drivers for ubuntu

[Andrew Farris]

On Wed, 2009-08-12 at 21:03 +0530, priyansh purwar wrote:
> i have installed ubunt 8.10 and i want drivers for it..... please tell
> me where it can be available. on internet specialy for wireless
> connections...i am greatful to you
> 

I'm going off on a limb here, and assuming you're thinking of the
'windows way' of installing your OS. So, first of all, do yourself a
huge favor and try to ignore that urge as much as possible, as it will
only hinder your further process.

Now, for the slightly-more-helpful bit :)
Unlike with windows, the vast majority of hardware configurations will
work exactly as expected out-of-box w/ the inbuilt kernel drivers... so
in other words, for most hardware installing drivers is never
necessary.  

The exceptions to this rule are most wireless cards and modems, though.
drivers though, as one of the largest suppliers of wireless chips in the
world (Broadcom) doesn't officially support linux, and most integrated
modems you will find are these funny little devices called 'winmodems',
which also require special attention.  Winmodems, IMHO, are not worth
the trouble to set up, and it would be better to go out and buy a $25
USB/Ethernet modem. Graphics cards also will sometimes require special
proprietary drivers.

In the case of wireless and graphics cards though, Ubuntu provides a
very nice interface for fetching/installing those select 'special'
drivers you need for that hardware. All you need to do is go to "System
> Administration > Hardware Drivers", find the driver/drivers you need
from the list (there's usually only 1 driver per device in need), and
click 'Activate'. The tool will do the rest...just make sure you're
connected to the internet, and/or have your installation CD in the
drive.  

One last note: just let the tool work until it's finished. During the
installation for some drivers, it will look like it has frozen, because
the progress bar isn't advancing...Dont worry! The reason the bar
doesn't advance is that sometimes, when downloading information from the
internet for example, the tool doesn't register any 'progress' having
been made until the download is complete...which can take some time on a
slow connection, so just be patient. If the program actually does
freeze, then the program window will become grayed out... so don't worry
unless that happens.

Hope that helps!

-- 
Andrew
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