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                Linux Device Drivers Demystified
                Looking for the driver for a           [kernel compilation]
                particular device?                      kernel compilation
                [Image]
                James Andrews

                Non-kernel devices

                This section tries to provide help on what devices are in
                the kernel and how to find out more about them.

                Non-kernel devices

                Although in this article we only cover standard kernel
                devices, there are also non-kernel devices that act in a
                similar way. The most important of these are the video
                drivers for X11; see http://www.xfree86.org/cardlist.html
                for a list of which cards are supported.

                Configure.help

                The best place to look is in the Linux kernel help files.
                However, you can normally only access them during a
                compilation of the Linux kernel. If you already have a
                Linux installed and a little experience with Linux, then
                skip over to our kernel compiling article and give it a
                whirl.

                If not, Linuxplanet is here to help. Use the search box
                below to access an online version of the Configure.help
                file.

                search the kernel docs for info on device drivers for...



                Note that the information it returns includes technical
                information aimed at people in the middle of compiling a
                kernel. It should be clear from the results if a particular
                device is supported in the kernel. The searchable files
                supplied are for kernel version 2.2.9. Most of the hardware
                is that is supported is common to the 2.2.x series. If you
                are planning on running a higher version than this, then it
                might be worth looking in on http://kernelnotes.org to see
                if a more recent update does support your devices. If you
                are running a 2.0.x version then the search facility is,
                I'm sorry to say, of little help.

                Have a grep

                If this still doesn't answer your questions about whether
                your particular device is supported or not, then the next
                stage is to look at the Linux kernel sources. I did
                consider writing a CGI to search these as well, but the
                information from C source code is of limited utility to
                people who cannot program C. If you can program in C or are
                feeling adventurous, please look at our kernel installation
                article and get the source. The device drivers are usually
                found in /usr/src/linux/drivers. I have found using a grep
                command for a numerical part of the name of the hardware
                device is quite a good approach. For instance if looking
                for Buslogic BT-950 support

                cd /usr/src/linux/drivers/scsi/
                grep 950 *.[ch] README*

                Would work fine. The README files are sometimes out of
                date, so beware. If this still doesn't give you the answer
                you need, then ask! Linuxplanets online discussion forums
                might be a good place to start.

                 Back: Introduction

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