Hardware recognition

[Lucky Blue]

Question 1:    Do the various PCLINUXOS desktops (KDE, XFCE, etc..) have the same, or different, hardware recognition abilities?   
That is, if one recognizes (or does not recognize) a certain printer would the others do the same? 

Question 2:    Is there a difference between running as a live CD or a hard disk install?  That is, if a printer can be recognized (or not recognized) in a live CD session, would it be the same on a full install?   

My assumption was that this in the kernel, but it differs between distros, so I would like the opinion of someone who knows.   

[horusfalcon]

Question 1:    Do the various PCLINUXOS desktops (KDE, XFCE, etc..) have the same, or different, hardware recognition abilities?   
That is, if one recognizes (or does not recognize) a certain printer would the others do the same? 

Question 2:    Is there a difference between running as a live CD or a hard disk install?  That is, if a printer can be recognized (or not recognized) in a live CD session, would it be the same on a full install?   

My assumption was that this in the kernel, but it differs between distros, so I would like the opinion of someone who knows.   

All re-spins of PCLinuxOS use the same PCLinuxOS Control Center setup for hardware.  It's possible there may be subtle differences in the hardware modules loaded by default from spin-to-spin, but I'm not really knowledgeable enough to say that definitively. (I don't really see why this would be true unless it's a matter of size constraint for the live disk image...)  Have you been seeing different results from booting different re-spins on the same hardware?  (I'm wondering what drives the question.)

Not all hardware drivers reside in the kernel monolithically - many are loaded as modules at boot.  (This has been true for quite a while, somewhere around kernel version 2.2, I think?)

The major difference between running live or from a hard disk installation is a lack of persistence in the live disk system.  That is, system settings you change to accommodate hardware after boot will not be saved on exit for next time.  If the hardware is recognized by the live disk, then it should be also recognized by the same system running from the hard drive, but it's not a perfect world (this has actually happened a few times before, if I recall correctly...).

A bit more background on specific problems you may be having will help us help you.

Later On,
D 

[Lucky Blue]

horusfalcon
Thanks, a good answer.
I was thinking of seeing if LXDE could fix a problem I have with printing. 
KDE does not allow my printer to set up, KDE3 was ok, KDE4 does not.
Last week I wiped my HD with 2009 KDE3 on it.   Now I have 2012.12 installed. 
Mostly good. But, neither KDE or XFCE recognize the printer,
(Brother HL2040) from the live CD or from the KDE4 install.   
In fact at the moment I have in PCLinuxOS control center -Hardware -Configure printing,
an icon (set up the printer..) with a + and a - that does nothing! 
I think I have customized/mutilated my new install into partial in-operability so I will do another clean install.

[DeBaas]

If you run your printer on the LiveCD and install your system from that point, the printer is already setup after installation.
And there is always the Brother solution:
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/download_prn.html#HL-2040
Download and install both .rpm's as root
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/instruction_prn3.html
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/instruction_prn1a.html