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Linux Supports More Devices Than Any Other OS
Posted by
kdawson
on Tue Nov 04, 2008 07:15 PM
from the in-the-tree dept.
from the in-the-tree dept.
Linux Blog recommends an interview up on the O'Reilly site with Greg Kroah-Hartman, long-time Linux kernel hacker and the current Linux kernel maintainer for the USB driver core. He updates the free Linux driver program announced almost two years ago, which has really caught traction now with more than 300 developers volunteering. The interviewer begins by asking about Kroah-Hartman's claim that the Linux kernel now supports more devices than any other operating system ever has. "[One factor is] the ease of writing drivers; Linux drivers are at normally one-third smaller than Windows drivers or other operating system drivers. We have all the examples there, so it's trivial to write a new one if you have new hardware, usually because you can copy the code and go. We maintain them... forever, so the old ones don't disappear and we run on every single processor out there. I mean Linux is 80% of the world's top 500 super computers right now and we're also the number one embedded operating system today. We've got both sides of the market because it's — yeah it's pretty amazing. I don't know why, but we're doing something right."
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Linux Kernel Devs Offer Free Driver Development 348 comments
schwaang writes "Linux Kernel hacker Greg Kroah-Hartman, author of Linux Kernel in a Nutshell has posted an epic announcement on his blog. This could portend increased device compatibility for Linux users, higher-quality drivers, and fewer non-free binary blobs." From the announcement: "[T]he Linux kernel community is offering all companies free Linux driver development... All that is needed is some kind of specification that describes how your device works, or the email address of an engineer that is willing to answer questions every once in a while. If your company is worried about NDA issues surrounding your device's specifications, we have arranged a program... in order to properly assure that all needed NDA requirements are fulfilled. Now your developers will have more time to work on drivers for all of the other operating systems out there, and you can add 'supported on Linux' to your product's marketing material."
[+]
Free Linux Kernel Driver Development FAQ 84 comments
schwaang writes "The recent announcement by Linux Kernel Developer Greg Kroah-Hartman that 'the Linux kernel community is offering all companies free Linux driver development' seems to have stirred up some interest as well as some questions — see the Slashdot discussion about the announcement. Greg K-H addresses some of the questions raised here, and raises a few more, in a new Free Linux Driver Development FAQ on his blog. An excerpt: 'Q: Are companies really going to do this? A: Yes, already we have received a number of serious queries from companies about producing Linux drivers for their devices. More information will be available later when details are firmed up."
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News: Update On Free Linux Driver Development 272 comments
Remember the offer Greg Kroah-Hartman made earlier this year, to get Linux drivers written for free for any company that wanted them? Now an anonymous reader points us to an article up on linuxworld with an update to this program. Greg K-H, who leads the development of several kernel subsystems including USB and PCI, admits that the January offer was a bit of "marketing hype" — but says it has brought companies and developers together anyway. Twelve companies have said "yes please," one driver is already in the kernel, and five more are in the pipeline.
Firehose:Linux Supports More Devices Than Any Other OS by Anonymous Coward
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Technology: Microsoft Discontinues Windows 3.x 384 comments
rugatero writes "The BBC reports that, as of last Saturday, Microsoft is no longer issuing licenses for the 18-year-old Windows 3.x. Many here may well be surprised to learn that anyone still has use for the antiquated software, but it seems to have found a home in a number of embedded systems — including cash registers and the in-flight entertainment systems on some long-haul passenger jets (Virgin and Qantas are cited). Considering Linux's credentials as an embedded OS, this news could very well indicate the possibility of more migrations in the pipeline."
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God, you're good! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:God, you're good! (Score:5, Funny)
# lslimo > output.txt
and post the output.txt file.
Parent
Re:God, you're good! (Score:5, Funny)
output.txt:
00:00.0 12v Battery
00:01.0 Chassis
00:1a.0 Engine
00:1a.1 Gear box
00:1a.2 Cam belt
00:1a.7 Drive shaft
00:1b.0 Stereo
00:1c.0 Steering wheel
00:1c.4 Steering column
00:1c.5 Horn
00:1d.0 Driver seat
00:1d.1 Front passenger seat
00:1d.2 Hot tub
00:1d.7 Back passenger seats
00:1e.0 Wheels
00:1f.0 Doors
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Re:God, you're good! (Score:5, Funny)
You will obviously have to use manufacturers non-free driver, as they haven't released the spec for a Hot tub device. The latest patch I have in git fills the tub (although there are some overflowing issues with the latest, compact tubs) but doesn't heat the water yet.
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Re:God, you're good! (Score:5, Funny)
I could, but no guarantees it wouldn't crash.
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No surprise here... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:No surprise here... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:No surprise here... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:No surprise here... (Score:5, Insightful)
This may be true, but which OS is handicapped by it?
The only advantage to Linux is the more frequent release schedule which allows it to stay current with drivers.
Every windows release has come with a fairly current and comprehensive driver list. Every device you can buy has a windows driver included with it.
Also of note is the influx of what you might call "Basic functionality" drivers for devices such as scanners and multifunction printers - often full feature drivers are not available for these devices even though they technically work on Linux.
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Re:No surprise here... (Score:5, Interesting)
I ahve yet to install a version of windoes that didn't require immediate driver updates.
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Re:No surprise here... (Score:5, Insightful)
Where windows flounders and linux shines, is with non-current drivers.
