[wtracy]

> thousands of device drivers that were written over 10 years ago which work perfectly well on current versions of Windows

Is that really true? A couple months ago I bought a USB to serial adapter that advertised Windows Vista support on the packaging. It did not work with Windows 10 at all, and I ended up returning it.

I have plenty of hazy memories of printers that worked fine under Windows 9x not playing nice with Windows XP.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

It's unfair to use printers as an example. For one, they're still a huge problem in Linux, but for two they're universally regarded as some of the crappiest things to work with in all of IT.

[vetinari]

Printers under Linux have also one positive feature: if the specific model is supported, it is really plug and play.

The hard part is to choose, which model to purchase.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

In my experience that is not true. The few printers I've had to set up on a Linux device required me to go find PPDs.

[vetinari]

My experience is, that I go to the printer control panel and the printer is already there.

Fedora & Ubuntu; mostly HP printers.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

You sound like everyone who talks about how Linux "just works" if only they choose exactly the right hardware and distribution combination.

[vetinari]

Well, if you choose a more hardcore distribution that doesn't "just work" and requires tinkering, it is hardly a Linux fault.

[gmueckl]

Well, 9x and XP were two completely different operating systems that just implemented similar user space APIs. That was a one time transition. Drivers written for NT or 2k might have worked.