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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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determining why/how hardware is supported in one distro but not another? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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

Linux distros I have tried include: ubuntus, debians, fedoras, opensuse, manjaro, endeavour, mint. No slackware, redhat, centos, gentoo, nix, kali, steam.

Good. Some light weight suggestions for your devices to try :

like netbooks I picked up only because they were cheap

Netbooks as in for example Asus EEE models ? I think some of these models had really slow hard disks and also needed some tweaks for some part of the hardware. The difference in your hardware success / failure is perhaps mainly because of the different kernels and the hardware support of a Linux distribution release (btw, Debian 12 aka Bookworm had for the first time non-free firmware bundled with the installer). In general I think refurbished old Thinkpads should be fine with Linux. Here's two dedicated wikis for that :