Re: Anti-Linux Article



On Thu, 12 Jul 2007, BMJ wrote:

Straydog wrote:


On Thu, 12 Jul 2007, BMJ wrote:


http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201000451

Installing it was a piece of cake for me. I guess I did something wrong. ;-)

I looked at that article. It was about installing on laptops.

I knew that. It was the principle behind the article I was getting at.

Yeah, but one could not tell from your post and citation of URL that it was a laptop problem and I'm amazed that information week made a big deal about it, as if its really news. This stuff was all over the Linux NGs back 5-7 years ago.

It has
been a known fact for many years now that installing ANY distro on ANY laptop is NOT a piece of cake. It has been known for many years now that "support" for laptops is much harder than for desktops. My recollection is that very few laptop makers even offer Linux as an option on their laptops.

I'm not sure why as the architecture is, on the whole, the same as for desktop machines.

Devil in the details. Peripheral drivers. Lock in design. MS makes OED versions of the OS and its meant to lock in the _target_ hardware so guys can't take their OS disks and sell or give away to other people and deprive MS of its price.


And, a friend of mine who has a laptop and did not like XP and who tried to install an earlier version of Windows, and even DOS, found that the hardware would not let him install anything but XP!!! Talk about extending the stranglehood of the Microsoft monopoly.

I noticed that an early version of FreeBSD didn't like my machine because the computer was newer than the software.

There is all kinds of "progress" in HW and SW. I talked about this years ago when i found new Red Hat distros would not find my CDROM drive like the old distros.


Even in my own experience with desktops, compatibility is not 100%. I have some hardware that will allow some but not all SW to be installed, and its not a hardware malfunction, but could be called hardware bug (and I've actually got a book on this, too). For decades, chip defects can include what is called a "parasitic", which is an electrical specification that is neither documented nor designed.

Third-party hardware can also cause conflicts.

HW can have its own bugs. Drivers can have bugs. Driver for peripheral A wometimes will work on Mobo H but not on Mobo K.


Before I throw out a motherboard because the software can't communicate with my modem, I try at least three fundamentally different operating systems to see if one but not another OS will communicate with the modem.

On the other hand, I'm sure a certain software company might be using articles like this as propaganda.

Everyone should know who you are talking about, but most SW companies now have DRM and everything else in there to make sure if anyone is able to cheat, it will be them, not you that does it.

don't forget this, either.




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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Anti-Linux Article
    ... Installing it was a piece of cake for me. ... It has been known for many years now that "support" for laptops is much harder than for desktops. ... have some hardware that will allow some but not all SW to be installed, and its not a hardware malfunction, but could be called hardware bug. ...
    (sci.research.careers)
  • Re: Anti-Linux Article
    ... Installing it was a piece of cake for me. ... It has been a known fact for many years now that installing ANY distro on ANY laptop is NOT a piece of cake. ... It has been known for many years now that "support" for laptops is much harder than for desktops. ... I have some hardware that will allow some but not all SW to be installed, and its not a hardware malfunction, but could be called hardware bug. ...
    (sci.research.careers)
  • Re: Slightly OT, seeking advice on Linux for a laptop
    ... like Linux on laptops is pretty much a crap shoot compared to running it ... on a desktop where you can easily swap out hardware if there are issues. ... Linux on a laptop can certainly provide a bigger challenge than ... installing on a desktop even when the LiveCD seems to run without a hitch. ...
    (news.software.readers)
  • Re: dilemmas galore
    ... 1)how much is unix different from linux? ... You can start by installing Solaris on a system, familiarizing yourself with the hardware, configuring the disks, installing software. ...
    (comp.unix.solaris)
  • Re: hardware detection and the registry (complicated)
    ... you find the offending hardware. ... >>> installing a device that it usually DOES give the reboot prompt. ... but it does prompt you after installing a floppy disk controller. ... >>> timing with windows' hardware detection on startup is off, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)