I pulled an old voodoo 3 out of an an ancient PC. It was pretty trivial to get debian to recognize it, but after hours of searching, I never found a functional windows XP driver.
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Re:No surprise here... (Score:5, Insightful)
Odd. My install of Win 2k3 works in 2D with my old Voodoo 3 PCI.
Only 2D drivers available? Until it can provide 3D out of the box, this will not be the year od the Windows desktop.
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Re:No surprise here... (Score:5, Insightful)
Every device you can buy has a windows driver included with it.
Wrong. Maybe every consumer-level device you can buy today, but I have a nice shiny network card around that needs tweaking to work in Linux, doesn't work at all in Windows (yes, I tried, for more than a day), and only works flawlessly in FreeBSD and Solaris. Dunno where it came from, probably a server somewhere. And don't even get me started on PPC, SPARC et al, where Windows dearest fails to run at all. Which is kinda unfortunate for my Powerbook, but alas, we do have Linux.
People sometimes forget that, despite their ~95% marketshare, not all devices in the world are Windows-compatible, or were ever meant to be.
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Re:No surprise here... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:No surprise here... (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmmm... I've been using the b43 driver since Ubuntu 8.04 came out. It works here. Which flavour of kernel are you using? Sometimes alternate flavours bring out bugs in newer device drivers. For the record, i'm using the plain old boring -386 flavour.
I completely agree with the premise of the summary of the article. (No, of course I didn't read the article) A few years ago, i dug out my old Nikon Coolscan II LS-20 slide scanner. The last windows driver for this device was for Windows 95, so I had an old P233MMX machine dedicated to running it. After a year of storage, windows would no longer operate the scanner. It would report some error that didn't really get me anywhere on Google. I uninstalled and reinstalled the driver a few times. On a lark, I installed Debian 3.0 on a second partition on the machine. I figured it might be a bit of work, but Windows 95 was frustrating me. Much to my surprise, when i opened "The GIMP", and selected Acquire, my Nikon scanner was listed -- and it WORKED!
Parent
Re:No surprise here... (Score:5, Interesting)
I say! Hallo over there.
Could some of you fine upstanding penguins please find it in your pint-size reptilian hearts to migrate over here to Van Daemon's Land this season, and help our poor bewildered little FreeBSD creature rebuild his USB nest?
This is no joke, penguin people. Seriously, I need to keep a Kubuntu machine handy just to read the SD cards from my Canon. That simple task crashes FreeBSD. Regularly, reliably crashes it.
I will probably be hunted down and speared with a tiny fork for this. But I think we need some penguin DNA over here, because no one has been able to properly deal with this for the past six years or more.
There's a recent article at Linux.com about the ancient FreeBSD kernel panic involved in this, that has now even tripped up the PC-BSD project. http://www.linux.com/feature/149224 [linux.com]
And now, I must scurry hurry to hide from the fork prongs!
Sincerely - a frightened daemon captive
Parent
Proper Linking Please (Score:5, Insightful)
If you want to link to Slashdot, then do it this way: "He updates the free Linux driver program announced almost two years ago [slashdot.org]"
Drivers/embedded (Score:4, Informative)
There are more drivers because embedded hardware needs drivers to run hardware. You need a driver for your i2c bus. You need a driver to control that LCD panel on your linux-based PDA device. It's like comparing apples with oranges. Windows simply hasn't penetrated into the embedded market like Linux has.
I still don't have Linux support for my creative express card sound device and it is supported on windows.
Just a dumb user . . . (Score:5, Insightful)
A while ago I was helping somebody get some software running and printing under Windows, and . . . gawd! . . . they had to install a driver. It's been a couple of years since I had to do anything so primitive. Everything just works.
That's when it finally dawned on me that the times they are a'changin.
Re:I don't know why, but we're doing something rig (Score:5, Informative)
On the other hand, I work in medical research and you don't see any embedded Windows, or straight-out-of-the-box Linux. The reason? You need someone to take responsibility for the system. MS specifically says that Windows is not appropriate for use in critical systems.
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Re:I don't know why, but we're doing something rig (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:He lies! (Score:5, Informative)
Drivers do get dropped, usually when they're old enough that no kernel developer actually has access to the hardware, and nobody has submitted patches for years.
Drivers can also be added back in if someone feels like cleaning it up and making it work with a new kernel.
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Re:About as original as celebrity baby names (Score:4, Funny)
You look lost - don't be afraid to ask for directions. I think the patent story is two blocks that way...
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Re:Linux Story (Score:5, Informative)
Any files in /usr/local were provided by you, not Ubuntu. I have apache2 installed here on my Ubuntu box, and my /usr/local/lib directory is empty. Debian policy (which Ubuntu is based on) reserves /usr/local 100% for the local admin, and forbids packages from putting anything in that hierarchy except empty directories. (See section 9.1.2 [debian.org].)
Or to put it another way, no, /usr/local/libz.so.1.2.3.3 is not the "right" one. It's another wrong one that happens to be working for you. For now. The right one is /usr/lib/libz.so.1.2.3.3. Next time you upgrade, that /usr/local version is going to bite you in the ass again.
Ubuntu can do a fine job of updating itself, but it's hardly going to be able to upgrade 3rd-party software you installed manually, now, is it?
(Windows is a different case, of course, since Windows doesn't come with any useful software in the first place.) :)
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Re:Linux is on more devices than any other OS... (Score:5, Funny)
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