Re: OT: Linux on laptops (was Re: Cyclist demographics?)

in message <3m9ugrF13mki2U1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Tony Raven
('junk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx') wrote:

> Simon Brooke wrote:
>
>> If that's the Intel 802.11 thing then you can't - it's proprietary and
>> Intel won't release either a driver or the specs so someone can write
>> one. There's nothing for it but to plug a PCMCIA 802.11 card in, which
>> is a bit of an annoyance.
>
> No its a LAN Express one whoever they are. But dare I say we are back
> to welding and machining, to make it do things Windoze does without
> hesitation, if you have to buy a PCMCIA card because you operating
> system won't work with the inbuilt 802.11.

Windows won't work with the inbuilt 802.11 either - unless you have a
driver. Linux, out of the box, copes with about 95% of all PC hardware
out there. Microsoft, out of the box, copes with 10% or less. The
difference is, with Linux if the driver for your hardware isn't in the
box, it's either hard or practically impossible to get one, and with
windows the driver mostly comes with the hardware.

But the answer to this is extremely simple: read the hardware
compatibility list /before/ buying the hardware. You don't hear people
complaining that their SRAM mechs don't work with their Shimano
shifters, do you? You check that the components will work
together /before/ you buy them. Computing is just the same.

--
simon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; It's dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
;; Voltaire RIP Dr David Kelly 1945-2004
.

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  • Re: OT: Linux on laptops (was Re: Cyclist demographics?)
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