On linux and hardware
Because the world doesn't have enough anecdotal evidence already:
On my gaming / media PC (custom built):
Graphics card, NVidia 8600 GT: ubuntu detects my monitor's native resolution, runs ok using the standard drivers, and pops up a message asking if it should download the accelerated drivers automatically; windows runs at 640x480 until you install accelerated drivers from CD or google.
GPU accelerated h264 decoding: Linux yes, windows no.
Webcam, labtec thing: linux works out of the box; windows requires drivers from CD, and then the drivers crash whenever they're used (and sometimes when they aren't)
Extra USB ports: Linux PCMCIA worked in a fraction of a second (it was running faster than I could look at the "connected hardware" screen), windows PCI worked fine after 5 minutes of "you have new hardware!" "It is a PCI card!" "The PCI card has USB ports!" "There are 4 ports!" "Each port is USB!" "The USB version is 2.0!"...
TV capture card, Hauppage PCI thing: Ubuntu works out of the box, windows requires googling for drivers, and those drivers install crappy utility software.
Phone (Sony Ericsson k750i) as a modem: Ubuntu detects that the phone can be used as a modem, and pops up a message asking for phone service login details; windows detects the phone can be used as a modem, haven't yet figured out how to use it.
Phone as USB storage: Linux works out of the box, windows requires googling for drivers.
Phone as bluetooth remote control for media player: Ubuntu works out of the box, windows works out of the box (No problems, no glitches, no googling for drivers; well done microsoft!)
And for the other PC (IBM thinkcentre):
Graphics (onboard intel 865): Ubuntu 9.04 broke 3D acceleration, all other distros and other versions of ubuntu work out of the box; windows works after googling for drivers
Sound (onboard intel something): Linux works out of the box, including features like disabling onboard speakers when external speakers are plugged in, and disabling external speakers when headphones are plugged in; windows works without advanced features after googling for drivers (and these particular drivers are a bitch to find. I suspect that I might not even have exactly the right ones, hence the feature lack :-/)
Network (onboard intel thing): Linux works out of the box, windows works after googling for drivers... yes. For those who haven't spotted it, the /network card/ requires downloading drivers using /the network/ :-P
Network (atheros based wifi): Linux works out of the box, windows requires separate drivers
2009-06-26 03:51:08 -0500