4 ms·

People are used to Windows where literally all hardware works. So that statement is not that evident.

by vadfa 5y ago

bogwog 5y ago
Linux runs on a Nintendo Wii. Windows does not run a Nintendo Wii. Windows hardware support sucks.
- vadfa 5y ago
  Why would anybody want to install Windows on a Nintendo Wii?
  - selfhoster11 5y ago
    Why not? A true hacker would consider it.
mixedCase 5y ago
>People are used to Windows where literally all hardware works Hahaha fuck no. I spent two weeks trying to get a Lenovo Y50's touchpad to work properly on modern Windows. It's impossible. Official drivers are unmaintained and whatever you get whether generic or frankensteined-in works terrible compared to the out of the box experience on a Linux distro.
- colesantiago 5y ago
  Just get/buy a PC pre-installed with Windows? Don't most people do this?
  - bkberry352 5y ago
    lol, family member's acer laptop (pre-installed with Windows) had audio driver issues to the point where the audio output jack simply doesn't work. No drivers are available for the machine b/c it's pre-installed, so why would there be issues? The audio out works perfectly under ubuntu
  - nybble41 5y ago
    You could equally well get or buy a PC pre-installed with Linux where someone else made sure everything was well-supported. It's not that Windows has inherently better hardware support due to its architecture—rather, hardware manufacturers put in the effort to ensure that their (new) hardware can be used with the latest few versions of Windows, since they would otherwise lose a large part of their target market. On the other hand, Linux tends to be much better at supporting older hardware that the manufacturers are no longer interested in selling, as well as working across a broader range of hardware platforms ranging from embedded IoT devices to supercomputers.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
throwawayninja 5y ago
I have anecdata of the opposite: my ThinkPad T590 cannot install windows with the .iso from microsoft, you need hardware drivers for the NVMe SSD off another disk during the install. I think windows and linux are about equal in terms of hardware support, with windows trending more towards good support tomorrow's hardware (it works when the new product launches) and linux needing 1-2 weeks before the new hardware gets a driver update + packages are updated.
- itvision 5y ago
  > needing 1-2 weeks Sometimes up to several years or never. Are VirtualBox and VMWare host drivers included in the Linux kernel? Granted they are not "drivers" per se but anyways. OK, let's talk about hardware: literally thousands of WiFi adapters continue not to be supported by the Linux kernel some of which were released as early as five years ago. And then, if you have a Windows driver you know it works and it's full featured. The Linux driver may offer very rudiment support just to make something work. So, it's not so simple. Far from it.
rattlesnakedave 5y ago
This is correct. The "happy path" for a new linux installation is much worse than for windows. It's gotten much better over the last decade, but it's still much harder. Further, if you really want to drive adoption the linux onboarding process has to be better than the windows onboarding process, which is a massively difficult because the windows process is "purchase a computer, hit the power button, and watch the OS as configured by the manufacturer boot."
realusername 5y ago
> People are used to Windows where literally all hardware works. So that statement is not that evident. I wouldn't be so confident, I had my fair share of crappy drivers on windows as well to the point if that the hardware is old, there's a good chance that it will run smoother on Linux.

People are used to Windows where literally all hardware works. So that statement is not that evident.

by vadfa 5y ago

People are used to Windows where literally all hardware works. So that statement is not that evident.

bogwog 5y ago

Linux runs on a Nintendo Wii. Windows does not run a Nintendo Wii. Windows hardware support sucks.

vadfa 5y ago
Why would anybody want to install Windows on a Nintendo Wii?
- selfhoster11 5y ago
  Why not? A true hacker would consider it.

mixedCase 5y ago

>People are used to Windows where literally all hardware works Hahaha fuck no. I spent two weeks trying to get a Lenovo Y50's touchpad to work properly on modern Windows. It's impossible. Official drivers are unmaintained and whatever you get whether generic or frankensteined-in works terrible compared to the out of the box experience on a Linux distro.

colesantiago 5y ago
Just get/buy a PC pre-installed with Windows? Don't most people do this?
- bkberry352 5y ago
  lol, family member's acer laptop (pre-installed with Windows) had audio driver issues to the point where the audio output jack simply doesn't work. No drivers are available for the machine b/c it's pre-installed, so why would there be issues? The audio out works perfectly under ubuntu
- nybble41 5y ago
  You could equally well get or buy a PC pre-installed with Linux where someone else made sure everything was well-supported. It's not that Windows has inherently better hardware support due to its architecture—rather, hardware manufacturers put in the effort to ensure that their (new) hardware can be used with the latest few versions of Windows, since they would otherwise lose a large part of their target market. On the other hand, Linux tends to be much better at supporting older hardware that the manufacturers are no longer interested in selling, as well as working across a broader range of hardware platforms ranging from embedded IoT devices to supercomputers.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

throwawayninja 5y ago

I have anecdata of the opposite: my ThinkPad T590 cannot install windows with the .iso from microsoft, you need hardware drivers for the NVMe SSD off another disk during the install. I think windows and linux are about equal in terms of hardware support, with windows trending more towards good support tomorrow's hardware (it works when the new product launches) and linux needing 1-2 weeks before the new hardware gets a driver update + packages are updated.

itvision 5y ago
> needing 1-2 weeks Sometimes up to several years or never. Are VirtualBox and VMWare host drivers included in the Linux kernel? Granted they are not "drivers" per se but anyways. OK, let's talk about hardware: literally thousands of WiFi adapters continue not to be supported by the Linux kernel some of which were released as early as five years ago. And then, if you have a Windows driver you know it works and it's full featured. The Linux driver may offer very rudiment support just to make something work. So, it's not so simple. Far from it.

rattlesnakedave 5y ago

This is correct. The "happy path" for a new linux installation is much worse than for windows. It's gotten much better over the last decade, but it's still much harder. Further, if you really want to drive adoption the linux onboarding process has to be better than the windows onboarding process, which is a massively difficult because the windows process is "purchase a computer, hit the power button, and watch the OS as configured by the manufacturer boot."

realusername 5y ago

> People are used to Windows where literally all hardware works. So that statement is not that evident. I wouldn't be so confident, I had my fair share of crappy drivers on windows as well to the point if that the hardware is old, there's a good chance that it will run smoother on Linux.