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Device support in Windows vs. Linux

“One of the highly debated subjects with Windows and Linux is
with device support. The two have different methods of how drivers
are created and implemented into the operating system. With
Windows, Microsoft writes generic drivers to help ensure that users
can get up and running, then 3rd party supplied drivers can be
installed to optimize performance. With Linux, drivers are all
included with the Linux kernel, and devices are detected and the
appropriate drivers are then activated on the fly. There are no 3rd
parties to contact for drivers (unless a proprietary driver is
needed, in which case it has to be manually installed, similar to
Windows; this is rare but sometimes necessary).

“I’ve found that driver support in Linux is excellent. But you
may have seen somebody exclaim that their PC just isn’t supported
with Linux, and rumors have circulated around for years that Linux
just doesn’t have good hardware support.”


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