On Tue, 2005-01-04 at 03:52 +0000, Michael A. Peters wrote: > On 01/03/2005 05:44:11 PM, Felix Miata wrote: > > > http://www.mozillaquest.com/Linux04/Asus_Sucks_Story-01.html > > I've never had any problems whatsover with Asus boards and Linux. > Talk is cheap. > > Maybe they did have legitimate issues, but I'm guessing Asus is using a > chipset they licensed, and they may not be able to open up certain > things to Linux developers because of an NDA. > > For example, my current motherboard is an A7N8X Deluxe - it uses an > nForce 2 chipset from nVidia - which is where any support from Linux > should come from. > > When the IEEE 1394 didn't work (RH8 days) I didn't expect Asus to fix > it, I expected either OSS or nVidia to fix it. OSS did. > > When the onboard 3Com nic didn't work - I didn't blame Asus, I > downloaded the 2 line kernel patch that made it work. When the nVidia > network adapter didn't work, I had the option of using a closed source > driver from nvidia. Instead I chose to not use that adapter. > > Nothing on that board that I had issues with were anything I expected > Asus to provide fixes for - they either already had fixes in the AC > tree of the kernel at the time I bought the board (or very soon after > for ide controller) or they were an nVidia issue (like the network card > and only working well with nvidia AGP cards) and not something Asus was > to blame for. > > Sorry - but articles like that get under my skin, they do nothing to > help LOTD and are imho just FUD about a vendor that sells hardware > mostly with licensed chipsets that _do_ in fact work very well in > Linux. > > Sometimes when people can't get something to work, they start the "Bad > Vendor" thing - and that doesn't help anyone out. Very often the > solution is as simple as trying a kernel from a testing branch - and > the alan cox branch in my experience is the best one to try first for > new hardware support, if it isn't already in a pre kernel. > > While I agree with your theory that it usually is easy to find a workaround for hardware issues, the basic thrust of the story referenced was the horrible customer support. Even a company that produces the best product can be killed by failure to pay attention to customer support. I personally may chose (and have done so) a supplier with a slightly inferior product if their customer support is outstanding, and I wager many others view it the same.
