[wellylug] DSE & Linux

[Sam Cannell]

I agree that calling a piece of hardware "Linux Compatible" and only
supplying binary modules is misleading, however Dick Smiths is
definitely not the only vendor that does it - I was trying to get a SCSI
card bought from (iirc) Quay Computers working in Linux.  It was bought
to go in a Linux PC, and was chosen because of the Linux Compatible logo
on the box.

However, looking on the CD, the only drivers supplied were for Redhat
5.2 and some similar age version of SuSE.  The card was bought well
after Redhat 7.x was available.

We ended up pulling the SCSI card out of one of the Netware servers and
switching them over, if I recall correctly.

But I digress.  Despite all this, I don't think it's fair to expect
every vendor to supply open-source Linux drivers for every piece of
hardware they sell.  Supplying a Redhat 9 binary module for a device
that has no open source driver available will still benefit a percentage
of Linux users and should be encouraged, but should also definitely be
advertised as such.

But yes, it would definitely be nice if vendors listed "Supports Redhat
7.3 / Redhat 9 / Mandrake 10" or "Source driver for 2.4 kernels
supplied" on their hardware.

PS..
Keep in mind that Dick Smiths have a 7 day no questions asked return
period, so if you do buy hardware with the expectation of it working in
<insert distro here> and it doesn't, then at least you can return it and
get your money back. :)

-----Original Message-----
From: wellylug-admin at lists.naos.co.nz
[mailto:wellylug-admin at lists.naos.co.nz] On Behalf Of Richard Hector
Sent: Tuesday, 20 April 2004 4:19
To: wellylug at lists.naos.co.nz
Subject: Re: [wellylug] DSE & Linux

To me, labelling such hardware as 'Linux compatible' is bogus.

At the very least, I'd like to see fully open source drivers, preferably
with assistance from the hardware manufacturer (rather than relying on
reverse engineering); much better is to pick the hardware for which the
drivers are in the standard kernel tree. That way, I'm pretty much
guaranteed that I can get it going in any distro with any kernel, now or
in the future. Obviously that's not practical for brand new leading edge
stuff; I'm guessing most drivers don't get written before the hardware
is released the way they are for Windows (though that'd be nice).