On 3/17/07, Andy Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
A lot of hardware resellers are currently saying "Debian doesn't work on this hardware" but when you investigate it turns out that they heard that the default Sarge install does not support the SATA controller, and they don't care to find out more. In turn some hosting companies pass that (not strictly true) message on. I'll be glad when it goes from not strictly true to completely untrue. Cheers, Andy
I agree that the kernel within the installer is something needing to be updated more often. I regard Debian as serious production class server OS, but there are others who weigh everything on the installer experience. We know it is possible to update the kernel after the install, but if the installer doesn't support the mobo chipset and disk controllers, it presents a catch-22 because you can't install it to update the kernel. There are workarounds, but they are very time consuming, and a major strike against adopting Debian versus the commercial brand Linuxes. We need to keep Debian from appearing to be a basement hacker's work. It makes less difference to me than to managers who evaluate it and don't know (and refuse to learn) the difference between the kernel and the OS. Such managers are already freaked out about open source and the high number of one-developer Linux distros out there. They don't see Debian mentioned in many press announcements, so it is difficult to demonstrate how prevalent and robust Debian really is. Making things work for current hardware is one of the main things that will differentiate between a "works for me" type of distro, and a "works for everybody" well supported distro. --Donald
