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CHAPTER 7:CHAPTER 7
Configuration
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of using a computer is
having hardware that you can’t figure out how to make
work. You plug in a new wireless network card and two
hours and nine reboots later, you still don’t have it working;
your new printer looks great sitting on your desktop, but you
can’t get it to print a single letter, let alone a full-color photo-
graph. I wish I could say that with Linux all of your hard-
ware will “Just Work,” as the Mac saying goes, but that
simply isn’t true. Configuring some types of hardware in
Linux can be a challenge.
The situation is far from bleak, though. The Linux kernel is
gaining support for new hardware on a daily basis, and hard-
ware vendors are contributing code and specifications to ker-
nel developers at an unprecedented rate. When I first used
Linux, I had to send my laptop off to a development com-
pany to have an X driver created for it; now configuring my
graphics card is usually simpler than getting it to work under
Windows. Usually.
And that is why I’ve written this chapter: to help you
through the unusual times. Obviously, I can’t be exhaustive
in such a small guide, but I believe you’ll find the following
advice useful in your quest to get your hardware working. At
the very least, this information may make it easier for you to
find, and understand, the available help online.
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