It might be good to have a feature in ubuntu, where if something isnt supported you get a little popup (like the update manager) saying that your piece of hardware isnt supported / no drivers etc, and to maybe link to some help or something like that. Maybe refer you to launchpad bugs?
I can see why it gets annoying when it just 'doesn't work'. As mentioned this is the hardware vendors fault really for not distributing drivers / releasing the specs. However this isn't the user's fault so we should try and make it as easy as possible for the users to get around this. My 2 cents... On 29/10/2007, Renjith Nair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I believe the argument is not whether windows is easier than linux or vice > versa. That is common man's opinion about linux since he/she expects > everything to behave like windows. Everything which behaves differently > from Windows is considered to be 'difficult' because they are only used to > using windows. > > Let us face the reality. We all know that the incompatibility of drivers in > linux is due to the manufacturers not providing drivers and that is the sad > fact. I agree that if linux-box distribution like Tesco's is going to be > adopted, there won't be much of a driver Issue. But things haven't reached > that level yet.. How many computers do you find in the stores with > pre-installed linux? Tesco's computers are just the first step. So is the > Dell distribution. Till we start influencing the market, the manufacturers > won't release linux drivers. So how this can be done? It is actually by > increasing the use of linux in the community. I guess we don't have > different opinions regarding this. > > So basically it boils down to a point, how we can make more people use > linux? Getting pre installed linux box hasn't been widely happening. Till > this happens, we need to support these cards, irrespective of manufacturers > attitude towards linux. Atleast we support hardware from the common > manufacturers. Gutsy is the right step in doing that. But we still are far > from solving the problems. > > Most of the times, solving any of these driver issues need technical > knowledge. This is not what we can expect from average users. Why don't we > release patches/scripts for solving atleast some of these problems ? Let me > put it this way, users will be happy to download and execute a patch/ driver > file rather than tinkering with the configurations. don't you think so? > Patches won't be an answer for all problems, but still it will make life > better for average users. Remember that normal user is not technically > capable like us. They need simpler solutions. We have forums to help in > solving these issues.. But most of the time, it is very technical and so > common people won't understand. > > I would be happy to help people in solving some of these issues. But i am > not expert in every issue. If we ( ubuntu community of UK) can put in some > resources in terms of manpower (some free time) and knowledge, i am sure > than we can influence at least few people in adopting linux. May be i will > quote Tesco's slogan for this "Every little helps" > > :-) > > regards, > renjith > > > > > On 10/29/07, Sean Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > I think we are actually agreeing. The start of this particular line of > conversation was somebody saying that Linux wasn't doing enough to make > installation of wireless cards simple and reliable... my point was that most > of the cards that I am using now appear to work pretty much "out of the box" > in Gutsy (and with some in Feisty, Edgy etc.) so I don't need to do the > whole ndiswrapper thing... > > > > In fact, when I reinstalled my old laptop which had died for some years > after an unfortunate incident with a glass of wine and a fizzing motherboard > (!) I discovered that whilst Gutsy works 100% well straight away Windows XP > does anything but, arguing that the graphics card isn't the one it's > expecting but offering no advice on fixing it other than a "Browse" and a > suggestion to insert some sort of driver CD. > > > > How's that helpful? > > > > It makes me think that if Windows users actually had to occasionally > install their own OS they'd find Windows was significantly harder to make > work than Linux - it's therefore all a myth this concept that Windows is > "easy"... it's only "easy" because the "norm" is to buy a pre-installed PC ! > > > > Sean > > > > -- > > [email protected] > > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk > > https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/ > > > > > > > -- > [email protected] > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk > https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/ > > -- --- Matthew Larsen > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
