The future of linux

[noleks at lsil.com (Nick Oleksinski)]

Hi:
I think that the biggest hurdle that Linux has is support by the
hardware vendors.  Linux is great if you've got a machine that's a
couple of years old but try getting a new box up and running without
scouring the internet looking for that last little beta driver you need
to get your hard drive or your sound card working.  The first thing a
vendor puts on the box of his product is "fully Windows 9x/NT
compatible".
Case in point, my new Gateway uses a Promise Ultra-66 ATA hard drive
controller.  RedHat 6.1 (kernel 2.2.12?) did not yet have support for
this controller available.  A little later I found that SuSe Linux 6.3
does with kernel 2.2.13.  I also have issues with the SoundBlaster Live!
sound card, DVD player, and 3Com modem.  The Windows '98 personality of
my computer came 100% ready to go out of the box.  I would have to say
that it's a big improvement over other incarnations of Windows and I
feel pretty comfortable with it, although I do still get the "this
application has performed an illegal operation" message from time to
time.
I have Linux installed right now, but it's a background project to get
it set up to use all my hardware.
Regards,
-Nick Oleksinski
-
Subcription/unsubscription/info requests: send e-mail with
"subscribe", "unsubscribe", or "info" on the first line of the
message body to discuss-request at blu.org (Subject line is ignored).