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On Linux just plug and play. Really? Most common peripherals, like mice, keyboards, usb drives, etc, just plug and play (as they do in Windows). But I tried in
by quacker 12y ago
On Linux just plug and play.
Really? Most common peripherals, like mice, keyboards, usb drives, etc, just plug and play (as they do in Windows). But I tried installing a (4 year old?) multi-function printer under Ubuntu 14.04 a few weeks ago and was never able to get the scanner to work, despite Brother providing Linux drivers. Some co-workers and I haven't had great experiences with webcams under Linux. Touchpad support is there, but whether gestures and multi-touch work is another matter. Overall, Linux drivers are a far cry from plug and play in my experience, and I really don't care if I have to run an installer once as long as it ends up working.
- hga 12y agoThey also break. I have a USB sound dongle that works fine with the Debian lenny and wheezy kernels, but not squeeze (that's versions 5 and 7, but not 6, and I tried another chipset's as well). My Wacom tablet stopped working with wheezy. I've read that driver breakage is for many the #1 problem with Linux, even for enterprise/server setups. I'm starting to view RHEL in a new light after running Debian for a long time.
- DanBC 12y agoI can provide plenty of anecdote for broken Windows drivers. One example where moving from Windows Vista to Windows 7 will update Intel on board graphics card drivers, thus killing Minecraft. Fix is to upgrade graphics card; or to run old versions of Minecraft; or to install Linux and run latest version of Minecraft. https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MC-14051 https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MC-14051
- hga 12y agoThe problem I personally have had here is that Debian support cycles are way too short, 1 year past the bi-annual release of the new version. Even the squeeze LTS 1 year additional support experiment is too short. Hence my new appreciation of RHEL. With Windows there's a very good chance you can continue using an old version for a long time. I'm still supporting my mother using XP through two sets of hardware (although that'll end soon). (In)Famously, many people skipped Vista and are now skipping Widows 8, and I gather not suffering all that much.
- phaemon 12y ago> Some co-workers and I haven't had great experiences with webcams under Linux. Really? Because all USB webcams should support UVC, and therefore should work under every modern OS (Windows, OSX, Linux, BSDs, etc) without any additional drivers. In fact, you can't even get a Windows Compatibility logo on your packaging if you don't support it. So the webcams you were trying to use must either have been ancient, or appallingly bad hardware?
- dllthomas 12y agoMy wife has to reconfigure the printer every time she tries to print something on whichever Windows she's got on her laptop. It Just Works from my Linux boxen (laptops and otherwise).