On Wi-Fi buses, Wi-Fi food courts, and Wi-Fi libraries around Seattle
and Redmond, WA I see users running Ubuntu on Asus eeepc machines.
I've talked to a few. They're non-geeks running the eeepcs the way
they came from mail order or stores. They have Wi-Fi drivers
installed out of the box. These folks don't like the eeepc
keyboards. But they're not complaining about printer problems.
Presumably their machines contain wrappers making the drivers install
ok.

If my encounters are typical, the number of non-geeks buying laptops
with Linux installed should send a pretty clear message to
manufacturers.

This is one place where the Linux community really needs to come
together to get hardware vendors to more fully support Linux.

Yes I know the Techies like doing things their way, but raising their
voice to suppor the drive for better Linux support does not stop them
from doing what they have always done. It can only help build the
numbers in the Linux community.

More numbers, mean better support. Better support means more opportunities.

Apple used to fund ambassadors to preach the "faith" to vendors, so
they would support Apple products.

Perhaps someone with some cash could do the same for Linux. Hire a
few techies to teach the vendors how to write for Linux, to show then
the advantages of Linux support.

Your suggestion is good, but we're somewhat in a "what comes first,
the chicken or the egg" or a Catch-22 situation.

Linux software is, for the most part, free, so there's no supply of
cash from that to fund or stimulate hardware vendor participation.

Linux hardware is, for the most part, the same hardware used by
commercial operating systems whose user base is considerably larger
and more lucrative for the vendors, so they perceive Linux as a niche.

It would seem that some "killer app" that's Linux-only would be what's
needed to get vendors to stand up and take notice, but I doubt any
Linux-only app would remain so for long and we're back to square 1.

Ideas?

Linux has some application areas that will certainly grow regardless
of what MS does.

Senior citizens want an inexpensive operating system that runs on
inexpensive (sometimes hand-me-down) computers and can be maintained
without relearning a radically different version every few years.
This is one area in which install fests can expand Ubuntu use.

People like

http://www.olpcnews.com/

frequently state reasons why children's education needs a flexible OS
that runs on less than cutting-edge machines and can be maintained in
remote limited-budget areas support people must learn from readily-
available GPL documents.

And, of course, cottage MCU (microcontroller) application developers
need an operating they can embed without bloating product cost.

a Google search using "eeepc with ubuntu" returns over 2 million
hits.

Interesting you mentioned Redmond WA -- that should give Microsoft a
message.

Xandros that comes with the eeePC works very well, but you are limited in what
you can do. Their repositories are not very deep and most packages are at least
a year old. That makes them durable and stable and they do the trick, but are
limiting. If you use Linux seriously you will replace it to get a fuller Linux
experience. Mine runs Ubuntu 8.10 now. Compiz works fine on the eeePC (the 900
has 1 GB of RAM) and the camera and wirelesswork as in Xandros. The only thing
that does not work well is hibernation. That is a common problem with Ubuntu and
other distros and laptops. I don't leave mine on much as they can get very hot,
so the hibernation is not a big deal.

It isn't this easy. Linux developers have had an open offer to write drivers for
Linux for free for over a year now. Progress is slow, but we are moving forward.
However, OEMs don't trust their proprietary info to unpaid developers as their
is nobody to sue if they their trade secrets get out. Some are worse than
others, but it is a problem with non-disclosure agreements and not having the
weight of a company behind your name. The small size of the market does not make
it worth the risk for many OEMs. That will only change as more people use Linux,
especially in the developing countries in Asia and in Europe where open source
is bigger.

We need to let OEMs know by voting with our pocketbooks. I will not buy any
hardware unless the developers will support Linux. That means I won't buy
Seagate or ATI (they are getting better with support, but still not up to
Nvidia's). And if ASUS keeps up its migration to Windows at the expense of
Linux, I will be sorry I ever bought a eeePC. Recently they announced a bunch of
new computers for India and Latin America. All will come with Windows XP and
Linux won't be available and they are selling these to provinces in India and
countries where Linux rules and it is the OS used in education. This is an
erosion of Linux and not an expansion.
See:
www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/.../more_evidence_microsoft_tying_up_the\
_asus_eeepc

I can understand ATI (re: video), but what does Seagate manufacture
that requires "support" for Linux? I ask because over half my systems
have Seagate HDs and, well, they're just disk drives.

It doesn't help that printer manufacturers change the firmware in the
printers every time they turn around. I bought a $35 Lexmark for my wife. It
worked decent, so I bought another one for my Daughter. Both Windows boxes.
The printers look the same, but the model number is a couple of digits off.
I plugged the daughter's printer into the wife's computer and it wouldn't
work.

I had a link to the Seagate story on my reply. It was:
www.theinquirer.net/.../seagate-snubs-linux

I have Seagate drives, but their newest drives are hit and miss as Seagate does
not guarantee compatibility with Linux and since the Linux community protested
their announcement re: this, they have not done anything to kiss and make up. So
when I have a choice I will choose another OEM for drives.

External USB drives with an ill-conceived power-down feature.

That didn't occur to me -- I'm used to internal "bare" drives for
which such problems don't occur, though I do have a few external USB
HDs and fortunately not the troublesome "Free Agent".

Reader followups to the article have (apparent) fixes for the problem,
though:

<www.nslu2-linux.org/.../DealWithAutoSpinDownOnSeagateFreeAgent>
and
<www.cgkreality.com/.../>

Also strange: the article begins with:

" ... Open Sauce operating system Linux"

Open Sauce?! Looks like the author was "on the sauce".

Fortunately with Linux you don't need an exact match. Usually a model that is
close from the same manufacturer will suffice. Maybe Windows is more picky about
it because of the way it installs printers via an OEM-supplied disk. With Linux
it isn't a matter of matching printer to driver so much as choosing one and
seeing if it works. Usually they do.