Mobo Compatability

[Jeff Vian]

On Tue, 2005-01-04 at 03:52 +0000, Michael A. Peters wrote:
> On 01/03/2005 05:44:11 PM, Felix Miata wrote:
> 
> > http://www.mozillaquest.com/Linux04/Asus_Sucks_Story-01.html
> 
> I've never had any problems whatsover with Asus boards and Linux.
> Talk is cheap.
> 
> Maybe they did have legitimate issues, but I'm guessing Asus is using a  
> chipset they licensed, and they may not be able to open up certain  
> things to Linux developers because of an NDA.
> 
> For example, my current motherboard is an A7N8X Deluxe - it uses an  
> nForce 2 chipset from nVidia - which is where any support from Linux  
> should come from.
> 
> When the IEEE 1394 didn't work (RH8 days) I didn't expect Asus to fix  
> it, I expected either OSS or nVidia to fix it. OSS did.
> 
> When the onboard 3Com nic didn't work - I didn't blame Asus, I  
> downloaded the 2 line kernel patch that made it work. When the nVidia  
> network adapter didn't work, I had the option of using a closed source  
> driver from nvidia. Instead I chose to not use that adapter.
> 
> Nothing on that board that I had issues with were anything I expected  
> Asus to provide fixes for - they either already had fixes in the AC  
> tree of the kernel at the time I bought the board (or very soon after  
> for ide controller) or they were an nVidia issue (like the network card  
> and only working well with nvidia AGP cards) and not something Asus was  
> to blame for.
> 
> Sorry - but articles like that get under my skin, they do nothing to  
> help LOTD and are imho just FUD about a vendor that sells hardware  
> mostly with licensed chipsets that _do_ in fact work very well in  
> Linux.
> 
> Sometimes when people can't get something to work, they start the "Bad  
> Vendor" thing - and that doesn't help anyone out. Very often the  
> solution is as simple as trying a kernel from a testing branch - and  
> the alan cox branch in my experience is the best one to try first for  
> new hardware support, if it isn't already in a pre kernel.
> 
> 
While I agree with your theory that it usually is easy to find a
workaround for hardware issues, the basic thrust of the story referenced
was the horrible customer support.

Even a company that produces the best product can be killed by failure
to pay attention to customer support. 

I personally may chose (and have done so) a supplier with a slightly
inferior product if their customer support is outstanding, and I wager
many others view it the same.