[Tfug] 2 weeks of Hackintosh fun..

[Bexley Hall]

> On Sun, Nov 09, 2008 at 08:20:44PM -0800, Bexley Hall wrote:
> > And, that ignores the fact that the hardware vendor may not have
> > released a driver for their device on "platform X".  Of course,
> > that's a chicken/egg situation... until "platform X" becomes
> > ubiquitous, vendors don't want to invest money chasing releases.
> 
> Just because you and others keep saying it over and over
> again doesn't make it true.  See
> http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/linux_driver_project_status-2008-04.html?seemore=y
> and scroll down to "The Linux Driver Myth."

Baskin Robbins has umpteen gazillion flavors.  But, they don't
sell "Almond Chocolate Chip with Almonds" -- my personal favorite.
The number of varieties (drivers) means nothing if what *you*
want/need/purchased isn't on the list!

I've got an OnAir GT USB DTV tuner.  Is there a Linux driver for
it?  Does it *really* work?  Will it run on version XXX of the
kernel?

What if I *don't* yet have that device.  But, see one on sale for
a great price.  Should I buy it (all sales final)?  What's the
chance that I'll get home and find that it *won't* run on the
distro that I am using??

Supporting "third party" devices is never easy.  Unless the vendor
makes a deliberate effort to accommodate the developer, you're
reduced to making educated guesses about how something works.
This is time consuming.  And, quickly follows an assymptotic
curve towards dimishing returns.

Couple this with the fact that the guy (often just *one* guy
depending on how mainstream the product is) doing the hacking
will probably lose interest once he's got the *basics* of the
device working, and you can see how you end up with lots of
unfinished code.

E.g., the touchpads I use in one product have lots of capabilities
that I've never even seen mention of in *any* FOSS driver.  Use
the vendor's driver to make them available - *or* - sign an NDA
with vendor (but, then you can never legally tell the FOSS 
community what those features are or how to enable them!)

Notice how many *years* it took for full (?) support for the high end
audio on Sun SPARC boxes.

None of my ICEs will never see Linux (or any other FOSS OS)
support -- unless *I* (or one of the handful of other people
who have access to the sources) write it.

What about a device that is just being designed *now*?  When will
I see *reliable* support for that?  Or, do I have to wait until
they are turning up in second-hand stores for $5 so that enough
"tinkerers" pick them up and think about interfacing one to an
FOSS OS?

Now, *I* might be willing to wait.  And, *you* might.  But, will
the *millions* of other consumers be willing to cast their $$$ vote
for your product without knowing that this support is there?  Of
course not!  They'll just go wherever the support is available...