HardDrake: Configuring your Hardware

Introduction

Abstract

The HardDrake project has been developed to simplify hardware detection and configuration under GNU/Linux by providing an easy-to-use interface.

Description

HardDrake is a full GUI-based tool which ties many of the tools already included in a GNU/Linux distribution together. It automates and simplifies the process of installing new hardware. For the most part, HardDrake will be able to detect most devices.

On one hand, HardDrake is used to display information, and on the other, it can launch configuration tools. With its easy-to-use interface, you should be able to browse all the hardware your system contains.

HardDrake uses the “ldetect” engine, so if your new hardware is not detected, you may try to upgrade the ldetect library itself and its hardware database, located in ldetect-lst.

Usage

To launch HardDrake, you can start it through:

  • the Mandrakelinux Control Center: click on the Hardware icon. And then you need to click again on another Hardware icon!

  • a terminal: type harddrake2 as root. You can also pass parameters to HardDrake through the command line (type harddrake2 -h to get a list of possible parameters).

  • the desktop: go in the main menu. The HardDrake entry is in the System+Configuration+Hardware->HardDrake sub-menu.

After a wait screen (while device detection goes on), the main HardDrake window will appear (Figure 15.1, “HardDrake –– Selected Device”).

On the left, you can see the device tree showing you all of the hardware categories.

For some categories, you will notice an arrow “>” symbol. By clicking on it, the subtree will be expanded and all detected hardware in this category will be listed.

Figure 15.1. HardDrake –– Selected Device

HardDrake –– Selected Device

By selecting a device, you will see additional information about it in the right frame. You can consult the help page accessible in the Help->Fields description for more information.

In some cases, you will see a configuration button which allows you to configure the selected device. In Figure 15.1, “HardDrake –– Selected Device”, we expanded some parts of the tree and selected a device in one of the categories.

Depending on the device selected, two other buttons may appear:

  • Configure moduleThis pops up a window with all the module device parameters listed. For experts only!

  • Run config toolLaunches the Mandrakelinux configuration tool (available through the Mandrakelinux Control Center) associated with that device.

A special category called Unknown/Others might also show up, containing all currently unknown hardware in your system as well as known hardware that does not fit into the existing categories (thermal sensors, random number generators, etc.).

If your hardware is really unknown (no description or no driver even though you know a working driver exists), you may be able to see your hardware recognized in future versions! To contribute to the effort, report the displayed information to the harddrake team and use the subject “[Unknown_devices]” in your e-mail.

Problems/Troubleshooting

If your hardware is not recognized or your system freezes, contact the harddrake team and use the subject “[Detect_devices]” in your e-mail.

If you think you have found a bug related to HardDrake (bugs with the user interface), contact the same e-mail address but use “[harddrake::ui]” as the subject.

ISA PnP devices are not probed for by HardDrake. If you have an ISA PnP sound card, run sndconfig or alsaconf from the command line. You may need to install the sndconfig package or the alsa-utils package.

Other Information

  • If you have a hard time getting your IsaPnP tools working, please check out the IsaPnPTools home page (used by the detect library).