i have a dell xps410 machine & did a dual boot with opensuse 11. to do that i had to delete a raid 0 array and then i had 2 250GB HDs. at that point i reinstalled windows on hd1 and suse on hd2. when i reinstalled windows i had to download various chipsets, drivers etc. from dell to complete the install of windows.
my question is this: if i want to get rid of windows on hd1 & install just suse on my pc on hd1, will i be able to download and install the various drivers, chipset, etc from dell within the linux environment? or am i screwed and have to keep windows on my machine in order to install the drivers, etc?
Which “drivers” are these? Are they windows drivers? If so it won’t
matter because you won’t be on windows. If there are other things that
are hardware-related there are usually ways to do OS-agnostic things
like flashing firmware without windows… something as simple as a
bootable medium with DOS on it will often work.
Good luck.
emilemma wrote:
> i have a dell xps410 machine & did a dual boot with opensuse 11. to do
> that i had to delete a raid 0 array and then i had 2 250GB HDs. at that
> point i reinstalled windows on hd1 and suse on hd2. when i reinstalled
> windows i had to download various chipsets, drivers etc. from dell to
> complete the install of windows.
>
> my question is this: if i want to get rid of windows on hd1 & install
> just suse on my pc on hd1, will i be able to download and install the
> various drivers, chipset, etc from dell within the linux environment?
> or am i screwed and have to keep windows on my machine in order to
> install the drivers, etc?
>
> thanks for any help!!
>
>
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unless your Dell machine has some exotic piece of hardware/chipset, you will not need to download anything from anywhere. The Linux kernel itself supports A LOT of hardware and chips by default
Just to reiterate -
And as Microchip relates - Your issue with drivers and windows, really has no relation to Linux at all.
Mostly you will find everything has a driver, though I’m not sure I would go so far as to say:
you will not need to download anything from anywhere
Maybe you were asking if there were Linux drivers for your machine on the Dell site. There could be. Dell does now ship some machines with Linux. And most of the big names in the world of PC’s do have or have made some effort to supply Linux drivers. But mostly, the ones you will use will be Open Source and not related to Dell at all.
I’m a little puzzled though, because you say you are already dual booting. So you should know something about the drivers being used on your OS 11.0 system. Earlier in the thread when you said:
will i be able to download and install the various drivers, chipset, etc from dell within the linux environment?
I thought you were suggesting that you might have difficulty accessing Dell or the drivers -working from a Linux desktop. Well, of course you can access and download whatever drivers there are, regardless of whether you use Linux or windows. Though it is likely that 99% of the drivers will be for windows, but if you don’t have windows anymore, you will not need them. Except Perhaps should you need a wireless driver (usually for laptops). If no driver exisits for Linux - You can use the XP driver with ndiswrapper.
The OP may be referring to Dell firmware (not drivers). I have maintained a Windows partition on my laptop precisely to satisfy this need. The firmware installation only works with Windows. That said, in two years running linux on my Dell laptop, I did not once boot Windows for that purpose. YMMV.
i guess what i’m trying to get at is if i download drivers, etc. from dell as files ending in .exe can those be executed within linux and installed without any problem. i just don’t want to load linux and then download something that can’t be executed for what ever reason. i may not need very much, i don’t know for sure, but just trying to play safe to be sure that my machine comes up allright and then works ok.
i’m new at this and not experienced. i don’t want to install linux and then find out i can’t run it for whatever reason.
You should be OK without windows if your only concern is the hardware updates etc. I’ve never had an issue without windows. OK most manufacturers release fixes for windows only but they are, in my experience, infrequent to say the least.
I have put linux on Pc’s that their owners had given up with (ie chuck them away and buy vista): of course said owners are now over the moon and new converts!!! as well as newbies like yourself.
My advice, if you’re not ready to take the plunge, is stick with the dual boot option for now. Or if you’ve got the windows install disk, take the plunge and see…what have you got to lose;)
Having said that, and not wanting to confuse you, it is possible to use them in a Linux application/environment called ‘wine’. Usually to install a windows application. But all this is nothing to do with your question.
And as I mentioned, you MAY need to use a windows driver in certain situation eg: wireless driver/ndiswrapper.
Just know this. Don’t expect to be able to run ‘windows’ games. (Though it is possible, it’s not as easy as put the CD in and away you go).
Linux supplies everything you need from a Desktop and more… WAY more than anything ‘windows’ offers - and for free.