On Friday 25 January 2008 01:31:41 Billie Walsh wrote: > First off let me say that as a normal home user I love Linux. > > HOWEVER, some things either just plain won't work or are WAY to much > trouble get working. > > WiFi - I have an Atheros card for my laptop. Madwifi works most of the > time. BUT, every time I turn on the computer I have to fart around for > 30/45 minutes to get the darned thing to connect.
Using the madwifi drivers/firmware combo. The driver is included in the openSUSE 10.3 distribution and there is a repo for the remaining code at madwifi.org. This 'hassle' is absolutely _not_ the fault of the kernel developers. The chipset you are using uses code that cannot be freely distributed with the kernel under it's current license. It's this license, by the way, that continues to guarantee your freedom to use Linux, and that work from the whole community can be used by everyone. The fault here lies with hardware vendor for not providing open source drivers or working with the Linux driver project. The Linux distributions are doing the best they can with the restrictions being placed upon them by the hardware vendors. > TV cards - Lets just say it's way more trouble that it's worth. A > Television set is WAY easier. TV cards - there's a wide variety of TV cards that work well with Linux. Myth-TV is a fantastic PVR application that maintains a good list of working TV cards. Again, a failure by the hardware vendors to open their drivers or work with the Linux driver project can hardly be laid at the kernel developers door. Did you know the Linux driver project developers will evensign NDAs with hardware vendors to try and ensure that drivers can be put into the Linux kernel? > DVD Playback [ Multimedia ] - Actually works without to much trouble, > most of the time. BUT a DVD player is cheap and loads easier. This is not a driver issue at all, but is down purely to DRM. When you buy an encrypted DVD, you're not actually buying the content on the disc, but in reality just the rights to view the content on devices that are permitted by the studios/recording associations etc. There's very little personal freedom there whatsoever. Distributing the keys to enable the playback of encrypted DVDs is a breach of the DCMA in the US, which is why they're not included with distributions that are distributed freely in the US. Unencrypted DVDs play straight out of the box with no hassle at all. > Video cards - besides WiFi cards this has to be one of the worst > features. I see more problem e-mails for those two than just about > anything else Average Joe User is going to use. Someone, aon an offshoot > of this thread, that if your having trouble with Nvidia don't buy > Nvidia. WELL, sometimes that isn't an option that's available. Not > everyone is on an unlimited budget and can buy just THE perfect > computer. [ I have an ATI and it works just fine for my use without any > problem ] Video cards work fine in Linux. You can use the open source nv driver with nVidia cards, the open source radeon driver with ATI cards. But I suspect that the main complaint here is wanting 3D (wobbly windows) with these cards and so hence use the proprietary video drivers with these cards. Again, this goes back to the hardware vendors refusing to play nicely with the Linux kernel developers. There is a kernel released under a specific license and the hardware vendors in this instance are not 'playing by the rules'. In most instances, Intel graphics cards tend to be cheaper than ATI/nVidia cards - and the drivers are usually in the kernel. > OK, I know these are, for the most part, things that nothing can be done > about. BUT, the question was asked why more people don't use Linux. > There's part of the reason Average Joe User doesn't use Linux. You can complain to the hardware vendor, you can take your business to hardware vendors that provide good support or at least information to the kernel developers. Things are improving, and there is still work to do, but to lay the blame at the kernel developers door is a bit unfair, even if it is the easier target. Jon -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
