Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on September 04, 2003 02:51 PM
> Back to your meds, bytboyz. Find drivers? Edit registry ?? Are you dislexic? In 7 years of daily WinDoz WWW business use -- say nothing of installing various HWare & software -- I have never once had to do either.
Then you have been very lucky.
When my girlfriend upgraded to Windows 2000, I helped her install and configure it. It took us three whole days, and we had to go out to the Internet for two drivers, one for her ethernet card (fortunately, I had my laptop), and one for her combo-printer-scanner.
I then installed dual-boot Linux on the same machine, and it took me 90 minutes.
In another case, my sister recently bought a new Windows XP PC. When she tried to install her Panasonic printer, it insisted on going out to the Net for a driver (update?). Unfortunately, something went wrong, and the driver didn't install, but Microsoft's authorization services thought that it did, or something like that. I don't know the details, but my sister says it took weeks, and hours on the phone, before she finally managed to get her printer working.
In my own case, the thing that got me started on Linux in the first place, was when I bought two scuzzy devices (a scanner, and a CD burner), and I couldn't get them both working under Windows. I could get one or the other working, but not both together. I kept trying on and off for months, looking for new drivers, calling support lines, and searching the Net for patches and help. But, try as I might, I couldn't get them both working. One day I was talking to my friend about the problem, and he suggested (again) that I try Linux. So he came over to my house, and, within a couple of hours, we had Linux up and running, and all the hardware was working, including both scuzzy devices! That machine has run Linux ever since.
I also have an old HP PC which has a very old motherboard. There are no BIOS upgrades available for that motherboard, and when I try to run Windows on that PC, I can only see a fraction of the harddrive. But when I run Linux, I can use the whole harddrive with no problems.
The problem with an old version of Windows is that it lacks drivers for newer hardware.
And the problem with a new version of Windows is that it lacks drivers for older hardware.
But I have been able to get Linux working with every piece of PC hardware that I own.
The tables have turned. Linux now has better hardware support than Windows. The only exceptions are in a few areas where Microsoft and certain hardware makers have conspired to keep the APIs a secret.
Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux help
Re:The real history
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on September 04, 2003 02:51 PMThen you have been very lucky.
When my girlfriend upgraded to Windows 2000, I helped her install and configure it. It took us three whole days, and we had to go out to the Internet for two drivers, one for her ethernet card (fortunately, I had my laptop), and one for her combo-printer-scanner.
I then installed dual-boot Linux on the same machine, and it took me 90 minutes.
In another case, my sister recently bought a new Windows XP PC. When she tried to install her Panasonic printer, it insisted on going out to the Net for a driver (update?). Unfortunately, something went wrong, and the driver didn't install, but Microsoft's authorization services thought that it did, or something like that. I don't know the details, but my sister says it took weeks, and hours on the phone, before she finally managed to get her printer working.
In my own case, the thing that got me started on Linux in the first place, was when I bought two scuzzy devices (a scanner, and a CD burner), and I couldn't get them both working under Windows. I could get one or the other working, but not both together. I kept trying on and off for months, looking for new drivers, calling support lines, and searching the Net for patches and help. But, try as I might, I couldn't get them both working. One day I was talking to my friend about the problem, and he suggested (again) that I try Linux. So he came over to my house, and, within a couple of hours, we had Linux up and running, and all the hardware was working, including both scuzzy devices! That machine has run Linux ever since.
I also have an old HP PC which has a very old motherboard. There are no BIOS upgrades available for that motherboard, and when I try to run Windows on that PC, I can only see a fraction of the harddrive. But when I run Linux, I can use the whole harddrive with no problems.
The problem with an old version of Windows is that it lacks drivers for newer hardware.
And the problem with a new version of Windows is that it lacks drivers for older hardware.
But I have been able to get Linux working with every piece of PC hardware that I own.
The tables have turned. Linux now has better hardware support than Windows. The only exceptions are in a few areas where Microsoft and certain hardware makers have conspired to keep the APIs a secret.
#