At 09:24 AM 4/20/04 -0600, Robin Laing wrote: >As a Linux user, I have had issues with different hardware and >software in Linux. > >Here is a pro-windows article based on problems of installing Linux >and sound card issues. > > Langa Letter: Linux's Achilles' Heel. ><http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18901660> > >I will admit that I had no problems installing FC 1 on my new computer >and it recognizing the sound card. I haven't been able to get ALSA >working yet though. :( Just for a counter-point, I have a PC running Windows NT. I tried to upgrade it to Win2K, and it failed. Installs ok, but won't boot. Has problems with something on my MB in the chipset there...problems that NT doesn't have. I'm back to running NT on that machine. There are no OSs that will run flawlessly on every hardware combo the PC market has made possible. None. My experience to date shows that Linux (RH and SuSe anyway) installs at least as easily as Windows, perhaps slightly easier, and it's worked on every system that Windows works on...for me so far anyway. Once they are installed however, is when the fun starts...Windows stock setup is a lot closer to what most people need, and stuffing a CD in a slot and telling AUTORUN to install with defaults is a lot easier way to get layered apps onto an OS than trying to work out the intricate aspects of make. RPMs make things almost as easy as AUTORUN installs, but not everything is available that way, and RHPM is still harder to use than a typical setup exe on Windows. I still tend to suggest to people that while Linux is an excellent OS, better in most ways than Windows, it will require that they learn a bit more about computers than Windows or Mac require for typical use. If they aren't willing to make that effort, they should probably stick with Windows or Mac. This is slowly changing, and Linux is easier to work with every release, but it's not done yet from what I've seen so far. With some people it's the old, "why can't you make it as easy to use as a toaster?" thing. My answer is that a toaster only does one thing...if they want a computer that only does one thing, I can make it just as easy to operate as a toaster...is that what they want? :-) >As the issues with Video cards and hardware not being supported by >manufacturers or allowing their "closed source" drivers from being >distributed with Linux will be a stumbling block for Linux in the home. As Linux gets used more in business, manufacturers will realize that not supporting it with drivers will limit their sales. Some have already seen the light and do include Linux drivers with their products. The last ones to do this are likely to be video card makers specializing in games. Some of the first were LAN card makers...since their products are used in servers, which are already leaning strongly toward Linux. The easiest way for them to get Linux support is to release the sources of their driver code, or at least details of the hardware interfaces. Since they aren't in the business of selling drivers they really don't have much to lose from what I can see...but old habits die hard I guess. -- Mike Bartman
