help me pick a linux distro with a lot of drivers

[rave]

I plan on installing a linux distro but i want to pick one that have a large driver database so i can fit my needs, especially for my network card.

at this piont i am learning how to use RedHat 9.0 from a book. and have no experience with linux(hands on) other than Knoppix and PHLAK (which are bootable from a CD) and don't have drivers for my Network cards, therefore i cannot connect to the internet.

any ideas on what distro?

[mrmister1]

I would try Mandrake. It's an easy Linux distro to learn and has a pretty big driver database.

[bailey]

I use red hat ver 9 and when it installed it detected everything including the network just fine, also it comes with a great user manual that I printed up.

[rave]

should i stick to installing RedHat 9.0 or look into Fedora project which is supported by RedHat? is Fedora worth a try yet?
i read its only like a testing ground for most linux stuff and its "bleeding edge".

[mrmister1]

I would try Fedora. RedHat isn't making RedHat Linux anymore and has moved to Fedora. Although, I'm sure RedHat Linux would work just fine.

[kilgoretrout]

Post your network card. Most common ones are supported. The one on the nforce mbs was not until recently and you had to manually install the driver modules. I believe nforce nics are supported in the current kernels of most of the big distros. Kanotix is like knoppix but it uses a more recent kernel by default. Give it a try and see if your nic is detected; if not, your likely to have problems with other distros. Old isa nics are also a problem with linux.

[rave]

one is an integreated Network Card and its VIA and this is the Southbridge:VIA VT8751

the other is a PCI Network Card and its a Realtek, i can find drivers for this on Red Hat 9.0 but i can also find other drivers for kernels 2.??

whats a kernel? and can i use any driver for a specified kernel number/version?

[J1978]

I am not a linux user (Yet) but i heard from a freind who has tried a few distros that mandrake is one of the best to start with, loads of drivers etc ..

happy switching

[kilgoretrout]

Realtek is well supported and the drivers have been included in the kernel for a long time(8139too); any linux distro should work. Your most likely problem is the dual nics which can cause config problems with most distros' autoconfig tools. I would try disabling your onboard nic in the bios and see if knoppix pics up your realtek and autoconfigures it. Also, check out suse's liveval cd and see how suse handles things. Suse includes more proprietary drivers in their distro but the isos are not freely downloadable. If it works you can consider paying for suse 9.2. Mandrake is a free download and mdk10.1-OE was just released so you can give that a try as well.
Finally, I assume your talking about a standard nic, not a wireless nic. Wireless is a whole new ballgame and much more difficult to configure.

[rave]

i've downloaded and tried Kanotix which you suggested. i actually to my surprise was able to connect to the internet and tried a few command lines in the shell to get me familiarised.
but is a KERNEL something that supports more drivers/hardware?
if so, newer kernels= more compatible hardware...right?

how do i know which kernels to pick?

[mrmister1]

The Linux kernel is what all distros are based on. You can download the newest version here.

[rave]

very stupid and dumb question... bare with me..ok?
a KERNEL is like a patch?
can i update my kernels? like if redhat 9.0 had kernel 2.0, can i update it to 2.6.9

[doctorgonzo]

A kernel is the core of the operating system, the very lowest level of software that operates on hardware. Yes, you can update your kernel to get the latest one.

I've been using Mandrake for over a year (9.2 and now 10.0) and it almost always got my hardware configuration right.

[kilgoretrout]

To answer your question, the kernel determines what drivers are present in linux. These drivers, called modules in linux, can either be compiled into the kernel or loaded as modules during boot. When compiled in, the drivers automatically load at boot; when compiled as a loadable module, certain config files tell linux to load the modules you selected. All this is automatically configured in modern linux distros and livecds based upon hardware detection. New driver modules are added/improved in the kernel all the time as new hardware is developed. Thus, the newer the kernel, the more extensive the hardware supported.
To be added to the kernel, the driver must be open source and comply with the licensing terms of the linux kernel. Some vendors do not want their driver code dislcosed to the public and make third party modules that can be loaded. Graphics card manufacturers typically do this. Nvidia and ati both make linux drivers for their graphics cards which can be downloaded and patched into the existing kernel to get better performance for their graphics cards. Wireless cards is another big area for this. As I noted above, suse tends to include more of these third party drivers in their for pay release as does mandrake in their for pay release as opposed to their free download version. This can save you the trouble of downloading and installing these drivers yourself; a task which newbs usually have trouble with.

[mrmister1]

The Kernel is what all the distros are built on top of.

Yes, you can update to the newest Kernel version.

[rave]

thanks a lot guys....im currently reading up on how to compile kernels so when i get my RedHat up and running i know that my stuff can hardware is compatible.
the kernel 2.6.9 which i'm looking at to download (from http://www.kernel.org which was posted on the 18th of october 2004) ,

can i just update from any other kernel ? (like from eg. 2.0 or have i go through an order 2.0, then 2.1 then 2.2 etc. finally to 2.6.9?