this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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For a given device, sometimes one linux distro perfectly supports a hardware component. Then if I switch distros, the same component no longer functions at all, or is very buggy.

How do I find out what the difference is?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Could be varoius reasons. Some common ones:

  • distros can have different kernel parameters
  • unloaded kernel modules
  • different kernel parameters
  • older kernel/packages
  • missing packages

You can narrow down which distros work and which hardware support is missing. Also look at archwiki for that specific piece of hardware. You can find a lot of useful information even if you don't use Arch.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)
  • distros can have different kernel parameters

  • unloaded kernel modules

  • different kernel parameters

  • older kernel/packages

  • missing packages

how do I find out about these?

Are they specific to my system? Some kind of decision the installer makes? So I would investigate locally on the device?

Or will it be a general distro thing? Am I looking on their website to find out?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

No, look up what drivers/modules/packages your hardware need and load them/upgrade/install on the buggy distro