So I had a long reply...but my web mail session expired...grrr... so here's the short version.
Linux is based on the "good enough" idea. Bsd strives for perfection.
Windows and Linux both are the same on the wpa front. If I took a generic box and a generic cpoy of windows xp sp2 and installed it. I might or I might not have wireless. If I have wireless and the wireless card supports wpa I'm good. Linux is the same. In suse as you said if I have the right wireless card I get out of the box wpa support.
FBSD you didn't try and I'll bet they don't support wpa any better then linux...just a guess...
Oh and for me I'll take the good enough...cause I like playing with my boxes. I can totally see your point of view. But I'd rather live closer to the edge, without paying the microshaft/winblows (there ya happy ;) ) price.
Cheers,
Patrick
P.S. Windows doesn't really "work out of the box" anymore, someone has to install drivers for ALOT of the components in the modern computer. In fact it feels to me that, anymore, your more likely to to get a good "out of box" experience with Linux over Windows (in so far as not installing drivers).
From: Andrius Ilgunas [mailto:andrius@xxxxxxxxxxx]
To: HumLUG List [mailto:linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:44:18 -0800
Subject: Dependencies (was: Edgy update and wireless)
> How does Ports solve the issue? I used portage which is "based" on
> ports. But there must be some serious differences since portage is
> similar to apt.
>
> Cheers,
> Patrick
Unfortunately, I don't think it would. Maybe I've misunderstood the
thread, but it seems that you were trying to use a "non-sanctioned"
application and it broke. If that's not what you meant, my appologies :)
...and please skip over the following rant.
That said, the problem that you're describing will happen on ANY OS.
Installing 3rd party apps even on Windows doesn't guarantee that it'll
work. If you don't believe me, I could write up a little program that
works on any Windows system that is configured identically to mine :)
Yah, apt and portage are used ports as their model, and I don't know why
they fail sometimes. If I were pressed to guess, I'd guess it's because
the maintainers aren't fully testing or deciding on which compatibile
softwares can be included into the trees. *shrug*
<div id="rant">
THAT is the crux of why I left Linux for the BSD world. Applications
installed via the ports system just WORK. Dependencies are simply
ESSENTIAL to having a system that, well, operates. The BSD guys took the
approach of putting together a system with the concept of: "Your FBSD box
is just like my FBSD box." And I like that. I know it reeks of BORING,
but luckily, I'm a vanilla kind of guy :)
Linux distros, still seem to be putting together systems with the idea
of: "Let's see how many cusomizations we can allow the user to have"
Please don't get me wrong, that is a fun concept, and I indulge in it once
in a while. (now, for the inevitable BUT...) But I want a computer that
just works.
Let's take WPA for example. The trendy Ubuntu still doesn't do WPA
natively. Granted, of the 9 or so wifi networks around my apartment, I'm
the only one using WPA, I bounced through 4 distros before SUSE found my
WPA during the installation process! Does FBSD supprt wifi natively? I
don't know, I haven't tried. But my Windows installation sure did.
My point here is this: Linux distros, after all these years of progress
still can't a system that doesn't require tweaking after an install. FBSD
and Windows really do work "out of the box". And if I have to pay for
something that works, I think that's fair.
Now, before anyone comes clamoring with their oh-so-cute spelling of
"M$" and how Linux is sooo much better (I know that you'll need to), and
how FBSD might seem to be limiting a user to use their "sanctioned" 2000+
softwares, I want to say to you that simply I wanted to share with the
group my opinion and experiences as information for other Linux users.
I am WAAY to old, sick and tired to even try to start a religious war
about which is better, and I'm not looking to debate. Please forgive me. I
don't do this very often. :)
</div>
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Andrew Ilgunas
+Technocrat
+Systems / Network Administrator - http://noc.ilgunas.net
When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
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