this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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For a given device, sometimes one linux distro perfectly supports a hardware component. Then if I switch distros, the same component no longer functions at all, or is very buggy.

How do I find out what the difference is?

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[–] bloodfart@lemmy.ml 18 points 7 months ago

How to fix shit that doesn’t work:

Use lspci/lsusb and lsmod to show you what devices are attached to the computer and what kernel modules are loaded presently.

Use the modinfo command to show information about kernel modules.

Use ls /lib/modules/kernel_version/drivers to see what modules are available.

Use your distributions package manager to install more optional modules.

How to figure out if something will work:

Use lspci/lsusb, look for those components and their kernel modules, see if they’re available in the distribution you’re investigating.

To give an example: I use an hp stream 11 for some stuff. It’s a little laptop with a relatively obscure Broadcom wireless card. Rhel removes support for old and unpopular hardware pretty frequently and doesn’t support that network card. To get it working on that little pc I ended up building the module from source (available in the el9 third party repositories) and doing Broadcom-wl manually every time the kernel updates. If I didn’t want to keep my wits about me, I’d make a script to run when uhh yum? upgrades the kernel to run a reinstall of the driver.

[–] eugenia@lemmy.ml 10 points 7 months ago

Three things:

  1. The kernel version they got. I have had hardware that didn't work in one distro but it did on another, but their difference really was that one had kernel 5.11 and then other one 6.5. Big difference in terms of support.

  2. Might not be a matter of driver, but a matter of firmware. If a distro allows the download/usage of third party non-free firmware code or not, a lot more hardware is supported. Not all distros do that.

  3. If it's ubuntu or ubuntu-based. Ubuntu has incorporated a lot of additional drivers/firmwares/support in their kernel versions than most others.

[–] eya@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I feel like 99% of the time it's just "does this distro have drivers for this hardware". If yes it works, if no it doesn't.

[–] Bogasse@lemmy.ml 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

But on Linux aren't most drivers part of the kernel?

[–] linuxPIPEpower@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 7 months ago

I think maybe if there are license issues the distros have different policies? You might need to do some kind of extra step to include certain drivers.

[–] eya@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 months ago

Depends on the hardware. You have to download NVIDIA drivers from your package manager.

[–] linuxPIPEpower@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That's what I'm thinking!

I am asking a really basic question here. How do I find out about the drivers in the distro?

[–] eya@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I mean it depends on the hardware. (if we knew what hardware youre talking about it would make this much easier)

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 2 points 7 months ago

I find Arch based distros have pretty solid hardware coverage. Lots of older hardware support baked in, plus newer kernels ( newer drivers ), and up-to-date device firmware.

The older the kernel, the less hardware is supported ( generally ). That is going to be a big reason for the disparity between distros. But device firmware makes a difference, especially for distros that do not support non-free binaries. Debian has gotten a lot better since they changed that policy for example.

The more desktop centric a distro is, the more likely they are to bundle a broad selection of hardware drivers.

[–] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 1 points 7 months ago