Linux Kernel Modules,Windwos Drivers?
 

I had searched Google,somebody said the modules is just like the hardware drivers in windwos.The terminology "module" is used in linuxOS only and are pieces of codes.

But I want to know how many kinds of modules dose the linuxOS have.
Are the modules only do something like drivers in windows?

Are the softwares,*.rpm,modules?

I have downloaded a sound driver for linux throuth a dirver website.But is it a module ?

How a module could install or load to my LinuxOS?

Dont confus with the terminology "module".
Actually if a portion of code or similar needs to be run inside kernel means, we will compile our piece of code and generate an output file. This we call it as module.
Once the module is ready, then we can insert that to Kernel using the command insmod or modprobe.
RPM is a utility for installing software on Unix-like systems, particularly Red Hat Linux. RPM contains modules.

Thank Mr.rocky_siva!!

So the hardware drivers must be modules??

I donwload a sound driver for linuxOS.It's a Tarball.Is it a software contain modules which drive the hardware??

Yes, the hardware drivers must have a module that should be run inside kernel.

Tarball is a file format that can combine multiple files into a single "tarball" file.
Extract the tarball and then look inside the tarball for a README or INSTALL text file... open that, and follow the instructions. Command to extract that is

$ tar xjfv TarBallName.tar.bz2

If you have a Tarball with the "gz" or "tgz" extension, then the command is,

$ tar xzfv TarBallName.tar.gz

hv a look at this link to have more on it..
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=244832

Yes,I'm read the modules-HowTos now.And the TTL line discipline,Executable interpreters,drivers of devices,network and filesystem,system calls.These are the works of modules.

I have read the <Mastering Red Hat Linux 9> written by Michael Jang, so I know the Tarball's options.

I just want to know how to learn the linux by the website just like tldp.org and GNU.org instead of books.Could you tell me ?

tldp and Gnu just give me a bunch of documents without a right order for I linux newbie,Could you give me a reading order ?

Read the documents in the order you like. If you want to know something about compiling kernels, read that article. If you want to know more about working with the command line read something about that.
It is simple as that.

I'm just a beginner,though I have compiled a kernel.But I even did't know each variable’s meaning.I sure the process of moving linux from vmware to physical machine is a longterm.