[linux-elitists] [doc@ssc.com: [Fwd: Plug 'n' Pray to Plug 'n' Play: What's it Going to Take?]]

[Don Marti]

begin Greg KH quotation of Thu, Apr 20, 2006 at 09:39:55AM -0700:

> You do realize that Linux supports this today.  You plug in a new
> device, and it automatically loads the proper driver based on the type
> of device it is.  The kernel and userspace already do this just fine.

Tabinda and I received a Canon PowerShot S410,
a digital camera with a USB interface, as a gift.
It came with a bunch of warning notices and I think
stickers that said NOT to plug the camera in to the
computer until AFTER installing the MSFT Windows
driver.  I ignored all the paperwork and the CD
packaged with the camera, and just plugged it in.

"File->Import Photos" in gthumb worked fine.

By comparison, a previous camera with a serial
interface was a PITA to get working in 2000.

"As easy as Windows" is an unrealistically low target.
Switching costs are greater than license costs for
existing users.  In-tree drivers are a place where
Linux has for some devices, and can continue to have
for more and more devices, a Differentiating Advantage
in Usability.

There are some external devices that don't actually
interface with the computer, just use it for power.
(I got a nifty USB LED light as a gift at LinuxWorld,
for example.)  With in-tree drivers, the out of box
experience for a "real" device can be the same as
the out of box experience as a power-only USB device.
Put that in /dev/pipe0 and smoke it.

More Oregon fandom:
http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2006/04/19/open-in-oregon/

But Seattle in May is nice too:
http://freedomhec.pbwiki.com/

-- 
Don Marti                    
http://zgp.org/~dmarti/                
dmarti@zgp.org