Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 20th May 2006 23:55 UTC
"In order to broaden Linux hardware support and simplify the process of acquiring, installing, and updating device drivers, Novell has created a new driver system that will enable vendors to supply drivers to users directly. Linux drivers are traditionally maintained in the kernel itself, and third-party drivers that aren't available in the kernel often have to be installed manually, a process that generally involves compilation. In many cases, users have to wait for the next kernel release cycle before they can get software support for the latest hardware. Novell's new Partner Linux Driver Process could potentially resolve some of those problems by providing a simple and consistent process for deploying drivers independently."
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Member since:
2005-07-18
The only Linux binary driver I've tried that's worth using is nVidia's, and even that isn't in any way guaranteed to continue. Support for many older chips has already become a secondary priority.
Most binary drivers barely work and are released once (for one or two popular distros) and then forgotten about. A few years ago I had to set up a certain Lexmark printer that had no drivers available except for some Redhat and Mandrake RPMs that were themselves a year old. It took me three days to get them to work at all with SuSE and CUPS, which would have been easy had the drivers been written properly in the first place. When the drivers finally did work, the printout quality was appalling, the driver kept crashing constantly and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.
ATI, Lexmark, Ralink etc. are all show that the kernel devs have a point. Why should we tolerate binaries if so far precisely one company has bothered to do them properly?