Linux doesn't work with hardware?

I've heard this a million times; "I don't use Linux because my hardware doesn't work with it and it's really hard to set up the stuff that does work and it's hard to use".

Just so I can clear up why I'm posting this, this is what has just happened to me:

My Wife and I are enjoying the fact I don't have to be up at the ass crack of dawn this weekend, so we're in the tech room relaxing, She's playing WoW and I'm burning CDs of the 10 or ISOs of Linux and BSD I downloaded earlier.

Here's the thing:

My main desktop that I use for everything production; Like work, I use Novell's mail client and super feature rich stuff to check my email, and then use the calendar built in to set up appointments for customers and also make memos and notes.

The machine has a Windows HD and a Linux HD, and anyway, I was burning CDs and K3B seemed to be going a little slow.

So I'm sitting here and I remember "Oh yea, I brought that USB CD / DVD burner from my old bedroom at my Mom's house!"

Now, some background info:

This thing was pretty cheap. I bought it about 3 or so years ago because I wanted a DVD burner and, well, I could afford this one, and I liked the fact that it was USB thinking "I can hook this up to all the machines to do back ups!".

That wasn't the case of course. It had to be used with Windows XP, and needed some resources some of the machines just don't have.

Well, my laptop met the requirements easily, so I set it up on there, popped in a DVD, and decided to do a back up.

It didn't work. I tried multiple times, checked the docs it came with, but it wouldn't work at all.

I was like OK, fine, whatever, and set it aside all that time.

It said basically Windows XP or nothing. So I didn't try Linux.

Well, I grabbed it and the cables, hooked it all up, plugged it into this machine running OpenSUSE 10.3, and then reached in the back of it and flicked the power. I set it on top of the case because it fits good there.

Nothing happened, so I was thinking "Yup, didn't work" until I opened the Computer area that shows hardware you hook in and DVD and CD drives and USB stuff.

It showed up...

OK, thinking to self it can NOT be that easy...

I right click and go to properties and sure enough it was, I selected auto mount in case I wanted to unhook it later, but decided what the hell I'll check it out.

I pop in a CD and sure enough the dialog box pops up asking if I'd like to burn one, and which type I'd like to burn.

I cancel that and just open my /home directory, click on an ISO file which in KDE pops open K3B and checks the MD5 sum for you and then all you have to do is click on burn because the speed and everything else auto set to "auto" so you don't have to change a thing. Which already makes it easier than Windows where you have to figure out which option will allow you to burn images depending on which software you're using, so anyway, I click on it, it pops up, checks the MD5 sum for me even though I didn't download it and then I click burn.

It starts writing the CD no problems at all...

This thing isn't supposed to even work in Linux or anything else for that matter if it wasn't XP, yet without installing anything, just plugging it in and turning it on, it worked without me doing a thing to it, and I just finished burning like 5 Linux distros and I'm about to start burning Free BSD 6.3 RELEASE so I can toy with that.

I'm seriously considering installing Linux on my Mom's computer again.

When Her machine started messing up I tossed SUSE on it. IT was Her old machine, a Celeron 433 MHz box with 192 RAM and a 9 gig HD.

Well now She has XP on a brand new Dell, it's slow as crap because there is hardly any RAM, and I spent an hour fixing Her Machine because Windows Update said a new driver for the Printer She has was ready to download and I was dumb enough to let the thing install.

It stopped working, and un-plugging the printer and trying to refresh and everything else wouldn't work.

finally I used system restore to go back to before I had installed the updates for Her and then selected it to stop showing hardware updates since, well, I'm tired of fixing XP.

I'm thinking of just installing SUSE on there so I can update it from here, but I need to check if Her printer works with it. After this I wouldn't be real shocked if it does just fine, but I want to check first anyway.

I've done this before too. My cousin got a computer and after exactly 7 days he had gotten 12 Trojans and about 1200 spy ware apps installed.

I formatted the drive and put Linux on there and he stopped having problems. I'd just SSH in to run the updates for software and didn't have to drive there anymore to click on update for Windows and his anti virus which he never scanned with or updated.

