I just got a new laptop, the Colorful Rimbook L1, and I booted into Fedora using a live USB. Unfortunately, several things like the trackpad and Bluetooth aren't working at all. I have the driver file from the manufacturer, but it's in a .zip and meant for Windows, where it's installed via a .bat file. I wiped the SSD to reinstall Windows, but it didn't recognize any drivers either since the trackpad, WiFi, and Bluetooth are all non-functional. I really wanted to use Fedora, and I also tried EndeavourOS, which worked okay except for Bluetooth. Can anyone help me with how to install drivers on Linux?
4 Answers
To manage drivers on Linux, you generally place new drivers in specific directories and update the initramfs. Personally, I've only worked with older GPU drivers, but that’s the basic idea.
You might want to give Manjaro a shot since it's based on Arch Linux. It generally provides better hardware support out of the box.
Typically, Linux includes drivers within the kernel itself. If your hardware isn't working during the live boot, it might be that it's not fully compatible with Linux. Fedora emphasizes free and open-source software, so you might want to try using a different distribution like Ubuntu, which supports a broader range of hardware. This approach can help determine if your laptop's hardware is Linux-friendly.
What people commonly refer to as 'drivers' are actually kernel modules. The kernel version matters a lot; certain distributions, like Ubuntu LTS, come with better support for either newer or older hardware depending on the default kernel stack. You can load a kernel module using `insmod` and remove one with `rmmod`. Just remember that the driver needs to match your kernel version! For instance, printer drivers are unique and just require text files to describe the printer's capabilities.
No thanks, I'm already on EndeavourOS.