Comments on: Dell, Rivals Leaving Linux Money on the Table

By: Bruce Thorogood

Bruce Thorogood — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:00:33 +0000

I agree strongly with Richard (#17) and am in a similar position to him so his observations quote: ” Linux has an awful lot of major advantages, but it also has some huge gaps (printers for one, no “oops I didn’t mean that” when uninstalling for another) that render it a very risky venture for those who just want a computer as a tool and have no interest in what goes on under the bonnet. The days when I was happy to mess about to get things done are long gone, I have other interests now – computers are just tools to run the business, and that, I feel, is what the Linux community needs to focus on. When it does, Microsoft will have a problem.” fits me to a ‘Tee’.
The purists that believe that Linux should remain driven through the Console window with the graphical interface an after thought (including those needed for updates and add-ins etc) instead to being the main user interface with the operating system scare me. This approach is going to relegate the Linux platform to that similar to ‘Ham Radio’ where you need to be experienced at the ‘bare metal’ level to gain value from it. The masses won’t accept anything other than ‘point and shoot’. Giving them this capability for ALL there needs will result in product acceptance and in turn generate demand. It is this demand that will be it life.
Product manufactures that ignore the Linux community do so at their economic peril. They all need to get their acts together and invest in all the flavors of Linux out there.

By: Waterking

Waterking — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:09:12 +0000

I have found every HP that I have hooked up to my Ubuntu laptop to print with no problems.

I agree about the manufacturers (not just printer manufacturers) need to add the Linux works with their product on the package.

I notice that ScanDisk® Flash drives have TUX on them and that they are compatable with Linux. Of course all flash drives are
probably compatable with Linux

I have found more and more hardware that will work with LInux, including the ADS Tech “instant Music” device that when I asked ADS they emphatically said it would NOT work with Linux. Well it does just fine using Audacity. Now if I can get the ADA DVD express to work.

By: rubberman

rubberman — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:33:01 +0000

These days, support means CUPS. I have an Epson Photo R220 and was, after a lot of digging, able to find suitable drivers for Linux (though it is still a paint to print DVD labels) – I run 64bit Centos 5.1 on a dual quad-core workstation. I agree with the consensus, that these printer manufacturers MUST start supporting Linux “out of the box”. These days, Microsludge isn’t the only game in town, and my next printer is likely to be one that provides robust Linux support, especially for the newer 64bit systems.

By: jecker

jecker — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:18:09 +0000

oiaohm has the right idea. I own a computer consulting company, and many of the users I support don’t want to learn how to make this or that work, they just want it to work. VARs like HP, Samsung, Lexmark, etc don’t want to write drivers for every different Linux distro, they just want to write one. The problem I believe Linux has apealing to the masses, there is not allot of standardization between distros. I am not refering to standardization making all distros the same or using open standards. I am refering to the core functionality. For Linux to be accepted by the masses; massess being consumers, VARs, etc; Linux distros need to conform to a standard core. The extras each distro adds make the distro different.

In my opinion, Linux will only become the most popular OS, if the Linux disto developers develop their own standards for printer drivers, network drivers, video drivers, etc. Once standards are developed, the hardware manufacturers will know if they develop drivers to meet this standard it will work with all distros of Linux conforming to the same standard. This idea goes back to the old saying “United we stand divided we fall.”

By: oiaohm

oiaohm — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:01:38 +0000

Problem Printer makers have not woken up. There is now a all in one distro printer model at the Linux Standard Base. http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/WritingAndPackagingPrinterDrivers

So really you should not be asking for if a Printer supports X distro. But asking do you have LSB drivers. Its time to pester the hell out of them. Logo on box LSB version number supporting. 3.1 is the min. There is a LSB back port for 3.1.

