In 2002 I wasn't yet even out of middle school when I had a Linux distro running all key hardware components "just working". At that time at my school we were t

In 2002 I wasn't yet even out of middle school when I had a Linux distro running all key hardware components "just working". At that time at my school we were taught how to search the web, so I searched the web and looked up what hardware worked. Very simple. All I had to pitch to my parents was, "this system shares its code and encourages me to study it and learn code", which made clear to them what I was asking for wasn't just another video game console. Soon after I had a refurb laptop (fortunately not x86) and a curated WiFi card that ran Linux (and soon after, BSD) with everything "just working". When I see someone complain about unsupported/unsupportable chips in comments on online forums, especially one dubbed "Hacker News", I am puzzled how I in my middle school years acted out a pattern that is objectively smarter* than what I read in such comments. I also happen to first-hand know I am for sure not the only one with this vantage point. Those who comment about unsupported/unsupportable chips as if it is somehow an open source kernel's fault might want to take a moment to consider how others, and how many others, are viewing such drivel. For every one of us who take the time to point this out, there are 10,000 of us experiencing utter contempt, like as if we just got an unexpected whiff of some hot garbage. [*]And, I honestly don't think I'm even that smart.