"I recently read this article about how the Linux device driver project needs more work to do. I pondered this for awhile, and came to a realization. While Linux still does indeed lack drivers for some hardware, I believe that the lack of drivers is no longer the largest technological obstacle to Linux adoption. The thing Linux needs to focus mostly on now is completeness, not quantity, of hardware support." Read on.
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Member since:2006-08-15
"Lets move onto the audio driver, again, its 'supported' but when I put in my ear phones, the speakers continue to play audio even though ear phones have been plugged in. The audio record is a situation of hit and miss whether it actually works - like the webcam, it all works flawlessly in Windows. "
you can switch between your normal audio device to your usb-audio device and vice-versa with a customized ~/.asoundrc or if you are using Ubuntu you can use the asoundconf script
Edited 2007-10-28 17:43
Member since:2005-10-19
Member since:2006-03-12
"WGA, DRM and so forth have nothing to do with the conversation at hand." If you are doing a comparison of hardware support then DRM,WGA is very important. Both for its negative spin, which impacts hardware cost, reliability, stability, driver production time, insane hardware compliance, performance issues, privacy concerns...the list goes on.. The massive major impact of this is *still* to be realized.
The positive spin will be Vista users *possibly* having exclusive premium(sic) content.
Vista has generally poor hardware support now, it has been RTM for going on a year, all you can say if hardware support continues to improve...but it will always suffer from crippling effects from DRM.
Member since:2007-02-17
Not entirely.
WGA, DRM and activation are all "features" of Windows that can make it not work, or work only in a degraded or reduced functionality mode, with your hardware.
DRM in particular is a messy intertwining of hardware drivers and the core of the OS that can result in degraded performance of your hardware. Deliberately.
It must be said, Windows has a lot of issues that derive from the basic fact that the source code is kept secret. All of these issues affect the end user, who has actually paid for the hardware, but the whole paradigm of keeping the source code secret and supplying binary-only copies of software is done purely and utterly in the interests of the hardware/software producer. Yet the consumer has to wear the expensive consequences.
It isn't so much Microsoft that I dislike, but rather the whole business model of closed source software, which ultimately and repeatedly ends up screwing the very people who are paying for the equipment.
Forced obsolescence (through software upgrade) of working functional hardware, for example, wouldn't be possible without closed-source drivers. Likewise, degradation of the video quality over an "untrusted" (by the RIAA) video path wouldn't be possible unless the OS was both complicit in the DRM scheme and also strictly closed-source.
All of these various mechanisms of screwing the end users and consumers ultimately rely on keeping secrets from the people who have actually paid for the equipment.
How is that ethical?
Edited 2007-10-29 00:17
Member since:2006-04-22
Sorry lemur2, but DRM, WGA, etc. have nothing to do with this topic. From the beginning of this thread you have continuously tried to change the subject so you can rant, whine, and cry about Microsoft, Windows, Vista, etc..This is just tiresome and annoying.
You do realize NOBODY forces you to use any Microsoft products? You are free to use whatever you want, so just do it and quit your whining. Constructive criticism is essential to improving anything, your anti-Microsoft whining is not helpful, nor does it present Linux users in a good light. I know quite well a lot of people think very negatively on Linux simply because of the manner in which the users act.
Member since:
2005-07-06
The thing Vista needs to focus mostly on now is completeness and quantity of hardware support. Oh, and getting rid of the numerous "users-don't-want-it" features such as DRM and WGA and activation wouldn't hurt either.
So what you're doing is comparing bad with bad. According to your logic, because Windows Vista is 'crappier' than Linux, therefore better.
The issue isn't about the issues you have with Windows Vista and your mouth foaming hatred of Microsoft, it has to supporting hardware, not only supporting the core functionality, but fully supporting it.
Take my HP laptop for example (now since sold, and I'm a happy Mac user (again!)), it has a webcam, it uses a firmware which is uploaded but is still based on the UVC specifications. I can download the driver off http://viveks.wikidot.com/ricoh-r5u870-webcam-in-linux - yes, it all works as it should, but the UVC implementation is incomplete so none of the features such as colour balancing and so forth are available - there are a list of incomplete features off linux-UVC development website.
Lets move onto the audio driver, again, its 'supported' but when I put in my ear phones, the speakers continue to play audio even though ear phones have been plugged in. The audio record is a situation of hit and miss whether it actually works - like the webcam, it all works flawlessly in Windows.
Two examples of drivers which support the basic but not fully supporting all the features in the hardware - all the rest of the crap relating to WGA, DRM and so forth have nothing to do with the conversation at hand. The issue is hardware support and how well the drivers support the features in the hardware - that is, features beyond the 'core' features of a given piece of hardware.