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Re: [LUG] netbooks blamed for microsoft losing money

 

On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 05:52:55PM +0000, george wrote:
> Sorry Benjamin, I've got to disagree with you there. When it comes to wireless 
> cards, webcams and scanners Windows win hands down.  For the simple reason 
> that hardware manufacturers write drivers for Windows but generally not for 
> Linux.  There are lots of good Linux drivers and they're getting better but 
> I've found these 3 pieces of hardware and some graphics cards, oh and some 
> sound cards, problematical because the drivers are'nt up to it.  More and 
> more drivers are getting into the kernel which generally makes the problems 
> disappear but it takes time and we will always be playing catch-up until the 
> manufacturers take free software generally on board.

And do they work out of the box, on a stock Windows install, or do you
have to get drivers from the manufacturer's website or a CD that came
with the hardware? My point was that although more drivers exist for
Windows, they often don't come with Windows.

The most common issues I had were Windows not being able to support my
graphics card above 640x480, or not supporting the ethernet card (an
SIS900, if I remember correctly, hardly unusual or high-end). 

Linux may not support brand-new hardware straight away, but once it's
supported you're pretty much guaranteed that you won't need to go
hunting for drivers, because it'll be in the kernel.

-- 
Benjamin M. A'Lee || mail: bma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
web: http://subvert.org.uk/~bma/ || gpg: 0xBB6D2FA0

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