From: stryder@telenet.be.invalid   
      
   On Tuesday 31 July 2012 17:30, Adam conveyed the following to   
   alt.os.linux.mandriva...   
      
   > Aragorn wrote:   
   >   
   >> Either way, all of the above is of course only important if you are   
   >> silly enough to purchase a brand-name PC which with Windows pre-   
   >> installed and the Microsoft-approved stickers on them.   
   >   
   > I do.  It assures me the components will all work together, [...   
      
   No, it assures you that the components will all work together *with   
   Microsoft Windows 8* - a very important nuance, because that's what the   
   Windows certification sticker says, and this also means that you acquit   
   the computer manufacturer and shop from any liability should the machine   
   exhibit any problems while running GNU/Linux.   
      
   The manual that came with my second-hand Toshiba Satellite laptop even   
   stated that the warranty would become void if you installed anything   
   other on it than the Windows ME with which it had been installed from   
   the factory.  Pedant point: it did not come with Windows ME on it, but   
   instead it came with Windows XP Home Edition, and an accompanying   
   Windows XP Home recovery CD.  (I've wiped it and put Mandrake 8.2   
   PowerPack on it, albeit that some things now don't work, but those are   
   things I don't use anyway, such as the Win-modem and the infrared port.)   
      
   Windows doesn't even check whether all the hardware is in perfect   
   working order - the Linux kernel does this at boot time - and so it's   
   not unthinkable that a hardware problem may surface under GNU/Linux (via   
   the logs or the screen output at boot time) while it doesn't complain   
   about anything under Windows.   
      
   I've got a really nice and very long story to tell you about a machine I   
   once bought for running GNU/Linux - and I had told them that - but of   
   which the manufacturers insisted on testing it with Windows, and   
   although the hardware was flawed beyond belief, they insisted it was   
   GNU/Linux's fault.  Until it was so botched up that they couldn't even   
   get it to boot anymore with Windows either.  And it doesn't end there,   
   but I'll hand you a rain check for the rest of that story for now.   
      
      
   Anyway, as an example of interoperability, by their acquisition of ATi,   
   AMD have positioned themselves as a direct competitor to nVidia, and   
   since Intel's endeavor in the GPU market, they're even directly   
   competing with Intel on that level too now.  Still, you can have an AMD   
   machine with an nVidia video adapter in it, or an Intel machine with an   
   ATi or nVidia video adapter, or whatever.  It'll all work.  That's what   
   standards are for.   
      
   All computer peripherals on the market today work together regardless of   
   their make and model, because they all follow the standards, such as the   
   peripheral connection bus, form factor, voltages, etc.  The latter is   
   even negotiated by the BIOS at power-up, normally, using standardized   
   low-level protocols.   
      
   What it sounds like to me is that you're simply maintaining a   
   conservative but wrong attitude analogous to the pointy haired bosses   
   who choose Microsoft Windows as the platform for their business computer   
   park over GNU/Linux and FLOSS because Microsoft is a corporate entity   
   and has a name attached to it.  It is false security, and it can come   
   around and bite you in the ass when push comes to shove, because in the   
   end the machine was guaranteed by its manufacturer to work with Windows,   
   not with GNU/Linux.   
      
   Welcome to the 21st century, Adam. :p   
      
   > ...] and gives me both a store and a manufacturer to go back to should   
   > anything be unsatisfactory.   
      
   This is no different for me.  I have a shop or another company who build   
   the computers for me, and the manufacturers of the individual components   
   as a fall-back.  And all my computers contain industry-standard   
   equipment.   
      
   Of course, I also always do a little homework before I order anything,   
   and I have my preferences for certain manufacturers.  I prefer AMD over   
   Intel, and I like the nVidia nForce chipsets, Adaptec for SAS/SCSI   
   adaptors.  Western Digital for SATA drives and either Hitachi or Seagate   
   for SAS/SCSI drives.  Plextor for optical drives, although this machine   
   here has a LiteOn DVD writer.  nVidia video adapters - the one in this   
   machine is an ASRock but the chipset is nVidia.  An on-board Intel HDA   
   codec is acceptable for sound.  Cherry G8x-3000 keyboards and Logitech   
   mice.   
      
   > This brand uses industry-standard parts of decent quality.   
      
   There's no reason to assume you couldn't hand-pick those parts yourself.   
   And they either way all come from Taiwan. ;-)   
      
   --   
   = Aragorn =   
   (registered GNU/Linux user #223157)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)