The reason why some drivers do not need to be installed in Ubuntu is that some open source drivers are already built-in in the default Ubuntu installation. Installing a proprietary driver can sometimes make your system unbootable, were it not for the open source drivers that are still installed that enable the system to boot again after.
Why doesn’t Linux require drivers like Windows?
Linux does require drivers . It is just that most Linux drivers come built in while poor Windows users have to hunt them down and hope they work, don’t clobber anything and don’t come with a trojan. The philosophy between Linux and Windows is very different.
While Linux still does indeed lack drivers for some hardware, I believe that the lack of drivers is no longer the largest technological obstacle to Linux adoption. The thing Linux needs to focus mostly on now is completeness, not quantity, of hardware support. Read on, and allow me to explain.
I learned it is just that most Linux drivers come built in while poor Windows users have to hunt them down and hope they work, don’t clobber anything and don’t come with a trojan. The philosophy between Linux and Windows is very different.
How do hardware drivers work on Linux?
These hardware drivers are generally part of the Linux kernel, although bits of graphics drivers are part of Xorg (the graphics system), and printer drivers are included with CUPS (the print system). That means most of the available hardware drivers are already on your computer, included along with the kernel,.
Do I need a Linux driver?
The Linux kernel has a lot of drivers included with the kernel, which means that you rarely need a to install a driver from a third-party source. On the other hand there are quite a few devices for which no Linux driver exists, either in the kernel sources or third party.
The next thing we wondered was; do I need hardware drivers for Windows?
I discovered Windows needs manufacturer-provided hardware drivers before your hardware will work. Linux and other operating systems also need hardware drivers before hardware will work — but hardware drivers are handled differently on Linux.
Do device drivers need to run in kernel mode in Linux?
Device drivers don’t need to run in kernel mode in Linux. It is perfectly possible to run drivers in user mode. For example, the libusb library’s purpose is to write OS-independent USB drivers in user mode. Almost all printer drivers are in user mode.
Will my device work on Linux?
The good news is that, if a device will work on Linux, it’ll probably “just work” out of the box. You may sometimes need to install drivers, but some hardware may just not work at all.