
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 Kubuntu. The devices are likely to have free 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 proprietary driver 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.
Caution
Proprietary drivers are usually maintained by the hardware manufacturer, and so cannot be modified by developers if there is a problem.
Kubuntu ships with an application developed by Ubuntu developers that maintains proprietary drivers. This application is known as Jockey and in Kubuntu is named jockey-kde>. It can be opened by going to → → → .
Procedure 1. To use a proprietary driver for a device:
Open Jockey by going to → → → .
Find the driver to be enabled and verify the description.
to enable the driver. A password may be required.
The proprietary driver may have to be downloaded and installed.
It may be necessary to restart the computer to finish enabling the driver; the driver installation process will not always indicate this requirement.
Procedure 2. Disabling a proprietary driver for a device:
Open Jockey by going to → → → .
Find the driver to be disabled and verify the description.
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.