Juan Alberto Cirez wrote:
Here is a challenge:
Take a trip to your local Office Depot and grab some peripherals at
random (printer, network cards, etc.) see how many of these devices will
work right out of the box in both Windows and
GNU/Linux; then see how easy and/or intuitive would be to "get
everything to work" in both OS.
Try this and get back to me (or the general list)
Hey Juan,
I happen to know that a lot of the Samsung laser printers (I belive some
inkjet's are the same but I can't be 100% sure) coming out right now
actually have Linux support listed right on the box...and this is from
the local Staples. In my last job I purposely purchased these for that
reason.
While not listed on the box (that I can remember...could be wrong) i
purchased a Canon multifunction based on the same criteria. Granted I
did see a review on this unit in a Linux magazine & only happened to
look at the review because we were looking for that type of device at work.
I have also seen a number of USB flash drives & similar products with
the same penguin figure...again at the local staples, best buy, etc.
Granted USB tends to work pretty much out of the box...but for me seeing
the penguin makes a differences. I think most network cards (wireless
included) are pretty good with this now.
I have also seen netbooks in a number of stores with Linux pre-installed
& as a matter of fact helped answer some questions for people that the
staff never would have been able to. Granted it is less common to see
these now, but there are likely a few still around. I have also seen
the Asus Eee PC desktops with touch screens & from what I understand
from Asus they support Linux also & likely the touch screen also.
While not blatantly apparent, HP printers & some other items do tend to
support Linux right out of the box...even if it is not listed. This is
due to HP being more involved in driver development in the last few
years or so.
There are also a number of digital frames (shogo is definately one) that
actually runs linux on the device itself. I have seen some similar
frames to the shogo that I imagine would do the same. They usually have
some features like ethernet & wireless on them. GPS units may
(particularly the TomTom) run on Linux as well.
As a general rule I looks to see if it supports Mac OS X also. While
not an accurate benchmark it is a good chance that it will support Linux
out of the box.
I will usually only do this when I am ready to buy something or doing
research (and I will be honest about my intentions), but I do make it a
point to ask staff what products support linux. If they don't know
(which some don't), I ask them to check. If they don't know what Linux
is I will explain it to them. I will do this regardless if they are
staff or managers. I have even done this to product reps also. While
they aren't directly employed by that company I ask them if they report
back to people could these please pass these comments along as those are
determination factors that I use when making purchases.
I hope that helps you out.
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