Ubuntu Hardware Support in Font

Generation Code39 in Font Ubuntu Hardware Support

The age-old criticism that the Linux operating system lags behind Windows in terms of hardware support is long dead. The majority of add-ins, such as digital cameras and printers, will all work with Ubuntu immediately, with little, if any, configuration. In fact, most underlying PC hardware is preconfigured during installation without your knowledge and without further work required. Both your graphics card and sound card should work without a hitch, for example. In addition, nearly all USB and FireWire devices you plug in after installation will be supported. Ubuntu doesn t support a few hardware items. Generally, it s a black or white situation; Ubuntu either works with a piece of hardware or it doesn t. The types of hardware that Ubuntu doesn t support tend to be esoteric devices that rely on custom software provided by the hardware manufacturer. It s also sometimes the case that brand-new models of hardware won t work with Ubuntu because support has yet to be added. However, as soon as a new piece of hardware comes out, work is usually undertaken to ensure that Linux is made compatible with it. This work is carried out by the people who produce the Linux kernel, although sometimes the companies behind the hardware will supply their own code. This means that you can get the latest hardware drivers by grabbing the latest kernel files. This is one more reason why you should regularly update your system online, as explained in 9.

Tip Before you buy a new piece of hardware, why not ask the salesperson if it runs under Linux You can only hope that the salesperson knows or can find out for you. Also, compatibility with Linux is often listed on the hardware box or at the manufacturer s web site (even if you sometimes need to search through the FAQ section to find out about it!).

Unfortunately, unlike with Windows, it s rare to find Linux drivers on the CD that comes with the hardware. Even if you do find a Linux driver supplied, chances are that it will work with only certain versions of Linux, such as Red Hat or SUSE Linux. At the time of writing, Ubuntu has yet to gain the kind of momentum where manufacturers specifically produce drivers for it. But this may change in the future.

Note It s possible to use a program called alien to convert packages designed for other distributions into Ubuntu installation files. This isn t very complicated to do, but may not work very well with driver files because of the subtle differences in where system files are stored across different Linux distributions. You can find more information about alien at www.kitenet.net/programs/alien/. It s contained within the Ubuntu software repositories and can be downloaded using the Synaptic Package Manager, as explained in the Setting Up Online Software Repositories section later in this chapter.

As discussed earlier in this book, Linux is an open-source operating system. This means that the source code underlying Linux programs is available for inspection. This is a good thing when it comes to hardware drivers, because bugs in the code can be spotted and repaired by anyone with an interest in doing so. If you consider that a bug in a graphics driver could mean your PC crashes every five minutes, the value of such an approach is abundantly clear. Unfortunately, some hardware manufacturers don t like to disclose how their hardware works, because they want to protect their trade secrets. This makes it impossible for them to release open-source drivers, because such drivers would expose exactly how the hardware operates. Such companies are not blind to the fact that growing numbers of people use Linux, so they release proprietary drivers, whose source code is not made publicly available.

Note Sometimes, it s actually possible to use Windows drivers under Linux, such as with the NdisWrapper

project (http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/).

Proprietary drivers bring with them a number of problems. The first relates to bugs. To use a proprietary driver is to be at the mercy of the hardware manufacturer s own development and release schedule. If the driver has a serious bug, you ll either have to work around it or put up with troubling issues until the manufacturer offers an update. Additionally, proprietary