Re: [opensuse] Why are there not more using Linux?

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
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