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by prmoustache 237 days ago
>Loosing a day of productivity fixing drivers and patching kernels gets old.

You are talking like it was 1997.

The typical linux users don't have to do that. Only those who buy unsupported devices on purpose for the challenge to make them work.

2 comments

That’s just not true. Every coworker I know who use Linux[1] have occasional issues with webcams, mics, Slack notifications, whatever. It’s all fixable and this kind of inconvenience can be worth it when balanced with the perceived advantages, but saying driver issues are a thing of the past is just a lie.

[1]: I’ve seen these issues on Dell (XPS 13), Thinkpads, and HP laptops

That's funny because you sent me comment a few hours after I struggled at work with a webcam constantly freezing on windows/teams.

Webcam that has always worked flawlessly on Fedora on my other laptops.

Also Teams was much more reliable for the last 5-6 years or so I used it with ungoogled chromium on Linux than it did for the last 6 months using the official app on windows. I have had to kill it an awful number of times after struggling with unrecognized audio device, freezing video, or eveb freezing everything except sound.

I've been using Linux for 25 years and I think its been nearly that long since I had kernel issues that required patching the kernel (if ever). Maybe back in the 2.5 days?

The only drivers that I've had memorable issues with over the years are printer drivers, but those have nothing to do with the kernel. And printers are pretty cursed on every platform.

Every coworker I know who use Windows have occasional issues with webcams, mics, Slack notifications, whatever.
Well you should tell that to Dell because I have coworkers with a range of their models that are constantly fighting with webcams, audio, bluetooth, wifi, and Nvidia driver updates.
If they're new models, the webcam issue is not Dell specific, but an Intel / ipu6 thing. It should be integrated into most systems by now though, even as an out of tree module. The rest should just work, especially on xps machines. Without specifying the models/issues, it's hard to take it as more than an anecdote.
I am surprised. My former employer game me a Dell and the experience was quite smooth on Fedora.
They have a line they sell with linux pre installed. Those always work fine. It takes so e work to figure out which old ones on ebay were in that situation.