# Installing Drivers only Available in Windows?



## FLUDD (Apr 5, 2012)

I have a HP dv6 Windows 7 laptop and it started freezing up whenever I logged on so I installed Ubuntu 11.10 alongside Windows 7 and it works fine. Here is the thread on that problem here: 
http://forums.techguy.org/windows-7/1048165-pc-freezes-within-seconds-after.html

Is there a way I can install the Intel and HP drivers in Ubuntu?
Link to all of the drivers I can download: 
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...en&cc=us&dlc=en&sw_lang=&product=5078419#N670

The main reason why I want to download the drivers is because I can't adjust the screen brightness in Ubuntu so I'm getting a big headache and eye strain after looking at the screen for more than 5 minutes without taking a rest. x(

Thanks.


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## DaveBurnett (Nov 11, 2002)

You really need to find Linux drivers for Linux. 
Windows programs (not drivers) Can be run under Linux, but drivers tie too deeply into the hardware and OS to work


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## lewmur (Sep 11, 2006)

FLUDD said:


> I have a HP dv6 Windows 7 laptop and it started freezing up whenever I logged on so I installed Ubuntu 11.10 alongside Windows 7 and it works fine. Here is the thread on that problem here:
> http://forums.techguy.org/windows-7/1048165-pc-freezes-within-seconds-after.html
> 
> Is there a way I can install the Intel and HP drivers in Ubuntu?
> ...


Controling brightness has nothing to do with "drivers". Typically, it is a "hardware thing". You use the "function keys" on most laptops to set the brightness level for general use. Software control is normally limited to power saving when operating on batteries and in Ubuntu, that is done in the "power management" applet.

That said, except in the case where there are "proprietary drivers" that can't be incorporated in the kernel for legal reasons, drivers in Linux are built into the kernel and don't need to be downloaded and installed separately. If there are proprietary drivers available for your machine, you load them by going to /System/Administration/Additional drivers and selecting one of the drivers listed and click "Activate".


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## lewmur (Sep 11, 2006)

DaveBurnett said:


> You really need to find Linux drivers for Linux.
> Windows programs (not drivers) Can be run under Linux, but drivers tie too deeply into the hardware and OS to work


That is misleading. You can't run Windows programs under Linux without a Windows emulator such as Wine or in a vitrtual session which loads a copy of Windows.


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## DaveBurnett (Nov 11, 2002)

Hence the capital C in Can.


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## lewmur (Sep 11, 2006)

DaveBurnett said:


> Hence the capital C in Can.


You've lost me. How does capitalizing the C change the meaning of the sentence?


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## DaveBurnett (Nov 11, 2002)

By stressing/highlighting the word


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## lewmur (Sep 11, 2006)

DaveBurnett said:


> By stressing/highlighting the word


But by stressing what is misleading to begin with, you just make it more misleading. One of the biggest mistakes new Linux users make is trying to run their "Windows stuff". Your post encourages that mistake instead of warning against it. And, IMHO, the second biggest mistake they make is to install Wine to make up for their first mistake. All that does is to bring along the Windows malware they should be doing their best to avoid.


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## prunejuice (Apr 3, 2002)

lewmur said:


> Your post encourages that mistake instead of warning against it.


Running some Windows programs under WINE isn't a "mistake". It's a compromise that works (or doesn't) to varying degrees.

That's what I understood from Dave's post. It wasn't a line in the sand.


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## lewmur (Sep 11, 2006)

prunejuice said:


> Running some Windows programs under WINE isn't a "mistake". It's a compromise that works (or doesn't) to varying degrees.
> 
> That's what I understood from Dave's post. It wasn't a line in the sand.


Obviously a lot of people run Wine and don't consider it a mistake. I stated quite clearly that is was MY opinion that installing Wine in Linux is a mistake. What I said was misleading was saying you could run Windows programs in Linux. You can't. You can only "emulate" running them using a app like Wine. Notice, he didn't mention Wine. I did.


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## DaveBurnett (Nov 11, 2002)

A lot of people might consider installing Linux a mistake, but they don't get so petty about it.


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## lewmur (Sep 11, 2006)

DaveBurnett said:


> A lot of people might consider installing Linux a mistake, but they don't get so petty about it.


Pointing out technical problems isn't petty. Accusing someone else of being petty is an adhominem attack and is itself petty. I'm sorry you can't take a little constructive critisism. This conversation is over.


