5. Auto-Detection Facilities And Wireless Support

Auto-Detection Facilities

Hardware auto-detection is equally good under either platform. In our test configuration, all necessary components were identified correctly, during the installation process and (as a result) on the desktop as well. Each of the notebook's internal components was properly identified for installation, in addition to the hot-plug PCMCIA 802.11 card we installed for wireless network access. Even though our test configuration does not match the latest mobility trends, both distributions accurately identified and configured sound, video, and even the touchpad mouse integrated into the Dell Latitude along with new-fangled attachments like a digital camera or an MP3 player.

Wireless Support

For many users, built-in wireless device support is where the path turns rocky, and where a good experience can turn bad. In the past, wireless support under Linux left much to be desired especially for hot-pluggable devices. If a wireless card worked it would often require additional tweaking and twiddling to establish proper connectivity with other devices. Just getting to the point where the card was even recognized could be a chore. It was often necessary to chug through lengthy lists devised by trial-and-error and cobbled together within the Linux community. Users shared their individual and often idiosyncratic secrets to successful installation and operation. No longer is this the general rule. And, for those remaining instances where driver support is lacking, work-arounds (such as using the ndiswrapper utility and a corresponding Windows driver) pave the road to compatibility for some wireless adapters.

Several 802.11 wireless subsystems have been consolidated into a single API to simplify wireless development for Linux. Linux developers began merging generic 802.11 wireless driver support into the mainstream 2.6 kernel in the middle of 2004. This has since grown into a centralized programming interface, and dramatically lowered the time and effort needed to develop drivers for supported devices. Bluetooth stacks and Infra-Red utilities are also included where those devices are present, but our test machine lacked those capabilities so neither of these was explored for this story. Anecdotal and online evidence suggests strongly that those users whose notebooks include such components should be able to get them working without too much stress or strain, however.

For those users in the market for Linux-compatible wireless products (to avoid the need for trial-and-error experimentation and problem solving exercises) online compatibility guides are excellent sources for information and product selection. One of the best sources of information for Linux driver compatibility listings appears at linux-drivers.org. You'll find a link at the bottom of that page for wireless card compatibility listings. Other useful resources include the madwifi.org and the Wireless LAN resources for Linux pages.