[ubuntu-uk] Locking in the wireless drivers

[Daniel Llewellyn]

Debian (and thus Ubuntu) has the feature of DKMS which allows a package to
flag to apt that it needs reconfiguring after a kernel update. AFAIK, dpkg
will run the configure step of installation again for those so-flagged
packages to give them a chance to recompile any kernel interfaces.

The nvidia and fglrx (amd/ati) drivers, for example, utilise DKMS to
recompile their shim between the binary proprietary driver and the gpl
kernel to allow them to get away with not licensing their driver under the
GPL (rant away over this pseudo-gpl-violation, please! :-p).

DKMS requires the package maintainer to jump through some hoops, but once
that's done the end-user experience is vastly improved.


On 23 April 2013 10:24, Kris Douglas <krisdouglas at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I do believe this depends on the card in use, some drivers have
> slightly different conditions compared to others. I know for example
> some modules recompile themselves when the kernel is updated. I'm
> confident Linux Emporium choose devices that work exceptionally well
> with Linux (or specifically Debian-derived distributions).
>
> Kris
>
> On 23 April 2013 09:59, Rowan Berkeley <rowan.berkeley at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > You recall we talked about the hassle of having to re-install wireless
> > drivers after every kernel update. I've noticed that neither of the
> Lenovo
> > machines which I got from Linux Emporium suffers from this problem:
> they've
> > both received multiple kernel updates. So I rang Linux Emporium to see
> if I
> > could find out how they lock the wireless drivers in so effectively. What
> > they said was that they use the Debian packages when converting the
> Lenovo
> > machines to Ubuntu, and that these Debian packages contain the
> wherewithal
> > to lock the wireless drivers in permanently. Does this make sense, and if
> > so, could the relevant material be incorporated directly into Ubuntu?
> >
> > Rowan
> >
> > --
> > ubuntu-uk at lists.ubuntu.com
> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
> > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
>
>
>
> --
> Kris Douglas MBCS
>  www.krisd.eu
>
> --
> ubuntu-uk at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
>



-- 
Daniel Llewellyn
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