The big problem with 90s/early 2000s Linux was drivers. Which is still a problem with 2020s Linux, but significantly less of a problem than it once was. However

The big problem with 90s/early 2000s Linux was drivers. Which is still a problem with 2020s Linux, but significantly less of a problem than it once was. However, if a hardware manufacturer wanted to support Linux, they could develop/test the required drivers, and install them preconfigured. The real issue was they didn’t perceive there being sufficient market demand to make it worth their while investing in that It has gotten better-I remember having to muck around with modelines in X11 (not sure if this was 1990s or early 2000s-you get to a certain age and the decades start to blend together in your memory)-but who has to do that nowadays? Still, a HW manufacturer preinstalling Linux could have done that for you