Re: Re: Re: Getting started, were to begin?
Posted by
Ray
on 2001-09-26 16:29:36 UTC
From: Bryan-TheBS-Smith <b.j.smith@...>
Ray wrote:
I do admit to having problems. (dyslexia) So the casual reader might want
to consider all the rest of this as IMHO from someone who reads upside
down and backwards about as easily as the "correct" way.
What Linus, or Brian, is speaking of as autodetection has little to do
with Shawn's install problem. An install program like Red Hat's Anaconda
is simply looking (probing?) around the PC to try to figure out which of
the available kernels to use and what modules to connect to it in order to
make a working software solution for the hardware system. The fact that
it does this while running a throw away version of linux is incidental.
<S>
difficult -- the printer -- is now driven in many distributions by CUPS
-- Common Unix Printing System. Mandrake 7.2 has many hundreds of printer
drivers available in a very compact install. This common software wrapper
makes it very easy to add new, or old printers to Linux, freeBSD, or any
one of several other OS's with just a few lines of code. A similar thing
is happening with scanners, cameras, and usb devices.
By using these "out of kernel interfaces" with their own failsafes, an
"oops" in a usb device doesn't interrupt anything and Linus' hard line on
autodetection within the kernel itself is preserved.
HTH
Ray
Ray wrote:
>> Bryan is about right here but I'd like to add that Linux hardwareGuess I slid a burr under 'dat blanket, eh!
>> detection and compatablility lags a bit behind some other OS's.
>If you since so, then you obviously haven't read Linus' extensive
>comments on the matter.
>Basically Linus _refuses_ to have the kernel "autodetect" anything<bas>
>over busses that are not 100% accurate, or allow detection in ways
>that cannot possibly hang the bus and/or system.
I do admit to having problems. (dyslexia) So the casual reader might want
to consider all the rest of this as IMHO from someone who reads upside
down and backwards about as easily as the "correct" way.
What Linus, or Brian, is speaking of as autodetection has little to do
with Shawn's install problem. An install program like Red Hat's Anaconda
is simply looking (probing?) around the PC to try to figure out which of
the available kernels to use and what modules to connect to it in order to
make a working software solution for the hardware system. The fact that
it does this while running a throw away version of linux is incidental.
<S>
>Again, never blame the Linux community for lack of driversDidn't think I did!
> It's funny, as more and more hardware is really software driven,In point of fact, one of the devices that Brian mentioned as being
> Linux is actually much better. <s> All the vendor needs to do is provide
> the basic interface to them and they're done.
difficult -- the printer -- is now driven in many distributions by CUPS
-- Common Unix Printing System. Mandrake 7.2 has many hundreds of printer
drivers available in a very compact install. This common software wrapper
makes it very easy to add new, or old printers to Linux, freeBSD, or any
one of several other OS's with just a few lines of code. A similar thing
is happening with scanners, cameras, and usb devices.
By using these "out of kernel interfaces" with their own failsafes, an
"oops" in a usb device doesn't interrupt anything and Linus' hard line on
autodetection within the kernel itself is preserved.
HTH
Ray