this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Unlike Windows Linux has almost all drivers already embedded onto the kernel, meaning that 99% of the time you shouldn't even have to worry about drivers. There are a couple of exceptions to this, most notably NVIDIA GPUs which do require a proprietary driver to be installed for most usecases, and unfortunately some wireless cards as well.
The command
lspcilike many suggested here will let you know what your computer detects as being plugged in, which would allow you to ask the better question of "what driver do I need for this wireless card". But here's the thing, if it works on Ubuntu 23.04 it's likely the driver is integrated in the kernel already, so it's highly likely that any other distro with the same kernel version would work as well, you can check the kernel version runninguname -a, and you can also try any bleeding edge distro such as Manjaro (so you have a GUI to check the wifi works) to check that other distro a with the same kernel do support it.In the unlikely scenario Ubuntu 23 is loading an extra driver you can list all kernel modules using
lsmodthis should tell you exactly what Ubuntu 23 has loaded for it. Then you could see if a package for that module is available for older Ubuntus.However I have a possibly dumb question, why not use Ubuntu 23.04 if that one works? Why do you want to downgrade the version?
Thank you for the clarification. I already know that most drivers are loaded with the kernel, and it looks like Ubuntu 23.04 is using a slightly newer kernel than other mainstream distros.
That's a very good question. It is because I was using Kubuntu 23.04, and I was mostly happy with it, except for one small gripe I was facing related to KDE, and I figured if I try a different distro with KDE, I might actually solve it.
You know you can install KDE/Plasma on Ubuntu, right? There's no need to reinstall the whole thing just to change the DE.