Drivers for hardware

vande012 · 01-04-2008, 01:01 PM

Where do i go to see if #1. the drivers for the current hardware are installed and running? #2. Where do i put drivers for the hardware after i download them? Pretty basic here but just want to get some insite and then we will go from there

pljvaldez · 01-04-2008, 01:25 PM

Well, let me just say that drivers are handled quite differently than in Windows. Here's a good basic tutorial. But basically, there's a few commands and google that help me out. You can use lspci and lshw to list what hardware is installed on your machine. You can use lsmod to list what modules (drivers) have been loaded (i.e. currently being used). Then I typically use google to figure out which hardware belongs with which module.

Sometimes dmesg | more can help you figure out which drivers are being loaded for which hardware as well.

elliott678 · 01-04-2008, 01:29 PM

2) The drivers will end up in /lib/modules/(kernel name) when it is properly installed. Most drivers must be compiled unless your distro offers a package.

vande012 · 01-31-2008, 08:11 AM

By compiled what is the process to get into the driver "code" and modify it?