Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 1st Mar 2009 17:26 UTC, submitted by kaiwai
Long-time OSNews reader Kaiwai has written down his experiences with his Acer Aspire One, Linux, and Windows. He concludes: "After a hectic few weeks trying to get Linux to work, I am back to square one again - a netbook running Windows XP SP3 as it was provided by Acer when I purchased it. I gave three different distributions a chance to prove themselves. I expected all three distributions to wipe the floor with Windows XP - after all, these are the latest and greatest distributions the Linux world have to offer. There has been at least 7 years since the release of Windows XP for Linux to catch up to Windows XP and from my experience with Linux on this said device - it has failed to step up to the plate when it was needed."
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Member since:2005-07-06
But not everything can be in mainline because people write software and build hardware after it has been released. This simply results in people reformatting and reinstalling their distributions every six months just to get updated software. No one but enthusiasts are going to keep doing that and it's not good enough for the wider world.
No one said you have to reinstall your entire system because the kernel was updated. The great thing about linux is that kernel and userland are separate.
Distributors cannot just offer a kernel upgrade willy-nilly to an already released distribution. It has support implications. Hardware support has to be added to an existing kernel. No one should have to wait for a kernel upgrade to get hardware support either. It just isn't as simple as you think it is.
Why can't they just offer a kernel upgrade? Most distributions do already, like Fedora, Ubuntu, ... And people have already mentioned how to add hardware support to an existing kernel. You just get a .deb or .rpm or whatever for the specific kernel version you are using and install it.
This hasn't really got a lot to do with this, and it's the usual excuse you get from the crowd. Linux distributors simply do not make it in any way easy to add hardware and software support after a distribution has been released. As such, those who might be interested just don't bother. This is killing any success Linux might have on Netbooks.
Again see above.
Linux drivers are just not easy to write and certainly not easy to get available to your users. There is no distribution that is giving people documentation on how to do it, make it easier and get people involved.
I personally don't think its a distribution's job to give support with writing drivers. The actual distribution of the driver yes, but again if the driver were in mainline, they wouldn't even need to do this.
So he has to reformat and reinstall again as he waits for full support to become available? Pffffffffffffff.
Again no one said he had to reinstall.
I think the only person who has the power to make what you want to happen a reality is Linus, who probably just doesn't care. He is not in this to take on Microsoft, which is what it seems like people like you want. This is just a hobby for him, and he happens to make money doing it.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:35 UTC
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/11/13 17:07 UTC
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/10/13 23:13 UTC
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/08/13 14:57 UTC
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/07/13 11:40 UTC
This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/04/13 12:45 UTC
Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
Linked by nfeske on 05/31/13 10:12 UTC
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/29/13 16:59 UTC
At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!More Features »
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Member since:
2005-07-06
But not everything can be in mainline because people write software and build hardware after it has been released. This simply results in people reformatting and reinstalling their distributions every six months just to get updated software. No one but enthusiasts are going to keep doing that and it's not good enough for the wider world.
Distributors cannot just offer a kernel upgrade willy-nilly to an already released distribution. It has support implications. Hardware support has to be added to an existing kernel. No one should have to wait for a kernel upgrade to get hardware support either. It just isn't as simple as you think it is.
This hasn't really got a lot to do with this, and it's the usual excuse you get from the crowd. Linux distributors simply do not make it in any way easy to add hardware and software support after a distribution has been released. As such, those who might be interested just don't bother. This is killing any success Linux might have on Netbooks.
Linux drivers are just not easy to write and certainly not easy to get available to your users. There is no distribution that is giving people documentation on how to do it, make it easier and get people involved.
So he has to reformat and reinstall again as he waits for full support to become available? Pffffffffffffff.