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*DocIndex - Hardware

Compatibility & Drivers II

* CD Writers
* Digital Cameras
* Graphic Cards
* Image Scanners
* ISDN Cards
* Laptops
* Modems
* Ethernet Cards
* Parallel Port Devices
* Printers
* Sound Cards
* USB & Firewire
* Video, TV, Webcams

Related Resources:

Hardware-related HOWTOs and mini-HowTos

Revision / Modified: Sep. 17, 2001 / May 21, 2002
Author: Tom Berger

 

* CD Writers

They are handled by the program cdrecord, either directly from the console or from one of the several graphical frontends. 'Cdrecord' supports almost every IDE/SCSI CD writer in existence.
Your mileage may vary with external burners (parallel, USB, Firewire), though. Check the appropriate sections below for more information on these.

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* Digital Cameras

These are really nice gadgets, although still requiring some larger investment. The program which provides the drivers and the user interface to digital cameras is called gPhoto. They also provide a list of Supported Cameras in gPhoto.

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* Graphic Cards

In contrast to operating systems like MS Windows or Mac Os the graphical subsystem in Linux is not part of the operating system itself, but is handled via a collection of programs, libraries and drivers issued by the XFree86 project, commonly referred to as 'X'.
You'll find more information on supported cards and features supported on these cards, in the Status file. This file will also tell you if you have to revert to an earlier version of X to get a driver for your card.
'XFree' is but one offer to provide a graphical subsystem for Linux. There are also commercial and proprietary alternatives: Xi Graphics and Metro Link. Notice however that especially Xi's offers are quite expensive.
There is also the possibility to run XFree even on unsupported cards by using the framebuffer server.
If you've got an nVidia based card, read nVidia on Mandrake.

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* Image Scanners

Scanners are supported via the program SANE ('Scanner Access Now Easy'). There is a list of scanners supported by SANE.

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* ISDN Cards

The 'isdn4linux FAQ' has a comprehensive list of supported ISDN cards.

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* Laptops

Laptops are highly integrated devices. The built-in graphic chip and pc-cards (former PCMCIA) deserve particular attention.
Linux on Laptops collects installation descriptions and more. The Linux Mobile Guide is an extensive HOWTO. Linux PCMCIA Information... well - I think you can figure out yourself what this page is about ;-). Also have a look at the 'Mandrake Laptop Files' in this section.

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* Modems

All external modems (apart from some USB WinModems, see below) and ISDN TA's work. Support for so-called 'WinModems'(TM), which emulate most of their functionality in software is in its early stages and Lucent has released a binary-only module for cards based on its chipset. Check out Linmodems.org.
If you want to know if your internal modem is a WinModem, go to the WinModems information page.

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* Ethernet Cards

Donald Becker has written many Linux drivers for Ethernet cards. His Linux Network Drivers provides a good deal of information on them, as well as pointers to other network driver resources. Another excellent source is the Linux Ethernet HOWTO.

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* Parallel Port Devices

These are legacy devices, sooner or later to be replaced by USB or Firewire. To get these devices working with GNU/Linux, some tweaking may be required. Linux Parallel Port takes care of gathering information about this topic.

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* Printers

Mandrake supports an array of printer spooler systems, with CUPS being the default system. The spooler system uses Ghostscript.
'Ghostscript' is necessary because most Unix programs traditionally only support printing via PostScript printers which are usually too expensive for the average user. 'Ghostscript' translates the PostScript input from any program to the specific printer language. If your printer understands the PostScript printer language anyway, it should work with GNU/Linux.
'Ghostscript' comes in two versions: 'Aladdin Ghostscript' and 'GNU Ghostscript'. 'GNU Ghostscript' is just a slightly older version of Aladdin and commonly used on GNU/Linux, because the Aladdin license forbids commercial distribution.

Have a look at the Unix Printer Compatibility Database List at Linux Printing to find out if and how good your printer is supported. They also have a list of 'suggested printers'.

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* Sound Cards

The GNU/Linux kernel sound modules are either provided by the Open Sound System (OSS) or the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA), which is intended to replace OSS some time in the future.
If your card is not supported, Opensound provides a quite inexpensive alternative.

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* USB and Firewire

USB support in Linux is implemented by the Linux USB Project (Database of supported devices). Check out The Linux USB sub-system which provides some excellent installation instructions for almost all kinds of USB hardware in Linux.
Firewire (1394) is handled by the Linux1394 Project (Hardware Compatibility List).

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* Video, TV, Webcams

Video and TV is being worked on by the Video for Linux project (also have a look at the VfL Resources page).
The CPiA webcam driver for Linux is actually a subsystem of VfL (i.e. your webcam must be supported by CPiA and your graphics card by VfL). VfL components are already available as modules on your GNU/Linux box.

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Legal: All texts on this site are covered by the GNU Free Documentation License. Standard disclaimers of warranty apply. Copyright LSTB (Tom Berger) and Mandrakesoft 1999-2002.