My Mom accidentally deleted the desktop link to Ad-Aware once and went online thinking it was un-installed, so she downloaded something that wasn't Ad-Aware, and installed it... Took 3 hours to clean it off there and re-install the real one.

I have to because She goes to web sites all the time full of spy ware and junk. She also believes a lot of that online "found money" bull.

So putting Linux on there would really make it easier on me, I could update it from here over SSH and She couldn't infect Herself all the time.

Anyway, after what happened just now, I had to do a post about it. I mean really, my dreams of being a *NIX Wizard and *NIX admin and security admin (You need goals in life) help me sleep better at night knowing that I don't think twice about my machines having a problem, and that it's so much easier when it's *NIX.

Ordered some new DVDs from Sun today too :)

Anyway, I wanted to talk about that and wonder how Windows Admins are ever sober after what I've seen this week with my new job. Thank God I don't have to put up with this crap at home :)

Hi gore,

Yes, I come across the "doesn't work with linux" thing from time to time.

Basically it is true, but generally only regarding modems/routers that were designed specifically for Windows.

It is not legal to decompile the software/firmware and produce a linux version.

Just buy something that is Linux compatible and away you go.

Personally, I am not terribly surprised that an automobile designed to run on gasoline does not do too well when you fill it with diesel :D

I blame America! we see your TV and movies and keep hearing "gas"..........

We then go to France and fill up with "gas". Unfortunately, the French for "petrol" is "essence" and "gas" is diesel :lildevil:

Lol thanks for clearing that up :)

Ah heck, the local nerd herd boys are always telling me it won't work in linux, but I bring it home and give it awhirl. Most times it works, there have been a few times when I had to take it back to get something different (wireless card). The wifi cards have been my biggest hassle. I can usually get them working with ndiswrapper but then they may be crippled as far as using some programs like ethereal (wireshark). I did have one printer that I never got working real well one time, but a few months went by and they had a driver out by then. Generally given enough time someone will come out with the right driver for most cheap hardware out there. At least that has been my experience.

Gore you are really making me want to move over to Linux :) ...

Switch now! Linux is everything windows wishes it was:D

Downloaded Kubuntu, gonna give it a bash at home :)

*A fine choice indeed, though I have to give my recommendations for PCLinuxOS-- it is my desktop of choice! Try it out if you don't like Kubuntu ;)

Been toying different Disto's at home, wanting to make the move over. Not because I don't like Windows, but because I am BORED of windows.

So far on my Notebook it is a toss up between Slax, Ubuntu or DreamLinux since the wife and kids like to use it. My old notebook has been running DSL for a while, and I like it's light duty, quick and dirty interface.

Other then WiFi cards driving me nuts and screen resolution being funky on the notebooks, I pretty much have found things work as they should.

I was given the FUD lecture when I was connecting with Verizon aDSL won't work with Linux yada yada yada... especially with my dual boot system

I had to load a CD and play with lots of settings to get things to work for the windows partition of that system. For grins I rebooted (Suse at that time) into Linux. No warnings or announcements, it was just there. Later when I replaced Suse with Ubuntu same deal it just works....

I guess if I called Verizon tech support they wouldn't be able to help me. Since I only ever needed help with the Windows bloatware they gave me, thats ok.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrCoffee

My old notebook has been running DSL for a while, and I like it's light duty, quick and dirty interface.

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Ahhh, yes Damn Small Linux is my second favorite distro...I love that little 50 mb monster!
The only thing is I wanted it as a portable os for my pendrive, but I could not get that thing to boot correctly...tried everything. So I ended up putting Puppy linux on my keydrive and it works fantastically. I tried dsl in qemu (linux emulator in windows) and I loved its simplicity. Oh, and about the screen resolutions, you just have to experiment around with those (what works in windows does not always work in linux :eek: lol)
About wifi, you will be very hardpressed to not find a solution somewhere...it's out there!