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## FLUDD (Apr 5, 2012)

I tried changing the lighting with the power controls and nothing is happening.


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## lewmur (Sep 11, 2006)

FLUDD said:


> I tried changing the lighting with the power controls and nothing is happening.


As I said, the power controls only work to reduce the brightness when you are running on batteries. So long as the AC adaptor is plugged in, the ONLY way to reduce it is with the keyboard controls.


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## FLUDD (Apr 5, 2012)

When I use the keyboard controls, nothing happens. I see the lighting gauge going up and down but the screen isn't changing.


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## lewmur (Sep 11, 2006)

FLUDD said:


> When I use the keyboard controls, nothing happens. I see the lighting gauge going up and down but the screen isn't changing.


Sounds to me like a hardware problem but the only way to prove it would be to boot a LiveCD of another distro and then try the keyboard. Too bad there is no way to boot a Windows CD to try it. But I doubt seriously that it is a Linux problem because I've installed Linux on dozens of laptops and have never had the problem.
edit: I just checked a couple of laptops and on both of them the keyboard brightness keys work as soon as the first boot screen appears. That is before any OS and its drivers are loaded so the problem is obviously hardware related.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

You'll need to have the proper drivers in order to control brightness and contrast. If there are none available in the "non-free" section of Synaptic, you may be out of luck. Some Windows drivers can be installed and used in a Linux-based OS, and it was not too long ago that I ran a distro that easily converted/installed drivers meant for Windows in the Linux distro. But I don't remember what distro it was. Someone with more familiarity with Linux-based OS's may be able to tell you whether that was an installable software program that made those conversions. In any case, drivers are the method that the kernel uses to communicate with hardware, so if you don't have them, options such as brightness will not be controllable.

Also, look around at www.linux-drivers.org and Using NDISWrapper To Convert Windows Drivers In Ubuntu.

(I doubt very much that you have a hardware problem if your graphics card worked normally in 7.)


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## lewmur (Sep 11, 2006)

Elvandil said:


> You'll need to have the proper drivers in order to control brightness and contrast. If there are none available in the "non-free" section of Synaptic, you may be out of luck. Some Windows drivers can be installed and used in a Linux-based OS, and it was not too long ago that I ran a distro that easily converted/installed drivers meant for Windows in the Linux distro. But I don't remember what distro it was. Someone with more familiarity with Linux-based OS's may be able to tell you whether that was an installable software program that made those conversions. In any case, drivers are the method that the kernel uses to communicate with hardware, so if you don't have them, options such as brightness will not be controllable.
> 
> Also, look around at www.linux-drivers.org and Using NDISWrapper To Convert Windows Drivers In Ubuntu.
> 
> ...


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## FLUDD (Apr 5, 2012)

I have gone into safe mod without drivers and was never able to adjust the brightness. That is why I assume it is a software problem other than hardware.

Edit:I'm going to be switching to a Zorin operating system. I'll see if I could change the brightness on there.


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## lewmur (Sep 11, 2006)

FLUDD said:


> I have gone into safe mod without drivers and was never able to adjust the brightness. That is why I assume it is a software problem other than hardware.
> 
> Edit:I'm going to be switching to a Zorin operating system. I'll see if I could change the brightness on there.


What safe mode? Safe mode is a Windows thing. 
Have you tried what I suggested by trying the keyboard at the boot menu? If you can't adjust the brightness there, then it MUST be hardware.

BTW, Zorin is just Ubuntu with stuff added on top to make it LOOK more like Windows. It is functionally the same as Ubuntu at the hardware level. Going to a much earliar or later version of Ubuntu, which would bring into play different Linux kernel versions, would make more sense. Afterall, the "drivers" are in the kernel.


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## FLUDD (Apr 5, 2012)

When I had Windows and all the drivers, I wasn't able to adjust the brightness is safe mode.

In the boot menu? I'll try.

I'm getting Zorin because regular Ubuntu is way too confusing for me. It took me a hour to figure out how to install a game that would take me five minutes on Windows 7. 
Edit: I tried and the screen is the same.


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## DaveBurnett (Nov 11, 2002)

You must remember there are two ways of adjusting the screen brighness.

1) Is software controlled through the video driver (whatever that be)

2) Is hardware where you actually "fiddle the knobs" on the screen or press the keys on the keyboard.


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