OTA and Linux

[Evan Leibovitch]

D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:

>Most notebooks have oddball hardware:
>
>- video chips that are not (yet?) supported by X.org.  Note that the
>  "yet" doesn't help -- not supported NOW is the key issue.
>  
>
Not my experience.

Check out the laptops currently available. How many use video that isn't 
Intel, ATI or nVidia?

>- 802.11g wireless radios are usually not supported by Linux these days
>  
>
Totally the opposite of my experience. Atheros and Intel, which 
constitute the bulk of the g-speed cards in laptops, are both well 
supported. The Atheros g-card in my Thinkpad was immediately seen and 
supported by the current Mandriva.

The fact that one vendor -- Broadcom -- is Linux-hostile does not equate 
to the whole class of hardware being poorly supported. Intel, Ralink and 
Realtek either actively participate in the development of drivers for 
their chipsets, or wrote it themselves! Anyone using the Centrino 
chipset bundle is certainly safe.

>  + Intel and Atheros (I think) have open source drivers but require a binary slug of firmware that pure distro's won't include.
>  
>
Then use a less-pure distro. ;-)

>- My notebook has a peculiar built-in flash memory reader.
>
Some of these are indeed oddball hardware. Some -- including CF/SD 
memory readers in IBM and Fijitsu laptops I have used -- look like USB 
connections and are supported completely.

>| This is an area where I believe Mandriva shines.
>
>Ubuntu has apparently made a standing offer to manufacturers: send us a few laptops and we'll work on supporting them.  Not much that they can do about components with no released specs.
>  
>
In Linux, sitting back and waiting for hardware vendors to send you 
stuff can be a very unrewarding tactic. As I said, Mandriva has been 
proactive in this area.

>(1) originally IBM, a fairly Linux-friendly company,
>  
>
As are HP, Fujitsu and Sharp -- between them you have some of the most 
popular laptop makers worldwide.

>(2) been around for a while,
>
The T43 is newer and just as well supported.

>(3) business class (quite expensive).
>  
>
The Thinkpad R series -- its mainstream units -- are also well 
supported. I have personally used X and T series with good success under 
Linux.

>So it is not mainstream in the sense I meant it -- not Future Shop Best Buy, not getting cheap as dirt.
>
A little research goes a long way. One can search through many different 
makes and models at http://www.linux-laptop.net/ and find out what 
others have said about the oddball-level of their hardware.

>| Good resources for DIY laptop installers can be found at http://tuxmobil.org/ and
>| http://www.linux-laptop.net/
>
>Sure, but these certainly are not mainstream.
>  
>
Why not?

- Evan
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