Slashdot Mirror
Thoughts on Automating Driver Installs for Linux?
Auzy asks: "Originally I thought that the implementation of a system in Linux which could automatically locate and install drivers would revolutionize Linux usability, however, there has been some strong negative feedback, including comments such as that it will kill open source drivers in Linux, and that even a system which employs digital signatures could never be secure enough to stop worms. I believe the opposite, and now I want to know from the Slashdot crowd, if they think I should drop the project now and potentially save Linux from possible security problems, or if I am right in saying that potential problems can be avoided, and that this system can become successful."
Bahahah! Kill opensource drivers! right!
Anytime you come with a new and potentially revolutionary idea, you are going to run into old stick-in-the-muds who will try to bury you in a flood of FUD. FUCK THEM! If you think it's a good idea, GO FOR IT. PROVE that it works, then let the community sort it out.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
Security and ease-of-configuration are NOT mutually exclusive. In fact, the simpler the configuration is, the less likely it is for a user to make a configuration mistake that will lead to a security hole.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
expect a million people saying "dont do it, it's the end of the world as we know it"
if you write it and it works it'll be an amazing feature that will make the world a better place
if you write it and it doesnt work, no one will use it and no worries. it'll be a learning experience
everyone else has an agenda up their butt =)
shaolin punk, activist post-industrial
one of the things that always bothers me is the amount of programming knowledge i have to have if a driver doesnt autodetect and autoload
i dont want to nessecarily start debugging drivers under linux or having to compile them
thats for developers of the drivers.. not the users of the drivers
so a thumbs up to your vision
back in the day we didnt have no old school
"All drivers are included in the kernel. Seems pretty centralized to me. Nice troll, though. "
If it worked out that way for me, I'd be running Linux now. Sorry, not a troll. I will say at the risk of being flamed to heck that I'm not trying as hard as most Linux users would. Fine. Just remember that the less intervention that is required by the end user, the more mainstream Linux will go. Linux is so close to cracking the Windows monopoly, but some attitudes about how 'smart' the user needs to be are really detrimental (sp?).
"Derp de derp."
"All drivers are included in the kernel. Seems pretty centralized to me. Nice troll, though."
This dismissive attitude about problems with Linux (ill-informed or not) is exactly why I won't switch. I'm so sick of the 7337 attitude some people like you have. You're just going to have to deal with the fact that you'll have n00bs complaining about things like this.
Tough luck for them. They don't need to use your software,and they don't need to include it in their distributions.
If it were built into Mandrake or Knoppix or Fedora, I'd love the feature and never think twice about it.
The world will not get better through technology. We must seek to be better people.
The centrino wifi drivers I have agonized over for the past two months. I am so frustrated with the overall driver config that I'm about to throw my laptop out a window.
I am tired of having to recompile my kernel because some function isn't enabled by default (hotplug in this case.) Frustration with the 2.4.25/6 kernel forced me to dig around looking at the 2.6 kernel. Then finding out that the (2.6.6) kernel version has a problem with my laptop in atkbd so whenever I press a certain key I get a kernel error, oh but now modprobe ipw2100 works as long as I make sure I compile the driver in legacy firmware mode bypassing hotplug. Not to mention the fact that there are little inconsistencies in procedure between kernels and packages. Not that this is the kernel developers fault, but having to enable PCMCIA support in the 2.6 to get HOSTAP to compile and having to disable it in 2.4 is something that the joe-blow consumer isn't even going to comprehend, let alone know how to do via config/menuconfig etc.
Automatic driver installation would be a headache to secure, but the need is surely there. My headaches are those of someone who's had to do this before... I can only imagine the headaches of someone un-initiated.