The Linux kernel has a fantastic way of dealing with your computer's hardware. It doesn't concern itself with the company that sells the hardware or brand names, it is only concerned about the hardware itself. More specifically the actual chipset of the hardware. This means that one single Linux driver automatically supports a particular chipset no matter what company packages and sells products made with that chipset.

But what exactly is a Linux driver? A Linux driver is actually part of the Linux kernel. In fact, most of the Linux kernel is dedicated to providing support for more types of hardware than you can poke a stick at.

What is really amazing about the device drivers in the Linux kernel is that you can separate them from the core kernel code and turn them on and off at will. This means you are not stuck with drivers, that you have no need for, taking up valuable resources.

Now this is the confusing bit.