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Author Topic: Windows 7 and why I'm going to ditch it  (Read 12298 times)

broadstairs

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Re: Windows 7 and why I'm going to ditch it
« Reply #15 on: January 14, 2012, 08:24:40 AM »

Out of curiosity, what is your specialist printer?  No doubt someone, somewhere is hacking away at a Linux driver for it!

It is a Hi-Touch 640PS and there is a set of Linux drivers but it is closed source which they wont release (I've asked) and it was written for a quite old implementation of CUPS and it will not work. It is a dye-sublimation printer. My wife has a Kodak G600 which does have a working driver. Dye-sub printers are not as common in use as ink jets which is why the drivers are less common.

Stuart
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HPsauce

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Re: Windows 7 and why I'm going to ditch it
« Reply #16 on: January 14, 2012, 09:23:01 AM »

I don't really understand the manufacturers who insist on keeping their devices for Windows only.
Pure economics. The cost of development for a smaller market isn't worth it to them.

 
Quote
I guess they are being blackmailed or bullied in some way by the Great Satan of Redmond. 
Oh dear, Linux paranoia strikes again.  :baby:
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broadstairs

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Re: Windows 7 and why I'm going to ditch it
« Reply #17 on: January 14, 2012, 10:00:41 AM »

I don't really understand the manufacturers who insist on keeping their devices for Windows only.
Pure economics. The cost of development for a smaller market isn't worth it to them.

 
Quote
I guess they are being blackmailed or bullied in some way by the Great Satan of Redmond. 
Oh dear, Linux paranoia strikes again.  :baby:

While I agree that economics is the reason for a lot of things there is no doubt in my mind that PC manufacturers get a better deal from M$ if they only supply M$ software with the hardware. I do think that more should be done to level the playing field and manufacturers should be made to supply hardware without software if that is the choice of the consumer and since no way are M$ products free the hardware must also be cheaper, otherwise they are giving the OS for free and M$ would not want that argument!

As to peripheral manufacturers I think again they should be made to provide interface details for their kit so it makes life easy for the *nix crew to provide drivers, after all it can only increase sales of their kit. This again would just level the playing field.

Stuart
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HPsauce

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Re: Windows 7 and why I'm going to ditch it
« Reply #18 on: January 14, 2012, 10:10:44 AM »

there is no doubt in my mind that PC manufacturers get a better deal from M$ if they only supply M$ software with the hardware.
I think that may have been true in the past to "some" extent, but there are 2 realities that suggest otherwise now:
1. Anti-trust/monopoly and similar legal/regulatory actions in the USA and EC especially.
2. Despite what people think Microsoft don't supply software to do everything  :lol:
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tonyappuk

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Re: Windows 7 and why I'm going to ditch it
« Reply #19 on: January 14, 2012, 01:32:54 PM »

Just to add my threeh'perth (?!) I still use XP without any updates apart from SP3 because I'm used to it and it does all I need. I have got Mint 10 and latest Debian available to dual boot from but I have not escaped to Linux yet because I edit a Newsletter (it used to be two) and MS Publisher is what I use. I have tried to use Scribus but it is not as user friendly as Publisher or perhaps I'm just too old a dog to change. And before you ask Publisher does not run under Wine. I've tried Win 7 in a virtual install but the new tricks argument applies again and where would I get the Win 7 drivers for all my old gear?
Retires to comfy chair and slippers.
Tony
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asbokid

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Re: Windows 7 and why I'm going to ditch it
« Reply #20 on: January 14, 2012, 08:16:45 PM »

I don't really understand the manufacturers who insist on keeping their devices for Windows only.
Pure economics. The cost of development for a smaller market isn't worth it to them.
That's not what Linux is about.  Provide the specs for your equipment and someone will develop a Linux driver, for free.

There is a clash of two very different schools of thought here, and manufacturers often find themselves sitting awkwardly between the two. I guess it goes against their corporate culture to give anything away.

There's the profoundly greedy and selfish ethos epitomised by Microsoft.  This is a world of a badly written, poorly maintained closed-source software like the Windows operating system, and then there's the very open Linux community where  benevolence and generous donation of time and skill abounds.

« Last Edit: January 14, 2012, 08:19:14 PM by asbokid »
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asbokid

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Re: Windows 7 and why I'm going to ditch it
« Reply #21 on: January 14, 2012, 08:45:00 PM »

Out of curiosity, what is your specialist printer?  No doubt someone, somewhere is hacking away at a Linux driver for it!

It is a Hi-Touch 640PS and there is a set of Linux drivers but it is closed source which they wont release (I've asked) and it was written for a quite old implementation of CUPS and it will not work. It is a dye-sublimation printer. My wife has a Kodak G600 which does have a working driver. Dye-sub printers are not as common in use as ink jets which is why the drivers are less common.

Stuart

That's a shame.

Don't suppose you would ever buy another Hi-Ti printer, because of the company's poor support and attitude towards Linux users.

We have been playing with a multi-protocol USB bridge controller called the Winchiphead CH341.  It is a single IC containing a USB peripheral controller and a bridge controller supporting a range of serial protocols as well as the IEEE 1284 parallel printer protocol.

It's a very low cost solution with lots of different applications.  We have been using it to program serial EEPROMs. 

In large volumes the IC costs just a few cents. There's a Windows-only device driver for the USB controller, and there's an API provided through a Windows DLL.   And yet the company refuses to release some proper specs of the IC.    People want to get the device working in Linux and need the IC specs to do that.  But the company isn't interested.   

For a reason why, i guess it's another case of Follow-The-Money.  The company sells a very profitable "Evaluation/Development Kit" which is, again, only available for Microsoft Windows.  That kit would become obsolete if development moved away from Windows and into the Linux community.

Consequently, because of that rotten attitude, the company finds itself bad-mouthed across the internet.
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