On 27/11/2013 13:50, dave wrote:
The Kernel has thousands of drivers already installed. Please name a
consumer device (other than Apple) that you would like to use with Linux
that had a driver issue. I have found Linux to be way more plug-and-play
than Windows, and this has been getting moreso in the past few years.
Usually you need to boot a CD to install something to Windows; virtually
unheard of in Linux.

Normally, I download drivers for Windows from the web. A bit like
"sudo apt-get install $drivername" but without having to remember the
syntax or recompilimg the kernel to get the driver to work as a module.
The Windows driver doesn't have to be in the repository, either, I can
just download it from the maufacturer's website.

It's been a *long* time since I had to boot up a CD or floppy to install
anything under Windows. I often have to load a setup file from a CD or
DVD to install software and a few drivers for hardware that didn't exist
when the OS was written. This facility does not, by and large, exist for
Linux

As for Linux being more plug and play than Windows, that's not been true
since XP was released, as most hardware now complies with the Windows
Driver Model, which, I believe, may have been hacked for use in Linux as
well. I do know that a fair amount of hardware that I need to use which
works fully under Winodws is either totally or partially unusable under
Linux, which is why I keep trying Linux and uninstalling it fairly quickly.

Hardware with driver problems under Linux on my desk:-
A smartcard reader.

A camera with an unsupported RAW file format.

A Nokia Smartphone.

An HTC ditto.

The Zoom mixer/ recorder that I use for sound recording, although it
does show up as an extra drive. Under Windows, with the right DAW
software, it acts as a control surface.

A handy little DJ mixing console for mixing MP3 and WAV files together.

A Huawei 3G dongle, which can, I believe, be made to work by using the
correct spell, installing a third party driver and sacrificing a goat or
similar creature to the God of the airwaves. I've not succeeded yet,
although it "just works" under Windows.

None of the above are made by Apple. I've just tried and rapidly
uninstalled Ubuntu 13, as it made this computer do a very good
inpression of a sloth on valium. It's been a *long* time since I had a
network connection time out waiting for a mouse click to be processed,
--
Tciao for Now!

John.