🚀 go-pugleaf

In aus.computers.linux, on Mon, 18 Aug 1997 21:02:00 GMT
Brian Mueller <mulder78@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>Wally Barnes wrote:
>>Simply put, Linux doesn't suffer from Bill Gates and his company. It suffers
>>from people who find it better to complain about the lack of support/development
>>,when they should get up off their tails and do it themselves. 
>What about people who are not programmers? SOL, huh?
>(sol = shit out of luck)

To be quite brutally honest?  Yes.

As someone else said also... The linux kernel is a by programmers for
programmers thing.  If you have a problem with a driver that doesn't exist,
then write one.  If you find one that's buggy, then poke the guy
that wrote it, or write a patch.

The only reason I haven't done either, is that I carefully researched what
hardware *was* already supported when I put together my PC.

*shrug* Linux (the kernel) is *not* "unix for dummies".

That said... I happen to believe Linux *distributions* can
be "unix for dummies".  I see no reason for prevent distribution makers
from making nice package management tools, nice upgrade mechanisms, nice
system administration tools, and putting them all together in a package,
together with the latest stable Linux kernel they can find, and voila, a
"unix for dummies" system.

Yggdrasil does this, and to an extent, so does RedHat.  Slackware
doesn't... I'm not sure about debian, not having used it myself.

But, the basic point is:

The Linux *kernel* is a rather different kettle of fish to the Linux
*distribution*.

If you have a problem with a lack of support for something in the Linux
kernel, then fix it yourself, or collaborate with some people who are
already doing things to fix it, or pay someone to write a driver for you.

The thing is *copyleft*ed.  This means that the released kernel code is all
free.  Ergo, noone gets paid for it.  People write parts of it out of the
goodness of their own hearts.  Hence, noone has a right to criticise anybody
for things that are not supported, because hey... Noone cares enough to
write the driver.  Tough.  Those that *have* written stuff deserve thanks,
not damnation for "not doing enough".

Later,

   David

-- 
Unico   Computer   Systems   Pty   Ltd
David Goh            Software Engineer
david@unico.com.au      (03) 9866 5688