Fedora/Linux Drivers from ASUS

[loic2003]

Hi all.

So I'm looking for a driver for my ASUS Terminator A7VT400 barebones system to work with Fedora core 4.

If you check the ASUS website it states the VIA 4 in 1 driver package service will work with all operating systems (and is listed to work with linux in some other websites such as driverguide.com). However, when I downloaded the file, it turned out to be a .zip file containing a .exe file. How does all this work?

Is there a decent repositry of third party linux drivers that you people know of?

Also, with all the different distributions of Linux, surely different drivers are needed, or is everything compatible?

What's the regular process for installing drivers?

Further, I've only really got Fedora running well as of last night, and it's een running Up2Date (IIRC) for quite some time now, and has been downloading many tens of Mb of updates, although it was getting late last night and it hasn't downloaded them all or installed them. Coult the mtherboard driver be part of the up2Date packages?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[drag]

Drivers are called 'modules' in Linux-land.

Modules are small peices of kernel code that can be loaded into kernel memory to give certain extra capabilities to the Linux kernel.

The kernel is what sits between the hardware and the OS. As you know the kernel of Fedora Core is called "Linux".

Most, if not all, drivers should be included with your Fedora stuff as part of the kernel package. If during that update you updated the kernel, then all the modules would be updated with that after you installed the kernel and rebooted into the new kernel.

The driver package from Via would be pretty much useless... Generally the default drivers used in the Linux kernel would be of much higher quality then anything you'd get from Via.

The standard procedure for install new modules is to obtain the source code, install the kernel-headers package for your kernel and then compile the module. It's not as difficult as it sounds, after doing it a few times it's usually quite easy.

Basicly everything should work out of the box unless your using a Nvidia or ATI video card in which they have special ways to install their propriatory modules/drivers.

Is there something that isn't working quite right?

 

[loic2003]

Originally posted by: drag
Drivers are called 'modules' in Linux-land.

Modules are small peices of kernel code that can be loaded into kernel memory to give certain extra capabilities to the Linux kernel.

The kernel is what sits between the hardware and the OS. As you know the kernel of Fedora Core is called "Linux".

Most, if not all, drivers should be included with your Fedora stuff as part of the kernel package. If during that update you updated the kernel, then all the modules would be updated with that after you installed the kernel and rebooted into the new kernel.

The driver package from Via would be pretty much useless... Generally the default drivers used in the Linux kernel would be of much higher quality then anything you'd get from Via.

The standard procedure for install new modules is to obtain the source code, install the kernel-headers package for your kernel and then compile the module. It's not as difficult as it sounds, after doing it a few times it's usually quite easy.

Basicly everything should work out of the box unless your using a Nvidia or ATI video card in which they have special ways to install their propriatory modules/drivers.

Is there something that isn't working quite right?

Thanks for the answer. Do you know of a decent newbie guide for installing kernel-header packages + compiling or should I just google it?

Everything seems to be working fine, but there's a 80mm fan in the back that is usually temperature-controlled by the mobo. When I boot into windows, it slows and is quiet, but under fedora it's constantly screaming at max RPM. I might just plug in a rheostat/fan controller and do it manually as per the K.I.S.S. strategy.

As I mentioned, there's a bunch of amodules (RPMs) to be installed, so it may start working fine...

Edit: I have the graphics card driver working perfectly now, which is awesome!

 

[drag]

RPMs are just software packages. It stands for 'redhat package management files'. Linux kernel package is just one of many peices of software that can be installed/updated through yum or up2date.

For the Asus fan control.. I think that requires special support from the OS (which Linux doesn't have). I think it's something special just for Asus boards. I am not sure about this though, not by a long shot. Probably be easiest to go the rheostat route for now.

I know they work with Intel boards, but those are controlled by onboard controllers and not through software.

For documentation there are guides for sysadmin-style things in my sig. Check out linux documentation project link.. the hands-on linux guide and bash introduction guide are usefull.

For fedora there is some online stuff. Here is a glossary they have that will provide many usefull definitions of terms and concepts.
http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/jargon-buster/fedora-glossary.html

For other stuff just google around. There are lots of good resources. Just make sure that they are up to date, (most pages will have last-time-edited dates on them) and that they are relevent to your Fedora stuff.

Also there are Fedora specific forums and IRC channels that may be a helpfull source of information.. although generally they expect that you do your homework first.

Check out how to setup third party repositories like rpmforge or fedora extras for lots of extra software that you can install easily beyond what is offered officially by fedora. That's a lot easier/safer then hunting around for RPM files or dealing with odd installation programs.