Translations by Vincent Gerritsen

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This document covers the basics of working with hardware in a Linux system.

A computer consists of a number of connected devices that are collectively known as computer <emphasis>hardware</emphasis>. <phrase>Kubuntu</phrase> normally configures hardware automatically, but there may be occasions when it is necessary to make manual changes to hardware settings. This section provides information on tools for configuring hardware.

Proprietary Devices

Some devices attached to the computer may need proprietary drivers in order to work properly. Most often, these devices are used for video and wireless networking.

A proprietary driver is a hardware management software application that is not free and open-source. Typically, the software is concealed and controlled by the company selling the hardware.

Most of the devices (hardware) attached to computers should function properly in <phrase>Kubuntu</phrase>. The devices are likely to have <emphasis>free</emphasis> drivers. These drivers can be freely modified by developers, and any problems or incompatibilities with Linux can be fixed.

Some hardware does not have free drivers, usually because the hardware manufacturer has not released details of their hardware which would make it possible to create such a driver for a Linux system. If such a manufacturer has not created Linux drivers, the hardware may have limited functionality or may not work at all.

If an appropriate <emphasis>proprietary driver</emphasis> is available for a certain device, it can be installed in order to allow that device to function properly or to add new features. For example, installing proprietary drivers for certain graphics cards allows for the use of advanced visual effects.

Some computers may not have any devices that can use proprietary drivers, either because all of the devices are fully supported by free drivers or because proprietary drivers are not yet available.

Proprietary drivers are usually maintained by the hardware manufacturer, and so cannot be modified by developers if there is a problem.

Managing proprietary drivers

<phrase>Kubuntu</phrase> ships with an application developed by Ubuntu developers that maintains proprietary drivers. This application is known as <application>Jockey</application> and in <phrase>Kubuntu</phrase> is named <application>jockey-kde</application>&gt;. It can be opened by going to <menuchoice><guimenu>Kickoff Application Launcher</guimenu><guisubmenu>Applications</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>System</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Hardware Deivers</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

Open <application>Jockey</application> by going to <menuchoice><guimenu>Kickoff Application Launcher</guimenu><guisubmenu>Applications</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>System</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Hardware Deivers</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

Find the driver to be enabled and verify the description.

<mousebutton>Press</mousebutton><guibutton>Activate</guibutton> to enable the driver. A password may be required.

It may be necessary to restart the computer to finish enabling the driver; the driver installation process will not always indicate this requirement.

Disabling a proprietary driver for a device:

Find the driver to be disabled and verify the description.

<mousebutton>Press</mousebutton><guibutton>Remove</guibutton> to disable the driver and continue using a free driver, if available. A password may be required.

It may be necessary to restart the computer to finish disabling the driver.

Disks and Partitions

This section provides instructions on how to handle disks and drives such as removable hard disks.

There are several ways to see how much disk space is available on a <phrase>Kubuntu</phrase> system.

Check via the command line

Check via the file manager

Check via Partition Manager

Check how much disk space is available via the command line

At the prompt, type <userinput>df -h</userinput>

Output similar to the following should be displayed:

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/sda5 37G 7.6G 28G 22% / /dev/sda1 122M 50M 67M 43% /boot /dev/sda6 70G 34G 33G 52% /home

The command <command>df</command> reports file system disk space usage. The <userinput>-h</userinput> tells <command>df</command> to make the output human readable.

Check how much disk space is available via the file manager

File managers

The following procedure can be completed with either <application>Dolphin</application> or <application>Konqueror</application>. <application>Dolphin</application> will be shown in this example because it is the default file manager in <phrase>Kubuntu</phrase>.

Open <application>Dolphin</application> by going to <menuchoice><guimenu>Kickoff Application Launcher</guimenu><guisubmenu>Applications</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>System</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>File Manager (Dolphin)</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

<mousebutton>Click</mousebutton> on the <guibutton>Root</guibutton> shortcut button on the left.

To find out how much space is available in the root partition, <mousebutton>right click</mousebutton> in any of the white space in the main window. Select <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem> from the list that is displayed.

Avoid highlighting an icon

When right clicking in the white space, avoid accidentally highlighting any of the folder icons, because this will display information pertaining only to that folder.

Available disk space for the root device

Checking usage via Partition Manager

By default in <phrase>Kubuntu</phrase>, the application <application>Partition Manager</application> is not installed. Please <ulink url="apt:partitionmanager">install the <application>Partition Manager</application> package</ulink> prior to doing the following procedure.

Open <application>Partition Manager</application> by going to <menuchoice><guimenu>Kickoff Application Launcher</guimenu><guisubmenu>Applications</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>System</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Partition Editor (KDE Partition Manager)</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. A password may be required.

<mousebutton>Click</mousebutton> on the device in the <guilabel>Device</guilabel> section in the left-hand side of the main window.

Remaining space can be determined by subtracting the amount in the <guilabel>Used</guilabel> column from the amount in the <guilabel>Size</guilabel> column. The information can also be displayed by <mousebutton>right clicking</mousebutton> on the partition in the list and selecting <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem>.

Available disk space with Partition Manager

How can some disk space be freed up?