Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:12:26 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: FreeBSD <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Cc: Jerry <freebsd.user@seibercom.net> Subject: Re: Easiest desktop BSD distro Message-ID: <20110331001226.b957f902.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20110330131223.07f13bb3@scorpio> References: <1892767898.53772.1301502751849.JavaMail.seven@ap4.trial.red.7sys.net> <20110330131223.07f13bb3@scorpio>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Wed, 30 Mar 2011 13:12:23 -0400, Jerry <freebsd.user@seibercom.net> wrote: > On Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:32:29 -0700 (PDT) > four.harrisons@googlemail.com <four.harrisons@googlemail.com> > articulated: > > > Once you've scaled the learning curve, you will appreciate how easy > > it is to achieve things with FreeBSD compared to other OS which > > attempt to make things 'easy' for you (wireless networking springs to > > mind - in my experience if Windows can't do it 'automagically' then > > you haven't a hope in hell of finding out what's wrong and fixing it). > > You have conveniently left out the part that if the OS does not have > a driver for the wireless card, specifically "N" protocol cards, then > you haven't any hope of getting it to work, period. Although this is correct, you're concluding the wrong thing, in my opinion. > In any case, the easiest way to get any wireless card to work in > Windows, at least up to Win-7, was to deactivate the Windows wireless > utility and use the one that accompanies the device, assuming that it > does come with a configuration utility. I have not seen any of the top > rated ones that did not. If for some reason that did not work, you > could still manually enter any of the specific information manually, > assuming that you actually took the time to learn (where did I here > that term before) how to accomplish it. So what are you doing, basically? You're taking the operating system's responsibility to interact with hardware. I know there are different approaches. One approach is to let the system interface with hardware, usually by its kernel and the corresponding (loadable) modules. A different approach is to use "drivers" to do that. Those drivers traditionally come from the same source as the hardware comes. Advantage: The hardware vendor doesn't have to pay attention to existing standards. He just has to made sure that his "driver" works with the system - depending on his target audience, this may be only one special system (version) in particular. You furthermore suggested to explicitely BYPASS the system's means of accessing hardware and to rely on what the hardware vendor provided. If you haven't lost control by the OS choice yet, you have lost it by the "driver". If you don't care for having control about who plays foul with your system (which you can't either notice or even test for), also fine. Dealing with "black boxes" is what the main target customers of the home PC area are used to. They accept it as being normal. They don't know that there are different ways of doing things. And: As long as everything works as intended - no problems. But diagnosing and SOLVING problems - the not "easy" parts of the story - you are lost without knowledge and proper tools, and basic skills, of course. And if something doesn't work, the typical customer does not try to solve the problem. If he doesn't delegate it, he buys something different and tries again. Trial & error, if you want. And it's not even a financial problem as such hardware costs nearly less than nothing. The targeted customers have been trained to "think" the following: If I invest time in getting this working, I loose money. Instead of doing that, I invest money into a different product which hopefully will work. What does it imply? If the "Windows" can't bring up the wireless network, the manufacturer has to do it using his black box "driver". If this also doesn't work (maybe because the "driver" is not compatible to the "Windows"), the product gets discarded, and a new one is bought. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20110331001226.b957f902.freebsd>