Thoughts arise from missing touchpad

[awe1]

Now I am relatively new to Linux and I'm no techy nerd but I'm determined to stay and learn. I'm using Dell Inspiron N5110 but my Ubuntu (Dell partner) 12.04 LTS doesn't recognize the touchpad. Questions arise... is it Ubuntu that doesn't find the touchpad or is it the kernel? Do other distros find the pad and if so how can I find out? Why doesn't an OS support some hardware or is it the other way around? Should hardware compatibility be an option, are OSs operating if they don't recognize hardware?
Teach me.
Caution: I am of a protected species called newbie and should be treated with care.

[asidewalk]

I doubt it's the kernel, but I'm also surprised in general that Ubuntu isn't recognizing your touchpad. It is usually pretty good at detecting hardware. I use Gentoo, and it detected my touchpad automatically; I can't say it would be the same with your particular hardware, though. You may need to modify /etc/X11/xorg.conf to include the details of your touchpad. Find out what your touchpad hardware is and search online for how to put that into xorg.conf. The exact lines may vary according to the type of touchpad it is.