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Hardware Manufacturers that Actively Support Linux?

Posted by Cliff on from the doing-more-than-paying-lip-service dept.

wirefarm asks: "I know there is are lot of well-supported pieces of hardware for Linux, but I was wondering, which vendors really go out of their way for the community? While tracking down drivers for a wireless PCMCIA card today, I found that the vendor boasted of having Linux support, but it was seemed that they were actually touting drivers that were community-developed, rather than written with any help of the company. So my question is this: Which companies really stand out when it comes to providing specs and developing drivers?"

2 of 596 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not yet! by volsung · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Note to people looking for USB scanners: Epson has apparently been nice to the developers. From the SANE USB scanner list:

    Epson have[sic] been very helpful with the development of the backend, to the point of providing documentation that's not yet released.

  2. Re:I second this... by Zathrus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think making the specs public is all we ever really asked for.

    Which is akin, in some cases, to saying "come on in and take the kitchen sink while you're at it" for hardware manufacturers.

    The Linux community (and the OSS community at large) needs to get over this. Open Source is fine and grand, but it's not always viable. With that in mind, a company should either make the interface available, or make reliable, fast, and solid drivers available on a regular basis.

    Those that choose neither may very well be reviled. Those that choose one or the other should be praised. And those that choose to reveal the interface AND help in writing the drivers should be revered.

    But bitching about a company that chooses to keep trade secrets secret is really f'ing stupid.