[plug] Hardware compatibility - Russell

[James Elliott]

Hi Russell.

In your e-mail to Russell you said (among other things):

>"I have found that most cdrw's use the generic ide drivers. my mandrake 8+
has no problem with the acer cdrw I use."

This prompts a couple of questions from me, as a new Linux user.

1.  If you have a device which comes with a driver diskette or CD, does it
have to be in a special format to be able to use it with Linux (as distinct
from Windows)?

2.  If you have a Linux driver for a device - how do you load it?

With Windows you usually do something like:
1.  attached the device and make sure it is on
2.  turn on the computer and Windows finds the device while booting up
3.  inert the driver disk when it is asked for
and Bob's your uncle!

How do you connect new devices and load their drivers using Linux?

Kind regards,

James Elliott