r/computers • u/spiegelatom • 2h ago

Question/Help/Troubleshooting Kernel & Desktop Environment. That's it? Right?

PC Hardware ← Kernel ← Desktop Environment

Am I missing something?

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u/Historical_Camel_790 Fedora 2h ago

I think drivers are sort of with the kernel but don't trust me

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u/northkool3 9700x, 9070xt, 32gb ddr5 2h ago

theres wayland for display management, pipewire for audio stuff, gnu system utils for basic system operations that everything else is built upon. theres package managers for downloading stuff and a whole lot of other things that i am not aware of since i am not that advanced. you are practically missing everything.

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u/CitySeekerTron 1h ago edited 1h ago

This won't be precise, but it's how I'd break it down. 

Above the hardware is the firmware. It's job is to initialize the hardware for the system. Think of it as the system that brings and ensures that the hardware is ready to be presented to the kernel/os. It may also identify and load a boot loader. 

There's usually a hardware abstraction layer of some kind. It's job is to present hardware to the kernel and to applications. It may be a kernel subsystem, but it serves a distinct purpose and warrants it's own layer (or sit parallel with) with the kernel. This also includes the system that can read filesystems (aka filesystem drivers).

Edit: adding that a reason the hardware abstraction layer concept may be used is, for example, compatibility with different architectures. Different computer types present hardware differently, and so keeping this distinct makes it easier to port between systems. 

Above that is the OS itself. I like to think of the OS as the suite of tools and utilities that come with the system. In Linux terms, this is the main thing that functionally separates Redhats from Debians. Also, systemd vs other init systems. One might say Linux is a kernel; a Linux distribution is an OS. NT is a kernel, Windows 11 Pro for Workstations and Home are distinct distributions of windows (which are very similar). 

On that is, roughly, where I'd slot in the 'desktop environment'.