[SATLUG] [Fwd: Re: Which Linux is for You?]

[Bob Tracy]

Geoff wrote:
> Hey, Gang... I've got a friend who -really- wants to be using Linux.  
> Below are his concerns.
> How can I help him?

In a casual read-through of his environment, wireless stands out as the
biggest impediment to a no-hassle distro installation.  At the risk of
greatly oversimplifying things, native Linux support for wireless
devices covers the entire spectrum from "great" to "non-existent".  In
my limited experience, native support for all but legacy chipsets with
substantial market share falls more toward the non-existent (or at least
"experimental") end of the spectrum due to vendor intransigence in the
face of heated competition in this space.  As Linux users, we have the
option of supporting vendors who disclose programming information for
their chipsets, thereby helping ourselves in the long run.  The person
who is converting from MS-Win already owns hardware and didn't buy it
with Linux compatibility in mind.

MS-Win "just works" in this environment because the vendor has either
provided the driver to MS for redistribution, or the wireless device
came with a driver CD that most MS-Win users forget they had to load
to get things to function.  For the latter case, MS-Win didn't truly
"just work", but the effort/inconvenience of getting things working was
perceived as minimal (expected / tolerated?).

Recommendations?  The path of least pain for most MS-Win --> Linux
conversions is to spend the paltry $15 on Linuxant's Driverloader
product and use the wireless vendor's WinXP NDIS driver.  The $15
gets you a license in perpetuity (for a given wireless device), and
the advantage of relatively pain-free installation.

-- 
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Bob Tracy                   WTO + WIPO = DMCA? http://www.anti-dmca.org
rct at frus.com
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