Installing drivers on Ubuntu

Thread Starter

ArakelTheDragon

Joined Nov 18, 2016
1,362
Hi!

I have drivers for Ubuntu 10 for my PC, but I don't know how to install them. All I see is some ".deb" files and and an ".sh" file. How to install them?

Driver
 

bogosort

Joined Sep 24, 2011
696
Hi!

I have drivers for Ubuntu 10 for my PC, but I don't know how to install them. All I see is some ".deb" files and and an ".sh" file. How to install them?

Driver
The .deb extension indicates that it is a Debian/Ubuntu package file, and so should ideally be installed by the system's package manager. If you look inside the .sh file, you'll see that it's a bash script that (after sourcing some other script) calls apt-get on the package. You should try that first.

If that doesn't work, you can try hand-installing the package file by running dpkg directly. As root (or with 'sudo'), run "dpkg -i filename.deb".
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
12,998
Be careful installing some unsigned driver. While Linux is pretty safe the install is done at root privilege so be sure it's from a trusted source.
 

Thread Starter

ArakelTheDragon

Joined Nov 18, 2016
1,362
#0. Thanks. I saw more than 1 ".deb" file in the package and when I ran the ".sh" file it did not work for some reason. This is why I ask. The drivers are from the official "dell" website as they offer this computer with Windows or Ubuntu.

EDIT: I can't seem to check if the drivers are installed, is there anything like a "device manager" in Ubuntu?

#1. Ubuntu 10 is a Linux operating system. It is not the newest(newest is 18.04), but my laptop is built for it, so I might be able to use the drivers on 18.04. Given that "Windows 10" is bad on the performance and takes away our privacy to a very big degree, maybe its time to consider passing on linux. A few of my tools do not work, but I can play with Linux for now.
 

bertus

Joined Apr 5, 2008
22,266
Hello,

Keep in mind that a lot of drivers are kernel dependend.
Using a driver that is written for a newer kernel, might give an instable system.

Bertus
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,220
Ubuntu 10 is a Linux operating system.
No. There is no Ubuntu 10.

There was an Ubuntu 10.04, and an Ubuntu 10.10, but each of those are nearly 9 years old, and support for them has ended long ago.

...but my laptop is built for it,
Not likely, unless it was one of those rare laptops that shipped with Ubuntu. In any case, stick with an actively supported LTS version -- currently Ubuntu 16.04 or 18.04.

If either of these are too "weighty" for your hardware, use Lubuntu.

The driver you require will likely already be integrated in the distribution.
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,220
Despite that I am using v18.04, I still would like to use the drivers because they should improve the performance.
There is nothing in 10.10 that will perform better than a modern driver compiled for the kernel supplied with 18.04. Again, the Dell driver that needed to be installed manually in 10.10 is likely by now compiled as a module into the kernel. If not, you will either a) need to compile your own driver module from source code, or b) find a binary version compatible with your current kernel (unlikely).

The command to determine which driver modules are installed is lsmod.
 

Thread Starter

ArakelTheDragon

Joined Nov 18, 2016
1,362
OK, thanks! I have a problem with the touchpad, some things get erased by themselves because there is no protect function. This is all for this thread.
 
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