By: APaxtonatDell

APaxtonatDell — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:31:09 +0000

Thanks to Doug Jenkins for pointing out the above url. A similar idea was submitted to Dell’s IdeaStorm about a month ago and progress is being made. Our Linux team is actively working on this and says,
“We’re working to add something like this to our linux.dell.com wiki. Much of this information exists today on Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, Mandriva, etc. forums. We’re hoping to make a central place where this information exists, where customers can post much of this information themselves.”
Stay tuned for updates at
http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/62702?comment_id=10120888#comment10120888
Best regards,
APaxton
Channel Community Manager

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:25:57 +0000

HP has already been mentioned, but what about Samsung? I have seen an advert for a Samsung printer in a flyer that specifically mentioned Linux. See also this PDF on their web site:

http://www.samsung.com/my/products/printer/brochure/ML_2010.pdf

and these:

http://www.samsung.com/my/products/printer/monolasermfp/scx_4200xss.asp
http://www.samsung.com/he/products/printer/laserprinter/ml_2010.asp
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/features.do?group=printersmultifunction&type=printersmultifunction&subtype=monochromelaserprinters&model_cd=ML-2571N/XAA

By: Rodney

Rodney — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:41:47 +0000

If you are looking to support a printer manufacturer that does list Linux (or at least some of the big distros), I would suggest you look at Samsung. They list Linux beside Windows and MacOS. I have one that works great with Linux (don’t know about Windows yet, but we just purchased one at work, so I will be able to test it under Windows shortly).

I do have to admit that their install process didn’t go exactly as described in the documentation; however, it was easy to work around.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:18:12 +0000

I enjoyed reading the above comments, I tried for a year SUSE 10.1 buying it in Australia when recommended by an engineer there later upgrading to 10.3 after problems with printing my HP 2750 3 in 1 would print over a cable no problems, but not over my XP network, and wifi forget it.
there were many things I liked about Linux the look, much of software etc. But not open office which fell short of Microsoft Office, nothing came close to Outlook and having lots of long classical disc’s Windows Media player still has no rivals, others may be OK for pop but are no use for me.
So I wiped the drive and reinstalled XP in a way I still miss Linux but it will have to get a lot more user friendly before I try again.

By: chemicalscum

chemicalscum — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:53:52 +0000

@13
“Linux logos on printer boxes will fail. At last some, and probably most if not all manufacturers will “certify” their printer by including a binary-only closed-source driver. Then what happens is that the printer stops working as soon as the computer is upgraded or a new security patch or library is released.”

Lexmark did this a few years ago and of course all the problems you described occur. As many people point out pretty much all of the HP printer line is supported by the excellent HPLIP toolbox poduced by HP engineers but providing “unofficial” HP community suport. It is included in Ubuntu and a lot of distributions. The worst case scenario if your distribution doesn’t supply a binary is that you can compile it youself.

By: Dan MacDonald

Dan MacDonald — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:22:04 +0000

#20’s idea of having a non-open and an open Linux compat. logo is a very good one I feel.

However, my local highstreet computer store (Staples) already does prominently display those printers that are Linux compatible on their little info cards- at least this is the case for their laser printers but sadly not the inkjets. On top of that I know that I have seen Tux on certain printer manufacturers boxes and I now see the Tux logo or Linux mentioned on more and more computing accessories, such as the D-Link router I got recently and I see that many memory stcks and hard drives now proudly display their Linux compatibility.

Its not just me, the EEE PC is further accelerating this process and Linux is definitely getting SOME exposure in the comp. store now, at least here in the UK and I know that some people buying these add-ons are going to be intrigued about ‘this Linux thing’ but of course a lot more could be done.

By: Robert Fletcher

Robert Fletcher — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:46:29 +0000

Personally, I’d love to see two different Linux logos for end-users to compare. One for proprietary drivers, and one for open-source drivers. This would give the consumer instant access to the relevant info, and give the manufacturers incentive to move toward open-source based upon comparative sales.
For example, a regular Tux logo, and a Tux sitting on the word “OPEN”.
In addition, this could carry forward into all types of hardware specs.