+tinc works on Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris. These are the three platforms
+that are supported by the universial TUN/TAP device driver, so if
+support for other operating systems is added to this driver, perhaps
+tinc will run on them as well. Without this driver, tinc will most
+likely compile and run, but it will not be able to send or receive data
+packets.
+
+@c ==================================================================
+@subsection 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. Take care however, we haven't been able
+to really test it yet. If you want to run tinc on another platform than
+x86, and want to tell us how it went, please do so.
+
+tinc uses the ethertap device that is provided in the standard kernel
+since version 2.1.60, so anything above that (2.2.x, 2.3.x, and the
+2.4.0-testx (which is current at the time of this writing) kernel
+versions) is able to support tinc.
+
+
+@c ==================================================================
+@subsection FreeBSD
+
+tinc on FreeBSD relies on the universial TUN/TAP driver for its data
+acquisition from the kernel. Therefore, tinc suports the same platforms
+as this driver. These are: FreeBSD 3.x, 4.x, 5.x.
+
+
+@c ==================================================================
+@subsection Solaris
+
+tinc on Solaris relies on the universial TUN/TAP driver for its data
+acquisition from the kernel. Therefore, tinc suports the same platforms
+as this driver. These are: Solaris, 2.1.x.
+
+
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c Preparing your system
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c
+@c
+
+@c ==================================================================
+@node Installing tinc - preparations, Installing tinc - installation, Introduction, Top
+@chapter Installing tinc: preparations
+
+This chapter contains information on how to prepare your system to
+support tinc.