What does linear/switching power supply mean?

There are two types of power supplies: linear types and switching types.

Switching type

Switching type power supply outputs the voltage by turning the driver transistor/FET, etc., ON and OFF.Since perform switching, they have high efficiency and low loss.However, they generate switching noise, so measures might be necessary to counter the EMI. In addition, compared to linear types, they have a high degree of design difficulty and might not operate normally depending on the peripheral components or PCB layout.

Linear type

Linear type power supply outputs the voltage without turning the driver transistor/FET, etc., ON and OFF.Since do not perform switching, so they are low-noise power supplies. However, the loss is large, and their efficiency is power.A specific example is a voltage regulator that controls the output voltage by adjusting the driver FET’s ON resistance.