Comment on Consumer hardware is no longer a priority for manufacturers

• jbloggs777@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  That’s capitalism for you. But also Linux, where it’s typical to upstream hardware support and rely on existing ecosystems rather than release addon drivers or niche supporting apps.

  China has made some strategic investments in Linux over the years though – often domestically targeted, like Red Flag Linux, and drivers for chinese hardware, etc.

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  • Lfrith@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Linux seems to be common to run things like servers, but is that the case for consumer hardware?

    When I’ve looked at peripherals like keyboards and controllers linux support has been lacking. Of course, for keyboards I got out of my way to get qmk compatible ones to use via and vial instead so I dont need to run an exe of unknown origins.

    And how is it for games.

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    • jbloggs777@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      There is plenty of consumer hardware that is supported on Linux, or will be as soon as a kernel developer gets their hands on it, reverse engineers the protocol if necessary, and adds support. For things like keyboards, there are often proprietary extensions (eg. for built-in displays, macros, etc.). It pays to check for Linux support before buying hardware though. Sometimes it’s not the kernel drivers, but supporting software (eg. Steam input) that might not support it.

      First class vendor support for Linux is more common for niche/premium hardware designed in the west, than cheap chinese knockoffs that follow it. Long term customer support is not their strong suit.

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      • Lfrith@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Linux has been good about getting hardware working.

        My wonder was more what is their level of native program support for Linux. Like 8bitdo to update firmware and set up extra profiles requires the Windows program to set up, but as a simple controller it will work on Linux just no real way to do extra stuff unless you dual boot.

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    • moopet@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      What do you mean lacking support for keyboards and controllers? Maybe for doing weird custom stuff like RGB, but for anything else they’re standard HIDs and will work with anything, no “support” needed. You can plug a USB keyboard and mouse into your phone and it’ll work if you want.

      I’m currently playing Clair Obscur on linux through steam with a cheap fake xbox controller I got off ebay, and it works perfectly. I’m using an Nvidia card too, and I haven’t had to do any customisation or anything.

      Easy anti-cheat won’t work, so Valorant/Fortnite, etc. are out of the question for now, but any games that don’t use that kind of malware are probably fine.

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      • Lfrith@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        I’m talking more about software and program level support. Not whether hardware itself is working on Linux.

        Like software to be able to update firmware on controllers, which doesn’t work on Linux. Controller itself will work. 8bitdo to update firmware they only support windows.

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  • ulterno@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    But also Linux, where it’s typical to upstream hardware support and rely on existing ecosystems rather than release addon drivers or niche supporting apps.

    Still possible though, right?
    It does afterall support out of tree device drivers now.

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    • jbloggs777@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Sure… but why would el cheapo hardware want/need to support proprietary drivers? Now, for premium hardware and software, they might still want vendor lock-in mechanisms… So unless you absolutely have to, you should avoid hardware on Linux that needs proprietary drivers.

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      • ulterno@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        So either way, it make it better to support Linux over MS Windows.

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• captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  China has no need for open source because they steal everything anyway.

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  • Lfrith@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    My hope for open source is that if something sketchy is pushed there might be a chance to catch as opposed to a proprietary approach where nobody has a chance of knowing what is going on.

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    • captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Likewise. Don’t expect it from China though.

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      • Lfrith@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Yeah don’t have my hopes up. Without it I don’t plan to give their GPUs a shot, since they aren’t saviors either with their state sponsored attack on notepad++ as a recent example. Just a potential hardware supplier.

        So despite how bad hardware supply might get for consumers there’s still a level of caution I have and would need some level of a trustless system in place.

        Otherwise I’d just opt for old PC hardware like retro console players have been doing for decades.

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  • IratePirate@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Great. Now they’re building infrastructure and industry atop a stolen Trojan Horse, which may still bite them the moment the little oange man tells Nadella to flip the switch.

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• UnspecificGravity@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Most of the handheld consoles they sell run Linux of some variety. It’s just a question of what is marketable.

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