs on. It has already been verified to run on
+alpha and sparc processors as well.
+
+tinc uses the ethertap device or the universal tun/tap driver. The former is provided in the standard kernel
+from version 2.1.60 up to 2.3.x, but has been replaced in favour of the tun/tap driver in kernel versions 2.4.0 and later.
+
+
+@c ==================================================================
+@subsection FreeBSD
+
+@cindex FreeBSD
+tinc on FreeBSD relies on the universal tun/tap driver for its data
+acquisition from the kernel. Therefore, tinc will work on the same platforms
+as this driver. These are: FreeBSD 3.x, 4.x, 5.x.
+
+
+@c ==================================================================
+@subsection OpenBSD
+
+@cindex OpenBSD
+tinc on OpenBSD relies on the tun driver for its data
+acquisition from the kernel. It has been verified to work under at least OpenBSD 2.9.
+
+Tunneling IPv6 packets may not work on OpenBSD.
+
+
+@c ==================================================================
+@subsection Solaris
+
+@cindex Solaris
+tinc on Solaris relies on the universal tun/tap driver for its data
+acquisition from the kernel. Therefore, tinc will work on the same platforms
+as this driver. These are: Solaris 8 (SunOS 5.8).
+
+IPv6 packets cannot be tunneled on Solaris.
+
+
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c Preparing your system
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c
+
+@c ==================================================================
+@node Preparations, Installation, Introduction, Top
+@chapter Preparations