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Know Any Hardware Needing Better Linux Support?
Dev Null writes "The Linux device driver project has hit something of a snag: they have lots of developers, but few devices to work on, so they're looking for input concerning which devices aren't well-supported in Linux. If any of you know of devices that could use better support, you can help out by listing them on the project's wiki."
Maybe that's an X thing rather than a Linux thing but why is it so that in 2007 that feature looks broken? most times any flavor of win9x or NT correctly detects the screen and allows to choose res and refresh according to the monitor limits. I'm part of an association that builds PC from parts donated or lying in the streets, we use more or less crappy CRTs.
Editing the xorg.conf and tell bullshit about frequency ranges to get 1024x768 85Hz gets boring. Also PCs with improperly blanked screens aren't a rare sight. There are many computers labs full of them at the university (X terminals, diskless VIA C3 PC with 17" CRT), wasting a ridiculous amount of energy displaying black rather than being stand by. That should be urgently fixed.
For example, Presonus Firebox and Firepod. Not just support but proper latency support I guess ( if I can so bold to demand them )
The USB keyboards ( like M-Audio keystations and others ).
It would be really sweet to work on audio in Linux for us CS geeks ( write scripts for audio effects rather than knobs and bars in weird custom interfaces ).
Wireless.
The current driver space for wireless components in Linux is an odd hodge-podge of ndiswrapper, madwifi (two versions), beta drivers external to the mainline kernel, minimal built-in support and blind luck. Cleaning this up should keep a good number of people very busy.
What's it going to take to get people to see that technological ignorance is NOT OKAY? Any technology can cause damage if it's used by people who don't know how it works. I'm not saying people should know how to code, but you don't know the difference between a client and server, stay the fuck off the net until you're read your first "for dummies" book.
Here's how to get rid of botnets: license computer users. If you don't know enough about the technology to keep from harming the rest of society, you don't get to use it. If you can't keep your computer secure, you get to use snailmail, POTS and get your videos at Blockbuster.
Quit making excuses for people who don't want to learn how their computers work. They are the cause of may of the problems that people who want to use appropriately
When I got my first net access in 1988, the ISP owner interviewed me personally to make sure I'd use the resources responsibly. We should go back to that.
Don't make excuses for idiots. If Joe Sixpack doesn't want to learn how his computer works, take away his keyboard.
A general linux user does not care how the distro has been put together. He or she just wants it to work.
I respect anyone's choice to work only in kernel-land if they so desire, but collecting hundreds of people who say "I only can or want to do kernel" only to then complain that these folks don't have enough work to do while on the other side of the wall there are Himalayan mountains of work left over is just plain ridiculous. What's even more ridiculous, is to claim that "the linux driver problem is overstated" simply because of this kind of self-selected mismatch.
To follow up on your analosy: a Windows developer can not go fix an Epson driver even if he wants to, but a Linux kernel developer can help fix a userspace driver problem if only he wants to. That's the big advantage of Open Source.
PS: Before flaming me for being ignorant about linux and kernels, read my sig.
Linux user since early January 1992.
I won't bother submitting this driver to the free driver project because it's kind of useless without the $3000 piece of hardware it works with (and that's not counting the crates full of minicomputer hardware needed for testing). I need mine and I don't picture these folks buying their own no matter how much they care.
I seem to recall that one of the main kernel developers said they accept any drivers, and had a driver in the kernel with only a single known user. So it seems to me that they would accept your driver, since you seem to have many users.
If you get your driver in the kernel then I assume the developers who change the interfaces would update your code automatically.
Well, until we can do everything a computer can do with Linux, it's not going to be as widespread as it should be.
I'll have to explore this term, "userspace" because it's not familiar to me (I'm just a Ubuntu Studio user, and a fairly new one at that. I'm not a Linux expert like many of you here), but whatever this "userspace" is, it sounds like it's something that someone in the Linux development community ought to handle.
Maybe the difference between a successful OS and one that's not so successful is how well it integrates the "userspace" experience.
But I'm just guessing.
And before you tell me to RTFA, It's only 6:30am and I'm waiting for the coffee water to heat up. I'm not R'ing any F'ing A until I've had one or two cups, thank you very much.
You are welcome on my lawn.