Authored by Sujeet Kumar and Manoj Kumar
We are pleased to announce availability of new content about System Driver CABs on Dell Tech Center called a "Delta Report”.
The driver CABs are updated based on the release schedule and in response to customer questions, we are providing a way to see what has changed in the new release of driver CAB with respect to previous driver CAB (does new driver CAB contains all applicable latest drivers?, etc.). The “Delta Report” is the answer to these questions.
“Delta Report” is the reports built by Dell’s engineers and are the basis for finding applicable latest driver candidates for new driver CAB release.
“Delta Report” as the name suggests, contain the difference between the applicable latest set of drivers available on Support.dell.com and the previous driver CAB. Thus enabling customers to understand the changes in the new driver CAB. A “Delta Report” provides the following information:
- Contents of previous driver CAB.
- Changes since previous driver CAB.
- Highlight incremental changes.
- Applicable driver releases for the new driver CAB.
Note: Applicability of a driver for new driver CAB releases are decided on various factors like- which driver supports more devices, is a release INF installable or Operating System Deployment ready, etc.
Release of the “Delta Report” will align with the release schedule i.e. all new driver CAB release hence forth will have “Delta Reports” associated on Dell Tech Center site. Any customer can navigate to a “Delta Report” by accessing links associated to a driver pack on the Dell Tech Center Driver CAB landing/Index page.
Quick links for a few published reports are listed below for reference:
- Optiplex-3010-Windows-7-Driver-Cab
- Latitude-10-ST2E-Windows-8-Driver-Cab
- Precision-M4700-Windows-7-Driver-Cab
Understanding a “Delta Report”
A small part of a “Delta Report” is shown below (Figure-1), Let’s look at the details.
Figure-1
Key data items in “Delta Report” are:
1. Dell Version of new/latest driver CAB.
2. Release Date of new/latest driver CAB.
3. Download link for new/latest driver CAB.
4. Link for Driver CABs Homepage.
5. Link to “Understanding Delta Report” page.
6. Title of the Delta Report Content.
7. Details about the previous driver CAB(along with Dell version and release date) and Support.dell.com(along with snapshot date), as used for comparison.
8. Table showing comparison and highlighting the changes.
9. Column shows the driver release from the previous driver CAB.
10. Column shows the applicable drivers on Support.dell.com at time of building report.
Other Columns are Architecture(Arch), Category, Device Description, Status of Comparison(status) and Details of Status(Status Description).
Let’s look at Status and Status Description for different cases:
- Status “OK”
“OK” value represents:
a) Perfect match i.e. Same driver was part of the previous driver CAB and no update for device is required.
b) Any driver which is part of previous driver packs but not available on Support.dell.com.
Examples
Figure-2
- Status “No Match”
“No Match” represents:
a) Drivers which are new addition to applicable driver for latest/new driver CAB or are available on support.dell.com but was not present in previous driver pack.
Examples
Figure-3
- Status “Update”
“Update” represents:
a) Drivers which are updated to fix issues or provide additional features. Previous driver pack had an older version of driver for the device.
Examples
Figure-4
Status Description just provides a hint about the possible reason to set a status. All drivers marked as “Ok” and “No Match” are part of latest/new driver CAB. All drivers marked as “Update” will substitute older driver in latest/new driver Cab.
Please provide your feedback in the comments section below or continue the conversation in the TechCenter forums.