I am running Debian etch at the moment and when I install it I only had a cdrw and a dvd drive. I have ordered my self a dvdrw to replace the cdrw. Now I am wondering one I have fitted it will I need to reinstall the kernel? Or will the boot up process detect the drive and go from there? Its an atapi drive so does that matter, do they all use the same interface so nothing need to doen on my part?

This also applies to other hardware as well if I was t change it. I understand I would need to reconfigure xorg if I chnaged gpu's. But what about things such as a new network card or sound card. What would be the procedure If I replaced them. AAt presen sound and network is onboard.

Thanks in advance Michael

My is that most stuff should be automagically configured by hotplug at startup. A new network card or sound card should be found by hotplug/modprobe at startup and a new kernel module should be loaded instead. If not, there are tools to reconfigure them.

One caveat is that if you've compiled a stock kernel and left out a bunch of the modules like I do with my old machine, then you may have to recompile to get support. But the stock kernel should be pretty good at recognizing new hardware and installing the appropriate module at boot time.

Thanks I just wasnt sure how hardware was handled.

Thanks again
Michael