From the very beginning of Linux, users had problems with its device drivers. Why is this problem so common? Because Linux is Open Source and hardware manufacturers usually have to invest their own funds in developing drivers that are compatible with it. On the other hand: Microsoft (Windows) and Apple (MacOS) usually pay big bucks to produce drivers and to keep them updated. That practically means that OS vendors finance hardware vendors themselves to develop drivers. Logical assumption is: Why to finance driver development for OS (Linux) that is not widely used (yet), when other OSs with more market share gives you money for driver development.
In graphic card driver world for Linux, this problem is so evident that most computer experts advice beginners to stay away from 3D and other cool stuff until they master basics of Linux. In this post I will try to summarize some of my experiences and thoughts about it.
