[#]: subject: "Linux kernel modules we can't live without" [#]: via: "https://opensource.com/article/21/8/linux-kernel-module" [#]: author: "Jen Wike Huger https://opensource.com/users/jen-wike" [#]: collector: "lujun9972" [#]: translator: "geekpi" [#]: reviewer: " " [#]: publisher: " " [#]: url: " " Linux kernel modules we can't live without ====== Open source enthusiasts weigh in on the Linux kernel modules they love. ![Linux keys on the keyboard for a desktop computer][1] The Linux kernel is turning 30 this year! If you're like us, that's a big deal and we are celebrating Linux this week with a couple of special posts. Today we start with a roundup of responses from around the community answering "What Linux kernel module can you not live without? And, why?" Let's hear what these 10 enthusiasts have to say. * * * I guess some kernel developers will run away screaming when they hear my answer. Still, I list here two of the most controversial modules: * First is NVIDIA, as I have an NVIDIA graphics card on my work laptop and my personal desktop. * The other one probably generates less hatred—the VMNET and VMMON modules from VMware to be able to run VMware Workstation. —[Peter Czanik][2] * * * My favorite is the [zram][3] module. It creates a compressed block device in memory, which can then be used as a swap partition. Using a zram-based swap partition is ideal when memory is limited (for example, on virtual machines) and if you are worried about wearing out your SSD or, even worse, your flash-based storage because of frequent I/O operations. —[Stephan Avenwedde][4] * * * The most useful kernel module is definitively snd-hda-intel since it supports most integrated sound cards. I listen to music while coding an audio sequencer on the Linux desktop. —[Joël Krähemann][5] * * * My laptop would be worthless without the kmod-wl that I generate with the Broadcom file. I sometimes get messages about tainting the kernel, but what good is a laptop without wireless? —[Gregory Pittman][6] * * * I can't live without Bluetooth. Without it, my mouse, keyboard, speakers, and headset would be doorstops. —[Gary Smith][7] * * * I'm going to go out on a limb and say _all of them_. Seriously, we've gotten to the point where I grab a random piece of hardware, plug it in, and it just works. * USB serial adapter just works * Video card just works (though maybe not at its best) * Network card just works * Sound card just works It's tough not to be utterly impressed with the broad scope of the driver work that all the modules bring to the whole. I remember the bad old days when we used to yell out xrandr magic strings to make projectors work, and now—yeah, it's a genuine rarity when stuff doesn't (mostly) just work. If I had to nail it down to one, though, it'd be raid6. —[John 'Warthog9' Hawley][8] * * * I'm going to go back to the late 1990s for this one. I was a Unix systems administrator (and double duty as IS manager) for a small company. Our tape backup system died, and because of "small company" limited budgets, we didn't have a rush replacement or onsite repair on it. So we had to send it in for repair. During those two weeks, we didn't have a way to make tape backups. No systems administrator wants to be in that position. But then I remembered reading the [Floppy Tape How-to][9], and we happened to have a tower PC we'd just replaced that had a floppy tape drive. So I reinstalled it with Linux, set up the **ftape** kernel driver module, ran a few backup/recovery tests, then ran our most important backups to QIC tapes. For those two weeks, we relied on **ftape** backups of critical data. So to the unsung hero out there who made floppy tape drives work on 1990s Linux, you are awesome! —[Jim Hall][10] * * * Well, that's easy. It's the kvm kernel modules. On a personal front, I cannot imagine doing my day-to-day work without VMs. I'd like to believe that's the case with most of us. The kvm modules also play a big part in making Linux central to the cloud strategy. —[Gaurav Kamathe][11] * * * For me, it's dm-crypt, which is used for LUKS. See: * * It's fantastic to know others cannot see what's on your disk, for example, if you lose your notebook or it gets stolen. —[Maximilian Kolb][12] * * * For cryptography basics, it's hard to beat the crypto module and its C API, which is straightforward. For day-to-day life, is there anything more valuable than the plug-and-play that Bluetooth provides? —[Marty Kalin][13] * * * Share with us in the comments: What Linux kernel module can you not live without? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- via: https://opensource.com/article/21/8/linux-kernel-module 作者：[Jen Wike Huger][a] 选题：[lujun9972][b] 译者：[译者ID](https://github.com/译者ID) 校对：[校对者ID](https://github.com/校对者ID) 本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出 [a]: https://opensource.com/users/jen-wike [b]: https://github.com/lujun9972 [1]: https://opensource.com/sites/default/files/styles/image-full-size/public/lead-images/linux_keyboard_desktop.png?itok=I2nGw78_ (Linux keys on the keyboard for a desktop computer) [2]: https://opensource.com/users/czanik [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zram [4]: https://opensource.com/users/hansic99 [5]: https://opensource.com/users/joel2001k [6]: https://opensource.com/users/greg-p [7]: https://opensource.com/users/greptile [8]: https://opensource.com/users/warthog9 [9]: https://tldp.org/HOWTO/Ftape-HOWTO.html [10]: https://opensource.com/users/jim-hall [11]: https://opensource.com/users/gkamathe [12]: https://opensource.com/users/kolb [13]: https://opensource.com/users/mkalindepauledu