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Does the systems reads the firmware of the device and knows it behavior features and functions or does Ubuntu have all the device drivers in a database?

Rinzwind
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Louis Alain Desire Bastien
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  • Welcome to AU! It'd be nice if you accept the answer resolving your question and vote up helpful and/or constructive answers. – David Foerster Oct 14 '13 at 14:47

3 Answers3

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There is a command for that, and it probes the device:

Command

ieee1284_get_deviceid

This function is for retrieving the IEEE 1284 Device ID of the specified device. The device is specified by the port to which it is attached, and optionally an address (daisy) on the daisy chain of devices on that port.

Example

A printer setup tool detects an HP LaserJet 3390 on the local USB by getting the following IEEE-1284 device ID:

MFG:Hewlett-Packard;
CMD:PJL,PML,MLC,POSTSCRIPT,PCLXL,PCL;
MDL:HP LaserJet 3390;
CLS:PRINTER;
DES:Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 3390;
MEM:MEM=53MB;
1284.4DL:4d,4e,1;
COMMENT:RES=1200x1;

By the way there is also an on-line database that can be accesses using wget: https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/Database/Query

Rinzwind
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Yes, Linux (as well as Windows) is usually able to identify devices without the help of an operator. In addition it has (generic) drivers for many common devices, which Ubuntu ships by default, and there are programs running in the background watching for new devices, that need their driver loaded. Windows does roughly the same thing.

The main difference are their sets of shipped device drivers. I wouldn't say that either Linux or Windows have a larger set of drivers, but it's not unusual to find a device which runs out of the box on one but not the other.

David Foerster
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Answer is yes. Unlike Windows, Ubuntu can detect any kind of device without installing prior device drivers externally. It has got all kinds of Generic drivers inbuilt which are required on daily purpose.

ProPlayerMaxUltra
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  • I disagree with your statements. Windows has a large amount of generic device drivers too and tough there are a lot of drivers in the Linux kernel, they need a lot of work from user space (which is technically not part of "Linux") to run automagically. The Linux driver model favours in-tree drivers, whereas Windows favours separate drivers – for technical and licensing reasons. – David Foerster Oct 13 '13 at 19:11
  • Thanks for explaining. Actually I'm newbie in Linux. So I just thought like that. – ProPlayerMaxUltra Oct 14 '13 at 04:42