Under Linux, you use term called modules for device drivers. The driver can be loaded or unloaded as per your requirement using commands. Each driver or module gives the Linux information on how to control that particular Ethernet card. The name of each module (driver) is listed in the /etc/modules.conf file.

Command to find out Ethernet card driver name

You can try any one of the following command to find out your Ethernet card driver:

# dmesg | grep 'Ethernet driver'

Output:

8139cp: 10/100 PCI Ethernet driver v1.2 (Mar 22, 2004)

Or search a file called /var/log/dmesg:

# grep 'Ethernet driver' /var/log/dmesg

Output:

8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.27
8139cp: 10/100 PCI Ethernet driver v1.2 (Mar 22, 2004)

You can also get driver name from config file:

# grep eth0 /etc/modules.conf

Output:

alias eth0 8139too

OR

# vi /etc/modules.conf

Search for eth0 string.

In above example 8139too is driver loaded for eth0. You can find out more information about this driver using modinfo command:

# modinfo 8139too

modinfo program to show information about a Linux Kernel module. You can also find out all loaded modules or drivers using lsmod command:

# lsmod | less

lsmod is a program to show the status of modules in the Linux Kernel.

See also:

• Quick introduction : Exploring Linux kernel