You can use lspci -n to analyce what hardware is on your system. My new laptop a HP Compaq 8510p gives the following output:
00:00.0 0600: 8086:2a00 (rev 0c) 00:01.0 0604: 8086:2a01 (rev 0c) 00:03.0 0780: 8086:2a04 (rev 0c) 00:03.2 0101: 8086:2a06 (rev 0c) 00:03.3 0700: 8086:2a07 (rev 0c) 00:19.0 0200: 8086:1049 (rev 03) 00:1a.0 0c03: 8086:2834 (rev 03) 00:1a.1 0c03: 8086:2835 (rev 03) 00:1a.7 0c03: 8086:283a (rev 03) 00:1b.0 0403: 8086:284b (rev 03) 00:1c.0 0604: 8086:283f (rev 03) 00:1c.1 0604: 8086:2841 (rev 03) 00:1c.4 0604: 8086:2847 (rev 03) 00:1d.0 0c03: 8086:2830 (rev 03) 00:1d.1 0c03: 8086:2831 (rev 03) 00:1d.2 0c03: 8086:2832 (rev 03) 00:1d.7 0c03: 8086:2836 (rev 03) 00:1e.0 0604: 8086:2448 (rev f3) 00:1f.0 0601: 8086:2811 (rev 03) 00:1f.2 0101: 8086:2828 (rev 03) 01:00.0 0300: 1002:9581 01:00.1 0403: 1002:aa08 02:06.0 0607: 1180:0476 (rev b9) 02:06.1 0607: 1180:0476 (rev b9) 02:06.2 0c00: 1180:0832 (rev 03) 02:06.3 0805: 1180:0822 (rev 20) 02:06.4 0880: 1180:0843 (rev 10) 10:00.0 0280: 8086:4229 (rev 61)
Copy the result from the above command and visit the address Debian GNU/Linux device driver check page and paste it into the window.
In my case the result was presented like this:
| PCI ID | Works? | Vendor | Device | Driver | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80862a00 | Yes | Intel Corporation | Mobile Memory Controller Hub | intel-agp | v2.6.21 |
| 80862a01 | - | Intel Corporation | Mobile PCI Express Root Port | ||
| 80862a04 | - | Intel Corporation | Mobile HECI Controller | ||
| 80862a06 | - | Intel Corporation | Mobile PT IDER Controller | ||
| 80862a07 | - | Intel Corporation | Mobile KT Controller | ||
| 80861049 | Yes | Intel Corporation | 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection | e1000 | v2.6.21 |
| 80862834 | - | Intel Corporation | 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI #4 | ||
| 80862835 | - | Intel Corporation | 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI #5 | ||
| 8086283a | - | Intel Corporation | 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI #2 | ||
| 8086284b | Yes | Intel Corporation | 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller | snd-hda-intel | v2.6.21 |
| 8086283f | - | Intel Corporation | 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 | ||
| 80862841 | - | Intel Corporation | 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 | ||
| 80862847 | - | Intel Corporation | 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5 | ||
| 80862830 | - | Intel Corporation | 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI #1 | ||
| 80862831 | - | Intel Corporation | 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI #2 | ||
| 80862832 | - | Intel Corporation | 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI #3 | ||
| 80862836 | - | Intel Corporation | 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI #1 | ||
| 80862448 | Yes | Intel Corporation | 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge | i810_rng,hw_random | |
| 80862811 | - | Intel Corporation | Mobile LPC Interface Controller | ||
| 80862828 | Yes | Intel Corporation | Mobile SATA IDE Controller | ata_piix | v2.6.21 |
| 10029581 | - | ATI Technologies Inc | no information | ||
| 1002aa08 | - | ATI Technologies Inc | no information | ||
| 11800476 | Yes | Ricoh Co Ltd | RL5c476 II | yenta_socket | v2.6.21 |
| 11800476 | Yes | Ricoh Co Ltd | RL5c476 II | yenta_socket | v2.6.21 |
| 11800832 | - | Ricoh Co Ltd | R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller | ||
| 11800822 | Yes | Ricoh Co Ltd | R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter | sdhci | v2.6.21 |
| 11800843 | - | Ricoh Co Ltd | no information | ||
| 80864229 | - | PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN Network Connection |
This makes it easier to determine which device drivers I’m missing and might have to compile for the kernel.