Quote:
Originally posted by lefticy
But my concern is with linux and the open source network.
I have kept abreast of all the major articles in the print media of how linux is starting to take over the computer world . It is self evedent that linux will replace windows in the near future. (5 to 10 years if not sooner)
But as long as windows remain the bully on the block the hardware makers are going to make their hardware very user friendly towards windows.
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There's one big problem with this analogy... its not the OSS communities fault. The devices aren't being ignored. Its the fact that, well... the companies are ignoring the device driver writers. In order to writing a device driver a kernel geeks needs a certain amount of information on the device. Some companies will give this away for free, some others are cagey as hell, and most... yes most, are open and free about some stuff, and obnoxious about others. And writing a driver without any documentation, black boxing its usually called, is a nightmare. There's aren't too many examples, the best I can think of is:
http://acx100.sourceforge.net
Take Texas Instruments, odds are if you have a laptop, they made the pcmcia bridge, and gave away all the info needed to get a working driver. Ask em about the ACX100 wireless chipset and you'll get ignored.
The world will come around. A couple years ago getting specs out of Sun or HP or Apple was impossible, now they throw them at you. It used to be a bit of a muddle to find a linux supported SCSI card. Nowadays I dare you to find one that doesn't have a driver.
Its all happening from the server down, so the laptop specific goop will be the last to go... maybe PDAs when the OSes start getting more removable.
Also, the ISA card, its just a matter of hand feeding it some driver options. They're still a headache, which is why PCI kit is so well loved
What's the sound card?
Also, what's the output of /sbin/lspci
And post back with the info about the modem, or take that info over to
www.linmodems.org
Also... if you want to switch distros, skip the RedHats, they're older then dirt now, RH9 was a year and a half ago. Fedora Core 1 is effectively what RH10 would have been, its just a community project now.
Cheers,
Finegan