Re: Windows Is A Great OS ... If Your Time Is Worth Nothing

On 2025-02-27, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:

On 2/26/25 22:00, RonB wrote:

On 2025-02-26, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

On Wed, 26 Feb 2025 07:45:10 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>

In 18 years my Linux machines HAVE all recognized the hardware. This
simply is not an issue for me.

>
I did have a problem with Lubuntu and Broadcom wifi on an old Acer
netbook. I used a USB wifi dongle it did recognize to get on the net and
download the Broadcom drivers and all was good.
>
I was a little surprised. Q4OS didn't have a problem on a eeePC 700. The
original Linux OS couldn't handle WPA2 but the wifi itself worked.

 
I get around the Broadcom WiFi issue by not using Broadcom. If I buy an old
laptop with a Broadcom Wifi card, I immediately go to eBay, invest $5-$7 and
find an Intel WiFi card for that model. But, at my (current) home, I've got
wired Ethernet everywhere, so this is just an incidental issue for me. I
should mention that the Mac Mini has a Broadcom chip but, apparently, it's
common enough that Linux Mint has a good (built-in) driver for it. (It also
has an Ethernet port, which is what I mostly when using the Mac Mini.)
 
So I guess this part of being a long-time Linux user. You automatically
avoid issues (like Broadcom) without even thinking about it.

>
To be fair, the Broadcom chip works damn well when the proprietary
drivers are installed.

I understand. One time I swapped WiFi cards between a Windows laptop and a
Linux laptop. Broadcom ran as well (or maybe better) on the Windows laptop
than it did on the Intel. So it was win-win situation in that case. I think
if Broadcom released their driver information they would work fine on Linux.

--
“Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy
what has been invented or made by the forces of good.”  —J.R.R. Tolkien