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Does it though? For all of the use cases that a user might expect including device drivers like graphics cards, audio drivers, BT and wifi device drivers, prin

Does it though? For all of the use cases that a user might expect including device drivers like graphics cards, audio drivers, BT and wifi device drivers, print drivers, etc.? I'm sure a Linux distro could, but somewhere someone would have had to write a driver for it. The Windows ecosystem supports a ridiculous variety of hardware.

bayindirh 2y ago
> Does it though? Yes it does. RedHat deprecates older drivers, but it's their problem. I connect too many stupid things to my Debian box, and they're enumerated and initialized instantly. These drivers get bug fixes too.
jenscow 2y ago
The Windows ecosystem supports those devices (which are irrelevant to servers anyway). ie, it's the manufacturers that support Windows, rather than the OS supporting them.
adrian_b 2y ago
That is a myth that I have also believed until I had to install Windows Enterprise IoT on various kinds of embedded computers. The Windows that comes preinstalled with most computers truly "supports a ridiculous variety of hardware", but that happens because some professional has already spent some time with the installation of Windows together with all the device drivers provided by the vendors of the various weirder components included in that computer. When I had to install Windows on embedded computers I had countless problems. I had to use frequently some complicated methods to give device drivers to the Windows installer at an early phase, because it was not able to boot on those computers. Their BIOS/UEFI lacked many legacy features, while Windows lacked drivers for some modern features, so they were mismatched. Even after Windows was eventually installed, some of those computers had SSDs with low writing speeds, which made them unbelievably slow in Windows due to some stupid and useless Windows services, which by default were writing continuously the SSD and it was very difficult to disable them. Fortunately, that was Windows Enterprise, so it was possible to disable Windows Updates. On some of the computers with problematic SSDs, after the initial installation, booting required more than an hour, because that much was required every day to perform Windows Updates. Only disabling both Windows Updates and various indexing and swapping services has lowered the booting time to normal values. On the other hand, Linux booted immediately on any of those computers, without having to do anything, and in comparison with Windows it was blindingly fast. Obviously, because those computers were intended to be used as embedded computers they did not have any of the peculiar peripheral devices that are usually included in laptops and for which their vendors provide neither documentation nor Linux device drivers, so they are unusable in Linux unless successfully reverse-engineered, while working fine in the preinstalled Windows.

bayindirh 2y ago

> Does it though? Yes it does. RedHat deprecates older drivers, but it's their problem. I connect too many stupid things to my Debian box, and they're enumerated and initialized instantly. These drivers get bug fixes too.

jenscow 2y ago

The Windows ecosystem supports those devices (which are irrelevant to servers anyway). ie, it's the manufacturers that support Windows, rather than the OS supporting them.

adrian_b 2y ago

That is a myth that I have also believed until I had to install Windows Enterprise IoT on various kinds of embedded computers. The Windows that comes preinstalled with most computers truly "supports a ridiculous variety of hardware", but that happens because some professional has already spent some time with the installation of Windows together with all the device drivers provided by the vendors of the various weirder components included in that computer. When I had to install Windows on embedded computers I had countless problems. I had to use frequently some complicated methods to give device drivers to the Windows installer at an early phase, because it was not able to boot on those computers. Their BIOS/UEFI lacked many legacy features, while Windows lacked drivers for some modern features, so they were mismatched. Even after Windows was eventually installed, some of those computers had SSDs with low writing speeds, which made them unbelievably slow in Windows due to some stupid and useless Windows services, which by default were writing continuously the SSD and it was very difficult to disable them. Fortunately, that was Windows Enterprise, so it was possible to disable Windows Updates. On some of the computers with problematic SSDs, after the initial installation, booting required more than an hour, because that much was required every day to perform Windows Updates. Only disabling both Windows Updates and various indexing and swapping services has lowered the booting time to normal values. On the other hand, Linux booted immediately on any of those computers, without having to do anything, and in comparison with Windows it was blindingly fast. Obviously, because those computers were intended to be used as embedded computers they did not have any of the peculiar peripheral devices that are usually included in laptops and for which their vendors provide neither documentation nor Linux device drivers, so they are unusable in Linux unless successfully reverse-engineered, while working fine in the preinstalled Windows.