Linked by Rahul on Sun 2nd Nov 2008 19:24 UTC
Greg Kroah-Hartman is a longtime developer of the Linux kernel, known for his work maintaining USB drivers. O'Reilly Media recently interviewed Greg about his claim that the Linux kernel now supports more devices than any other operating system ever has, as well as why binary-only drivers are illegal, and how the kernel development process works.
"I went and asked every single hardware manufacturer, the big guys that ship the boxes, Dell, IBM, HP--what do you ship that isn't supported by Linux? They came back with nothing. Everything is supported by Linux. If you have a device that isn't supported by Linux that's being shipped today, let me know.".
If you would like to take up Greg KH on his claim, his email address is greg AT kroah.com
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Member since:
2005-08-27
yeah, "supports" more devices than any other thing on earth.
Like on my case, I specifically configured my new thinkpad to be as linux-compliant as ever - ditched the (superior) nvidia graphics in favor of the linux-friendly intel, leaving fancy stuff like webcams behind etc.
lo and behold - when receiving the damn thing and slapping opensuse 11 on it - the first thing that strikes me is that wireless (intel 4965, ffs!) does not work. apparently, because of the hw on-off switch that the computer has. THE most linux-friendly wireless card does not work because of some random little detail.
And it's proudly proclaimed as being "supported". But when you look at it a little more thoroughly, all sorts of excuses and conditions start popping up. IF you haven't got a hw switch, IF you are right handed and IF you live in the GMT timezone it MIGHT work. otherwise, you're shit outta luck. but we STILL support it!!
Coming from a no-name laptop also running opensuse, the fact that I can suspend to ram is nice, the fact that it's (usually) fast and boots up much faster than windows is also cool BUT...
* The thinkpad utilities on windows are much saner than the linux counterparts. I can log in with my fingerprints /note the plural/ (instead of only having the possibility to save ONE print and use it to log into the console only (not KDE).
* wireless does NOT work. no hope on the horizon either. kinda strange, concerning that the ipw2200 on the noname worked as a charm
* random hangings of the whole X server now and then...
* No ability to switch on and off bluetooth and wifi separately, like on windows. (or maybe via some cryptic command known only to its creator)
etc...etc....
I'm still holding on with suse on that machine because of the nice things...but the "it works" state on windows appeals more and more each day. I can handle installing drivers once, to achieve that.