Hardware recognition?

inode · 2010-02-15 06:50:54

Hello all,

I've never tried Arch before but I'd like to. I can't stand the windowzian Ubuntu approach anymore...

What I liked the most in Ubuntu was the excellent hardware recognition - I could install it on an external USB drive and carry it around, plug it in different computers, laptops, etc. and it would automatically recognize the new hardware.

I don't know if this depends on the kernel configuration, or custom distro scripts, or other.

So my question is, is it possible to have the same in Arch? And if so, how?

Thanks in advance for your answers

Last edited by inode (2010-02-15 06:51:57)

ewaller · 2010-02-15 07:15:57

Arch depends heavily on loadable modules which are instantiated at boot time based upon the hardware that is discovered (Which is what you want). The alternative is to build a custom kernel and build in the drivers for a specific machine.

The only thing about Arch, is that it favors modern 32 and 64 bit Intel/AMD processors. If it is an older machine you will likely have problems. Likewise, Arch is either 32 bit or 64 bit. You can use 32 bit Arch on a 64 bit machine, but not vice-versa.

The other place you can get into trouble is when the disk configuration of your target machines differ. Drive assignment could differ based upon number and type of hard disks, optical disks, and the type of controllers they use. These problems would also be present with Ubuntu.

In general, I would expect Arch to perform in a manner similar to Ubuntu. It might be required to "pacman" new packages when encountering some hardware for the first time, but again, the same would hold true for Ubuntu. I refer to things such as printer drivers, wireless drivers, etc...

rasat · 2010-02-15 07:17:29

Take a look in Wiki about HAL:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HAL

If you are using KDE, the "Device Notifier" widget does well.

inode · 2010-02-15 07:40:05

rasat wrote:

Take a look in Wiki about HAL:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HAL
If you are using KDE, the "Device Notifier" widget does well.

I don't like KDE very much. I tend to use Openbox, or Gnome. Hope it works anyway.

inode · 2010-02-15 07:44:01

ewaller wrote:

The other place you can get into trouble is when the disk configuration of your target machines differ. Drive assignment could differ based upon number and type of hard disks, optical disks, and the type of controllers they use. These problems would also be present with Ubuntu.

Ubuntu uses UUIDs, so there's no problem with drive assignment.

ewaller wrote:

In general, I would expect Arch to perform in a manner similar to Ubuntu. It might be required to "pacman" new packages when encountering some hardware for the first time, but again, the same would hold true for Ubuntu. I refer to things such as printer drivers, wireless drivers, etc...

But if I only used hardware for which I have added support in a custom kernel (as modules), and no nvidia etc., that shouldn't be needed right?

Thanks again.

ewaller · 2010-02-15 09:04:23

Inode,

Yes on both counts. My take was on your desire to plug it into different machines and have it work. In the case of UUIDs, they will be unique to the computer on which you try to run. The only UUIDs that will follow you around are for those volumes on the drive you take with you.

Likewise, I was considering what would happen if one of those new computer configurations happened to have a different video card, NIC, etc...

inode · 2010-02-15 09:56:43

ewaller wrote:

Yes on both counts. My take was on your desire to plug it into different machines and have it work. In the case of UUIDs, they will be unique to the computer on which you try to run. The only UUIDs that will follow you around are for those volumes on the drive you take with you.

Ah, ok then. When you warned about possible problems with different drive assignment based upon number and type of HDs and controllers, I thought that meant Arch is using the /dev/xxN format to identify volumes at boot (in Grub's config) instead of UUID strings.

So, Re my original question there should be no differences between ubuntu and arch. Am I correct in stating that as long as arch knows where to find my boot & root partitions (using UUIDs) and has all the needed modules for any "new" hardware, then it should work like ubuntu as far as hardware recognition is concerned?

ewaller · 2010-02-15 17:24:44

I would say yes, provided you stay away from pre x686 processors

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-15 06:50:54

Hardware recognition?

#2 2010-02-15 07:15:57

Re: Hardware recognition?

#3 2010-02-15 07:17:29

Re: Hardware recognition?

#4 2010-02-15 07:40:05

Re: Hardware recognition?

#5 2010-02-15 07:44:01

Re: Hardware recognition?

#6 2010-02-15 09:04:23

Re: Hardware recognition?

#7 2010-02-15 09:56:43

Re: Hardware recognition?

#8 2010-02-15 17:24:44

Re: Hardware recognition?

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