Date: Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:18:34 +0000 From: "Peter Harrison" <four.harrisons@googlemail.com> To: "FreeBSD" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Realtek RTL8191SEvB Linux driver? Message-ID: <4f03386c.87cde30a.26cb.ffff8eda@mx.google.com> In-Reply-To: <20120103071028.4964dd33@scorpio>
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Jerry,
Sorry for top posting. Take offense if you like.
The o= nly thing I have to say after experiencing the last few days
on-list is to = (gently) point out that not everyone's goal in life is
to run a system like= Windows. If that was what I wanted I'd be
running Windows.
I find F= reeBSD more intuitive and easier to use. And I'm prepared to
accept that I = have to be a bit picky about the hardware I buy. I
consider it a price wort= h paying.
Would I like better hardware support? Of course! But if th= e price of
that is a fundamental change to the OS interface, then I think t= he
price is too high.
It strikes me that Ubuntu are running very fas= t to turn Linux into
Windows. They'll have good device support and a strong= GUI layer. I'm
sure that will fit a lot of users needs, but /not mine/.
People who wa= nt that should use Ubuntu. Or Windows. People who like
the freedom and "con= figurability" offered by FreeBSD should use
FreeBSD and accept the payoff. = And we should all just rub along,
happy in the knowledge that we have chose= n the system we want.
--
Pe= ter Harrison
_________________________________________________________________
On 3 Jan 201= 2 12:11, Jerry <jerry@seibercom.net> wrote:
On Tue, 03= Jan 2012 16:44:30 +1000
Da Rock articulated:
> On 01= /03/12 11:15, Jeffrey McFadden wrote:
> > I have a Toshiba Sate= llite U505-S2950 laptop with a Realtek
> > RTL8191SEvB wireless= card built in. FreeBSD doesn't recognize
this
> > card and ca= n't use it, but Ubuntu does.
> >
> > Would it be po= ssible to go glom a Linux driver off the web
> > someplace and = install it in my FreeBSD and get the wireless
to
> > work? I'm= using a USB Belkin in it now, but that's an unhandy
> > thing = sticking out like it does.
> >
> Unfortunately the API= 's are completely different. Adrian Chadd
does a
> lot of work on= Wifi in FreeBSD, but I'm not sure if its on the
todo
> list or no= t. Try a search on google...
This is what drives me to pull my= hair out. I have stated several
times
that all the *nix/*BSD consort= ium needs to do to become truly
competitive in the market is to devis= e a uniform API that works the
same
on FreeBSD as on Ubuntu and every= other non-windows based system.
The
concept is so simple that it ama= zes me that it was not
implemented
eons ago.
The problem= is that the non-windows operating system authors all
behave
live lit= tle children. None of them can simply get along. The all
have
to insi= st that "they" have the best and everyone else is wrong.
They
swing b= etween Narcissism and Paranoia on any given day. You would
have
an ea= sier time getting a Jew and a Muslim to sit down at a table
and
enjoy= a ham dinner than you have of getting the powers that be in
the
non-= windows community to agree to anything, other than their hatred
of
Mi= crosoft of course.
I have spoken with representatives of compa= nies, the last one
being
Brother International, who plain out stated = that they only
support
Microsoft (naturally - they offer the easiest = and best documented
system for driver installation) and a vanilla Lin= ux solution.
They
openly stated that there is no way that they would = even attempt
to
write software for a market as fractured as the *nix/= *BSD community
and
then be straddled with the problem of supporting s= uch software.
Hell,
every time someone in the BSD community dotted an= "i" in the
kernel
source code the poor driver authors would have to = rewrite their
device
code. Certainly a task I would not want to be as= signed.
Ubuntu is years ahead of FreeBSD in creating a useful = and fully
functional desktop, I read where they were working on makin= g it
possible to use a driver disk intended for Microsoft's Windows O= S
usable in Ubuntu. They were working on a method of simply extractin g
the code needed directly from a CD and using it directly on Ubuntu. Now
that is what I call true "forward" thinking.
The au= thors of FreeBSD, and to a lesser extend Linux remind me of
group
of = of passengers left floating in the ocean after their ship sank.
The
b= est case scenario at that point would be to be rescued by
another
pas= sing ship. However, while waiting for that to occur it would
seem
log= ical to grab onto any object that floated by and thereby allow
the
st= randed individual a better chance at survival. If these were
Ubuntu
s= urvivors there would be no question as to what they would choose
to
d= o, as well as some of the more enlighten *nix" users. However,
the
*B= SD users, especially the FreeBSD ones would rather drown than
accept
= a solution that was not counter to what everyone else was trying
to
a= ccomplish.
I have, mistakenly I admit, stated that there are n= o drivers for
lots
of devices currently available on the market, espe= cially the higher
end
ones. That statement is essentially incorrect. = There are drivers
for
these devices, and other OSs are taking advanta= ge of them.
FreeBSD,
in its unending war against simplicity and conti= nued insistence
on reinventing the wheel, refuses to avail itself of = them.
You can lead a horse to water; however, you cannot stop = it from
running
head long into the desert and dying of thirst. Stupid= ity IS its
own
punishment.
It took the Catholic church u= ntil 1992 to admit that Galileo
Galilei
was correct and the earth doe= s rotate around the sun. So there is
hope.
Perhaps someday FreeBSD wi= ll become "enlightened" also.
--
Jerry ♔
=
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