----- Original Message -----
From: "Hugo Mills" <hugo@???>
To: "Hampshire LUG Discussion List" <hampshire@???>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 7:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Hampshire] How does Linux handle devices?
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07:26
>>On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 06:59:53PM +0100, Rob Malpass wrote:
>> I have a bit of spare time shortly (no OU course from June until next
>> February) and I'd like to fill a yawning gap (one of many!) in my Linux /
>> UNIX knowledge - how does Linux handle devices? Can anyone recommend a
>> good source? I'd be happy with a web link or a book. I've hunted
>> around and not found exactly what I'm after.
> It's not too clear what sort of information you're after. Could you
> expand a bit?
>
> Hugo.
I guess what I really need is something that explains the contents of /dev
For example, last time I recompiled a kernel (years ago on Slackware) I lost
sound and it occurred to me I had no clue where to start to bring it back
(this was before the days of good installers handling all of this for you -
though I do notice in passing that the latest Slack installer doesn't seem
much different!). Recently I was playing with an install of FC8 and it
couldn't get my graphics card to work. It dumped me out to the command
line and someone told me to install the drivers - ok simple apt-get install
whatever.rpm but then how to make the system notice the drivers?
One reason I'm interested is I have a laptop which can only connect to my
WLAN via a Netgear USB dongle (long story - but that's the case). I'd like
to ditch XP (for which the drivers exist) and install Ubuntu but I'd have no
clue how to proceed if either the dongle wasn't recognised on install or how
I'd go about telling the system to use the drivers once I'd downloaded them.
Hope that makes some sense - I reckon a very basic course in Linux device
drivers is what I need.
Cheers
Rob
