On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:50:04 +0000, Invisible wrote:

>>> [Last I heard - and I don't have any hard data for this - the guys you
>>> named aren't exactly short of cash.]
>> 
>> They're not, but what does that have to do with hardware support? 
>> Dell, HP, IBM/Lenovo all sell machines with Linux pre-installed on
>> them.  It would see that this would be hard to do if hardware support
>> "wasn't there yet".
> 
> Well, if you decide exactly what hardware goes in, you can select only
> supported hardware. Easy. :-D

As a consumer, I don't, though.  The vendor builds the machine with 
functioning hardware.

However, here at home, I have:

1 IBM Thinkpad t42p, running OpenSUSE 10.3 (work-provided)
1 Compaq EVO desktop, running OpenSUSE 10.1 (mine, not upgraded yet)
1 Dell C640 laptop, running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 (work-provided)
1 HP Pavilion s7727c, running openSUSE 10.3 (mine)
1 custom-built AMD system, complete with external 1TB storage device, 
internal IDE drives, off-brand video card and USB 2.0 controller, running 
Open Enterprise Server 1 (which is SLES9 + additional software)
1 Compaq Armada M700 with an off-brand PCMCIA wireless adapter, running 
OpenSUSE 10.1 (my wife's, not yet upgraded)
1 custom-built gaming machine running Windows XP (my kid's machine, he's 
just upgraded it again)

Additionally, I have an Epson P1660 scanner that's connected to one of 
these machines (the OES box, I think, but I'd have to chase the cables 
down) and a Deskjet 882C (connected to the Evo via USB), both of which 
are accessible from any machine on the network.  That's right, network 
scanning, baby (thank you saned!).

Now of all of these machines, which one has the most problems, do you 
think?

Yep, it's the WINDOWS machine.  Ken's had to reinstall the OS at least 3 
times now because of BSODs, driver issues, and other problems.  If it 
weren't for gaming (as the games he plays don't run on Linux), he'd be 
running openSUSE as well.

My wife has run Linux on her laptop since the day we got it, and hasn't 
had any serious problems with it.  "Ah, but she has you to fix anything 
she has trouble with", I hear you say.  Yes, but I can't remember the 
last time I did anything on her machine other than shut it off at night.  
She's pretty non-technical, but she's managed to figure out how to use 
it, and she's shown some of our neighbors who were curious about Linux.

"Linux is difficult to use" is simply a myth.  5 years ago I would've 
agreed with you.  I see real differences in usability between GNOME 2.4 
(which runs on the OES box) and GNOME 2.20 (which is on my 10.3 boxes).

"Linux lacks hardware support" is also a myth.  Sure, you need to do some 
research before buying your hardware to make sure there are drivers 
available.  Consumers do research on all sorts of things they buy (cars, 
houses, stereos, etc.) but expect to not have to find out what the best 
hardware is when buying a computer?  Sorry, I don't buy that.

Jim

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