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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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Linux-Hardware.org - How do you make sense of posted data and results? (Checking Linux hardware compatibility) (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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There does not seem to be a search function for the forum on the Linux-Hardware.org website and I have not found an explanation of how to contextualize the information. I'm currently looking at getting a 2022 Gigabyte AORUS 17 YE5 and l am researching Linux compatibility. LHw has 4 total scans. All were around the end of August/September 2022, and all seem to use an older generic kernel. There are several flagged failures in some of these, but when I click on these, it brings up a long list of other machines that also use the same device and all of these lists of other devices contain working entries. I think this means that, contextually these do work, it just requires a newer kernel that supports them. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

I'm kinda confused about what is meant by "detected" versus "working."

I'm also confused about what the (i) means. I think it means some machines with this hardware have had issues, but I am not sure.

Lastly, on other machines results listings I have seen the test listed as running under Kubernetes and the uefi bios log had a bunch of Microsoft names in the path. That just seems super weird to me. Is there anything else to glean about hardware compatibility and potential gotchas in this data, especially in the context of laptop hardware firmware and proprietary exploitative nonsense? Do you have any other resources I should check for hardware issues before purchasing?

https://linux-hardware.org/?view=computers&year=2022&type=Notebook&vendor=Gigabyte+Technology&model=AORUS+17+YE5

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Here's the github page for the program that's at least partially responsible for that output.

From that page it appears detected means "Device is detected, driver is found, but not tested yet" and working means "Driver is found and operates properly (passed static or dynamic tests)"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If you want to check that a machine you're buying is compatible with Linux, a good place to start is to google how to install drivers for the computer's components on Linux. Check the common problem areas (WiFi, graphics, sound, etc.) and see if you find lots of other people complaining about those components. If you find evidence that a driver is available, or you can't seem to find any info either way, it's probably fine.

I can't really answer the question you had regarding this site you found, but that is my general strategy for checking Linux hardware compatibility.

Also make sure that the retailer you're buying from has a reasonable returns policy, just in case you get it, install Linux (or run it from a live USB, to avoid wiping the disk before you know you're good), and discover something doesn't work.