drivers for linux

[localITguy]

Okay. i am not berry gud at linux, (windows mostly) so how to install drivers in linux? using fordora

if all can work properly means no need install drivers already?

 

[davidktw]

Okay. i am not berry gud at linux, (windows mostly) so how to install drivers in linux? using fordora

if all can work properly means no need install drivers already?

Normally for Linux, the community have provided all the necessary drivers. If your hardware is working properly, you can use these stock drivers. The vendors normally model their hardware using existing drivers interfaces natively in the Linux kernel.

Some specialized hardwares such as graphic cards, audio cards for example, but require specific vendor specific drivers to get better performance or more features. Vendors if they support Linux will supply these drivers as binaries or source code. The later will require compilation. Sometimes you will also find drivers even though they are binaries, may still require compilation since there are a few different distributions and the interfaces may differs. Also across various kernel versions, there are times interfacing codes require compilation since these drivers may require tight coupling with the kernel space.

A few mode of distribution I see are
1) redhat(rpm) or debian(deb) packages. Less common are pacman for arch linux.
2) Source code with build scripts
3) packages in ZIP or TAR.GZ/BZ2 with installers.

There may be dependencies for some cases, which you will either need to read the README first or any documentations supplied by the vendor via their webpage or part of the packages.

There is no standardise approach to drivers distribution in Linux environment. In most cases, modern Linux distributions such as REDHAT, UBUNTU, SUSE covers drivers space either working with the vendors or community effort.

 

[localITguy]

Normally for Linux, the community have provided all the necessary drivers. If your hardware is working properly, you can use these stock drivers. The vendors normally model their hardware using existing drivers interfaces natively in the Linux kernel.

Some specialized hardwares such as graphic cards, audio cards for example, but require specific vendor specific drivers to get better performance or more features. Vendors if they support Linux will supply these drivers as binaries or source code. The later will require compilation. Sometimes you will also find drivers even though they are binaries, may still require compilation since there are a few different distributions and the interfaces may differs. Also across various kernel versions, there are times interfacing codes require compilation since these drivers may require tight coupling with the kernel space.

A few mode of distribution I see are
1) redhat(rpm) or debian(deb) packages. Less common are pacman for arch linux.
2) Source code with build scripts
3) packages in ZIP or TAR.GZ/BZ2 with installers.

There may be dependencies for some cases, which you will either need to read the README first or any documentations supplied by the vendor via their webpage or part of the packages.

There is no standardise approach to drivers distribution in Linux environment. In most cases, modern Linux distributions such as REDHAT, UBUNTU, SUSE covers drivers space either working with the vendors or community effort.

Thanks for the reply.

by the way, what's the difference between redhat and debian distros? ( no need go to history. the main difference will do.

besides their package management system (rpm,deb) and yum and sudo apt-get right?

anything else?

Thanks for the reply

 

[davidktw]

Thanks for the reply.

by the way, what's the difference between redhat and debian distros? ( no need go to history. the main difference will do.

besides their package management system (rpm,deb) and yum and sudo apt-get right?

anything else?

Thanks for the reply

The main differences will be the following
1) Packaging Manager and the availability of software distributed under its own repository and also possible 3rd party repositories
2) System and application file structure e.g.: /etc/rc*, Apache webserver filestructure
3) Different defaults installation settings
4) Different configuration in system components such as boot loader settings, firewall setup, etc

I can't be exhaustive and some things are kinda subtle. Debian is a distro, but there are other distro like Ubuntu also falls under debian variant, uses its packaging manager, but over the years have grown radically different from the original debian distro. Likewise for Redhat. Redhat is one of the early distro, but there are a lot of other redhat variants having their own set of system design philosophies.

Some distro are more prudent in using earlier release of kernel, utilities and applications. Some distro are more bleeding edge using the latest stable versions of the softwares.

 

[localITguy]

Thanks again.