Anyone care to read this!

[Janina Sajka]

No, he should have named the offending card by name so we could all clearly see his error.

Who told him Linux would run on that system? Was it certified for Linux use? I rather suspect not. So, he took it on himself to try and make it work. Well, that is his perogative. But it does not follow that he gets to blame the OS if the system won't work.

There is no obligation on the part of anyone doing Linux development to support any and all hardware that some manufacturer might fabricate. It doesn't work that way. And, it's a fool who just assumes it should work that way.

Dawes, Stephen writes:
> Well Janina,
> 
> He did not name the sound card that was causing him the problems, but he
> did say that indeed that the device that was causing the problem was a
> sound card. How can you then say that he did not mention the device. He
> went on to say that "paid tech support" was not able to resolve the
> problem. 
> 
> Almost everyone on this list has had problems getting sound started at
> some point in their Linux experience. (That is if they want to be honest
> about it.) Mr. Langa also writes that he tried to use the alsa drivers
> as a solution to the problem which also didn't work. 
> 
> I think that point that he is making, and I think that it is a good one,
> if you brag that you are ready for the major-leagues, then you better
> perform like a major-league-player.
> 
> After all, Mr. Langa writes, 
> "Once again, a nine-year-old copy of Windows could do what a brand-new,
> commercial distribution of Linux could
> not. A Common Problem
> If you check the discussion boards for many of the distributions of
> Linux, you'll see that sound support is an extremely common problem,
> even when the sound
> system is listed as supported hardware.
> 
> And in fairness, let me state loud and clear that only one of the Linux
> distributions I tried specifically claimed compatibility with the sound
> system in
> question; the others gave the usual vague assertions of broad
> compatibility, but didn't specify this exact sound system. I'm not
> claiming "false advertising"
> or any such thing.
> 
> Many Linux fans will jump on that and say something to the effect of
> "What do you expect? If you use unlisted hardware, it's not Linux's
> fault if it doesn't
> work."
> 
> But remember, even Windows 95--nine-year old software, reviled in the
> Linux community as junk code--handled the exact same sound system
> perfectly. So did
> Win98, WinMe, Win2000, Win XP Home and Win XP Pro. In this case,
> reflexively blaming the hardware is simply a dodge. If Linux is a truly
> superior operating
> system, shouldn't it be able to do what a nine-year-old copy of Windows
> can do? Why is it still struggling with a problem that Microsoft solved
> roughly
> a decade ago?"
> 
> In the full article, the distributions that Mr. Langa test are listed.
> Some of which are, in my opinion, hybrid versions of Linux that have
> been created for the windows community, you know the group that wants
> everything given to them with as little effort as posible. To which Mr.
> Langa is saying that Linux is not for them.
> 
> Read the full article at
> http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=1
> 8901660
> before you claim that this is junk.
> 
> 
> 
> Steve Dawes
> Phone: (403) 268-5527
> Email: SDawes at calgary.ca
> 
> 
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-- 
	
				Janina Sajka, Director
				Technology Research and Development
				Governmental Relations Group
				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Email: janina at afb.net		Phone: (202) 408-8175