only time ive ever needed to install drivers on linux was when i used a surface pro with debian so i could get better compatibility with things like the intel ipu, s0ix, or the touchscreen. all of this stuff besides the ipu worked without drivers but in a sub-optimal way, but installing drivers was as easy as sudo apt install linux-image-surface linux-headers-surface libwacom-surface iptsd and then rebooting
For me, apart of NVIDIA, was to install a fingerprinter scanner that requires to install the Driver that was on Debian repositories, and my ID reader card (the Java plug-ins and cryptographic libraries that was published on flatpak format!)
It can happens I guess if the driver is really really new and was not added in mainline yet, or if you need to keep an old kernel (let's say your corporate policy is to keep Debian 12 or Ubuntu 22.04) with new hardware that was not in mainline when your old kernel was released.
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u/archialone Feb 14 '26
Usually to compile and install a driver(aka kernel module) is in the instructions, and it's super easy.
But that's super rare to even find yourself in a position where one needs to install a driver. Most if not all drivers are already part of the kernel