On Thu, 2007-08-16 at 20:58 +0100, peter green wrote:
> Herbert Graf wrote:
> > On Thu, 2007-08-16 at 10:29 -0400, Chris Smolinski wrote:
> >   
> >> I run into this with FTDI chips. They in fact added the unique serial 
> >> number as a "feature". The PC I use for programming them has over a 
> >> hundred COM ports so far. I am not sure when Windows will run out ;-)
> >> AFAIK you can program them with the same serial number, but in order 
> >> to program them, you have to plug them in, and Windows needs to 
> >> install the driver...
> >>
> >> One solution would be to write a programmer for the Mac; it doesn't 
> >> install a new driver for each device. It is smart enough to realize 
> >> the existing driver works OK. Hmm.. since the direct drivers are now 
> >> out for the Mac, that's a possibility...     I wonder if the same is 
> >> true for lunix also.
> >>     
> >
> > For linux the common USB->serial converter drivers are either built
> > directly into the kernel, or dynamically loaded as a driver module on
> > bootup. There is no "driver install" step. As with some many thing on
> > Linux these days: "you plug it in, and it just works".
> >
> > Who would have thought there would be a day where installing a new
> > device in Linux would be LESS work and bother then Windows?
> >
> >   
> What I have generally observed is that linux supports more stuff out of 
> the box than windows 

Absoutely true. But the point here is when stuff is supported, it just
works. Whether I plug my FTDI serial adapter into the first USB port, or
the 8th USB port, it still comes up as ttyUSB0, and there's no
"reinstalling the driver" just because I changed the USB port I used.

It's the same with PCI devices, ANY change in hardware seems to trigger
windows into a "reinstall the drivers" mode, which invariably in my
experience results in problems ranging from just requiring a reboot, to
a complete hosing of the system.

> but when stuff doesn't work out of the box it is 
> far more of a pain to get working in linux than in windows.

As with windows, that depends on the device. 

My Samsung laser printer has no in built support in Linux. Went to the
website, downloaded the driver, ran the install executable and that was
it, the test page printed without a hitch.

Same thing for video card drivers. The version of the Radeon driver in
Fedora I was using didn't support the ATI card I had. Went to the ATI
site, downloaded the install, ran it, it just worked.

OTOH there have been cases where driver installs WERE a pain. the
ipw2200 driver for the wireless card in my laptop was a completely
manual compile to a kernel module that needed to be recompiled every
time I updated the kernel, very cumbersome. Using Ubuntu fixed that
since it inclues the ipw2200 driver.

It's the same in windows though. Not every device installs "easily" in
windows. Tried to install some windows drivers for a Haupauge DVB-S card
last week. Went to the site, downloaded the win2k drivers, ran the
install, card not detected. Tried the driver on the CD, everything
seemed fine, until reboot resulted in blue screen. Tried everything I
could think of. In the end upgrading to winXP was the solution.

Yes, if you want to use Linux, you do have to be a little more careful
of what hardware you buy. But with that done, it's FAR easier and less
cumbersome these days to get hardware working in Linux then Windows. 

Case in point, wanted a video capture card. Researched a little. Bought
a $30 PCI Haupauge card, knowing Haupauge cards are generally very well
supported in Linux. Installed the card, powered up the system, and it
worked. No software to install, it just worked. With Windows, AT THE
LEAST, I would have had to install the driver, and software, and had at
least one reboot, perhaps more, assuming everything went smoothly.

TTYL

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