4dc, never believe those people at the big companies when it comes to linux, whoever told you it wont work prob. never has even used linux...it can work, always :D

Even back in the old days often the only information you needed from the ISP was the DNS address in order to get Linux running fine. I can remember that question confusing the first person I talked to though. If you want a solid stable system and don't mind using your keyboard, you can't go wrong with Slackware.

I think people here forgot my favorite distro (and guess one of gore as well): openSUSE. I can say that if you have an internet connction and u can download some 10-12 MB of data (for multimdia libraries), SUSE has everything almost any distribution offers and one thing I have loved in it is its installer: YaST2. Nothing comes even closer to it.

-- download in progress --

[openSUSE KDE, CD, 695mb]

...only 4 hours and counting :drink:

Of course SUSE is great, it's German engineering :)

I use mainly SUSE, Slackware, and FreeBSD. Those are my main desktops / servers.

But hey, Hust today I got a desktop for my friend. He runs a MSI motherboard with a ATI gFX controller and his monitor was not set up properly. I tried Sabayon. It did not even start. SO I next tried SUSE for the great support. I installed openSUSE on it and monitor was being used by the OS and we could see everything and I configured the graphics properly but the refresh rate I think was set to 60. He has a CRT monitor and it hurts my eyes. SO I was thinking whether I could get a driver for that thing on openSUSE coz openSUSE is working great on it.

Happy to announce that after my download completed and install disc run...opensuse has won my desktop war: it has defeated PCLinuxOS!

Oh, what can I say? I love it...
detected absolutely everything on my laptop, something that no other distros have done. Plain and simple: must have for every linux-lover!

I miss synaptic though :frown:

Synaptic?

I think in one of the third part things for YAST2 they have that ported.

use smart on openSUSE... you may also have the apt-get for openSUSE from their site.

Howeer it has the one-click feature which is just great. So You can very well use that feature to install any software without adding additional package managers

Yup :)

And just so there isn't any problems:

OneClick is a new feature of 10.3 but I think you can add it to 10.2 just in case someone was wondering about that :)

hey gore, what firewall do you use (besides hardware)?
and since I'm new to suse, how does apparmor work?

Generally IPTables. If you use YAST2 you can configure a good firewall with that which is like a front end to IPTables, and AppArmor and how it works would take quite a large post ;)

For that one just do a google on it, you'll get some good results that way and also some docs from Novell.

I just wanted to thank the folks in this thread - after several years of being intimidated, you convinced me to install SUSE (from the live CD) and I love it. Dual booting to a couple flavors of XP too and didn't lose a thing! Thanks Cider for the example. Heh. I would appreciate any input for what security apps you would use. I'm behind a NetGear home router and would also like to learn how to configure it properly. Btw, this computer was purchased in 2/98 and all hardware was recognized by SUSE without any problems (yet). Next: installing the full version without a DVD writer or floppy drive. Thanks again!

What's crackin', gore? Been a while...

Quote:

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I formatted the drive and put Linux on there and he stopped having problems. I'd just SSH in to run the updates for software and didn't have to drive there anymore to click on update for Windows and his anti virus which he never scanned with or updated.

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Nothing beats SSH... but I thought that I might add that, when it comes to those users who are too stubborn, stupid or afraid to make the *nix switch, I always suggest they install the RealVNC Server. It's saved me several drives. I just have them start the server (password protected, of course) and have them determine the IP address over the phone - then I'm in, whether I'm on my Slack box or my Vista lappy (or any other computer, for that matter).

It's also very helpful since, as anyone who has worked in IT knows, sometimes you simply must see the screen just to figure out what the hell a user is attempting to describe.

Just my two cents... good to be back on AO...
-wiski

Welcome back ;)

Yea understanding users trying to describe problems is sort of like watching hill billies on TV describe what a saucer looked like.

"Then it started doing this and that and the other thing and I duno why!".

Yeah over here at Panda Security I do get alot of customers calling in describing what was going on - only to find out that when the end solution came they were describing something totally different :)