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diff --git a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/kernelconfig/chapter.sgml b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/kernelconfig/chapter.sgml
index dce9c76202..da65ac07fa 100644
--- a/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/kernelconfig/chapter.sgml
+++ b/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/kernelconfig/chapter.sgml
@@ -127,6 +127,90 @@
     </itemizedlist>
   </sect1>
 
+  <sect1 id="kernelconfig-devices">
+    <sect1info>
+      <authorgroup>
+	<author>
+	  <firstname>Tom</firstname>
+	  <surname>Rhodes</surname>
+	  <contrib>Written by </contrib>
+	</author>
+      </authorgroup>
+    </sect1info>
+    <title>Finding the System Hardware</title>
+    
+    <para>Before venturing into kernel configuration, it would be wise
+      to get an inventory of the machine's hardware.  In cases where
+      &os; is not the primary operating system, the inventory list may
+      easily be created by viewing the current operating system
+      configuration.  For example, &microsoft;'s
+      <application>Device Manager</application> normally contains
+      important information about installed devices.  The
+      <application>Device Manager</application> is located in the
+      control panel.</para>
+
+    <note>
+      <para>Some versions of &microsoft.windows; have a
+	<application>System</application> icon which will display a
+	screen where <application>Device Manager</application> may
+	be accessed.</para>
+    </note>
+
+    <para>If another operating system does not exist on the machine,
+      the administrator must find this information out manually.  One
+      method is using the &man.dmesg.8; utility and the &man.man.1;
+      commands.  Most device drivers on &os; have a manual page, listing
+      supported hardware, and during the boot probe, found hardware
+      will be listed.  For example, the following lines indicate that
+      the <devicename>psm</devicename> driver found a mouse:</para>
+
+    <programlisting>psm0: &lt;PS/2 Mouse&gt; irq 12 on atkbdc0
+psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
+psm0: [ITHREAD]
+psm0: model Generic PS/2 mouse, device ID 0</programlisting>
+
+    <para>This driver will need to be included in the custom kernel
+      configuration file or loaded using &man.loader.conf.5;.<para>
+
+    <para>On occasion, the data from <command>dmesg</command> will
+      only show system messages instead of the boot probe output.  In
+      these situations, the output may be obtained by viewing the
+      <filename>/var/log/dmesg.today</filename> and
+      <filename>/var/log/dmesg.yesterday</filename> files.</para>
+
+    <para>Another method of finding hardware is by using the
+      &man.pciconf.8; utility which provides more verbose output.
+      For example:</para>
+
+    <programlisting>ath0@pci0:3:0:0:        class=0x020000 card=0x058a1014 chip=0x1014168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
+    vendor     = 'Atheros Communications Inc.'
+    device     = 'AR5212 Atheros AR5212 802.11abg wireless'
+    class      = network
+    subclass   = ethernet</programlisting>
+
+    <para>This bit of output, obtained using
+      <command>pciconf <option>-lv</option></command> shows that the
+      <devicename>ath</devicename> driver located a wireless Ethernet
+      device.  Using
+      <command>man <replaceable>ath</replaceable></command> will return
+      the &man.ath.4; manual page.</para>
+
+    <para>The <option>-k</option> flag, when passed to &man.man.1;
+      can also be used to provide useful information.  From the
+      above, one can issue:</para>
+
+    <screen>&prompt.root; man -k <replaceable>Atheros</replaceable></screen>
+
+    <para>To get a list of manual pages which contain that particular
+      word:</para>
+
+    <programlisting>ath(4)                   - Atheros IEEE 802.11 wireless network driver
+ath_hal(4)               - Atheros Hardware Access Layer (HAL)</programlisting>
+
+    <para>Armed with a hardware inventory list, the process of building
+      a custom kernel should appear less daunting.</para>
+  </sect1>
+
   <sect1 id="kernelconfig-building">
     <title>Building and Installing a Custom Kernel</title>
     <indexterm>