Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on April 10, 2007 04:25 AM
You are correct about the compiler toolchain. That's how I ended up installing my Matrox Millenium G400 accelerator driver (the kernel driver, not the X11 driver). I am a techie (8 years with GNU/Linux, similar to you, though I originally came from a Windows background), so it wasn't too tough for me. Man pages do make sense to me.
However, years ago, that wasn't the case; my little MCSE-self back then didn't have all the ability that I now possess. UNIX man pages have a reputation for terseness because they very often are! That's when there are man pages at all to read (there usually are, but for some 3rd-party drivers, there's just a README). The README files can be terse, too. For example, in the case of my Millenium G400 driver, the need to modprobe or insmod after the installation wasn't discussed in the README. Fortunately, I knew to insmod or modprobe from my years of doing this. Again, as a techie who does like to tinker, I can deal with that. My parents might have had some difficulty with that, though.
That said....
Once the GNU/Linux system is up and running--and the installation, as you've pointed out, is not at all difficult--then it Just Plain Works. Even if sometimes we do have to<nobr> <wbr></nobr>./configure && make && make install, you typically don't have rootkits stealthily auto-installing themselves (e. g. Sony), you don't have portscanning HP drivers, you don't have your computer "phoning home" like MS Windows does, you don't have a vendor automatically assuming you're a criminal and disabling major parts of your OS, and you don't generally end up getting your system hosed through viruses/worms/malware. And that's why I let my MCSE go by the wayside.
GNU/Linux also is very easy to deal with at the OEM level (I use kickstart, which I find rather easy). Since GNU/Linux is not closed down like Microsoft's Windows is, OEM's by definition have *much* more flexibility with the former than the latter<a href="mailto:lker@cmosnetworks.com" title="mailto">.</a mailto>
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Posted by: Anonymous Coward on April 10, 2007 04:25 AMHowever, years ago, that wasn't the case; my little MCSE-self back then didn't have all the ability that I now possess. UNIX man pages have a reputation for terseness because they very often are! That's when there are man pages at all to read (there usually are, but for some 3rd-party drivers, there's just a README). The README files can be terse, too. For example, in the case of my Millenium G400 driver, the need to modprobe or insmod after the installation wasn't discussed in the README. Fortunately, I knew to insmod or modprobe from my years of doing this. Again, as a techie who does like to tinker, I can deal with that. My parents might have had some difficulty with that, though.
That said....
Once the GNU/Linux system is up and running--and the installation, as you've pointed out, is not at all difficult--then it Just Plain Works. Even if sometimes we do have to<nobr> <wbr></nobr>./configure && make && make install, you typically don't have rootkits stealthily auto-installing themselves (e. g. Sony), you don't have portscanning HP drivers, you don't have your computer "phoning home" like MS Windows does, you don't have a vendor automatically assuming you're a criminal and disabling major parts of your OS, and you don't generally end up getting your system hosed through viruses/worms/malware. And that's why I let my MCSE go by the wayside.
GNU/Linux also is very easy to deal with at the OEM level (I use kickstart, which I find rather easy). Since GNU/Linux is not closed down like Microsoft's Windows is, OEM's by definition have *much* more flexibility with the former than the latter<a href="mailto:lker@cmosnetworks.com" title="mailto">.</a mailto>
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