Re: What so special about PostgreSQL and other RDBMS?

Dusan Bolek wrote:

> I can't argue with you about your laptotp, but in general Linux has
> much better hardware support build inside than Windows.

A little bit of a sneaky word play there, Dusan! I don't care which O/S has better support "inside". I just care which O/S has better support period. Whether my drivers have to be sourced from third party websites, or are included on the O/S installation CDs, it really doesn't matter.

> The reason for
> this is that even the newest Windows XP are quite old (about two
> years), so they're not supporting hardware younger than two years. On
> the other hand, any major Linux distribution has new versions
> available at least twice a year, not mentioning new kernel releases on
> monthly basis.
> For example on my one year old PC, Fedora Core 1 just out of the box
> can recognize and install all of my hardware. When installing XP I
> need to:
>
> 1. borrow an ancient device called floppy disc drive, because that's
> the only way how to supply a driver for my on-board serial-ATA
> controller.
>
> 2. install drivers for nForce2 chipset
>
> 3. install drivers for Radeon 9700Pro (or enjoy VGA resolution and
> colours).
>
> 4. install drivers for on-board NIC.
>
> 5. install drivers for Audigy 2.

As I say, installing drivers is not an issue.

I have to install a driver for my 802.11g network card on Windows XP, too. You know what the vendor said when I asked about Linux support: "there is a generic driver, but you'll need to recompile your kernel before it works". And that was the hardware vendor talking!!

Slightly different, don't you think?

> So on my one year old hardware it is not even possible to install the
> latest Windows.
> People are often confusing operating system hardware support with
> having all CDs with drivers around. Is it true, that all hardware is
> comming with Windows drivers, but that's a vendor support, not
> operating system support.

Well, people may well confuse it, but I don't. Provided a simple driver installation is all that's required, to me that counts as 'working first time every time'. If it involved registry hacking, different story (but it rarely does). If it involves kernel recompilation, forget it!

> For Linux users getting an appropriate driver could be more
> challenging, but situation is steadily improving

Yes, I keep hearing this. And it's true. All I have to do for my laptop to work is simply wait until some new distro ships that includes the 2.6 kernel in-built. Unless I want to get seriously adventurous in the meantime.

That isn't an option, of course, when everything works as advertised, right now, on this dreadful 2 year-old operating system we call Windows.

> and when I needed to
> get and install a driver for a brand new Intel 1000 NIC it took less
> than five minutes (the same time as on Windows) and was needed only
> because of a two year old distribution used (any newer distro has
> support for this card already built-in).
> So I think the support for hardware is a reason for and not against
> Linux.

Well, that's an interesting outcome from a logic process: HJR reports hardware incompatibilities only for Linux. So let's just say Linux is better with hardware than Windows! I suppose it may well be true for you. It certainly isn't true for me, though.

> Of course, there could be some problems and some hardware still
> needs some tweaking or is not working at all, but that's the problem
> of a manufacturer

It also happens to be the problem for the *end user* if it's the poor end user that's trying to get their system working under Linux!

Now, as I say, me and my laptop are not a particularly good example of what will necessarily happen in a server room, and I readily accept that.

Regards
HJR Received on Wed May 19 2004 - 16:52:15 CDT