Comment Re:My upgrade strategy (Score 2) 187
However OS X and Windows, is less struggling for hardware compatibility. Linux seems to be hit or miss, unless you invest a lot of time trying to determine if it is compatible enough, as many of discussions on such hardware fail to state if it works with a distribution or not.
IME the big stuff is iffy on Linux, the small stuff on Windows. But there's a user in this thread finding that Windows 10 refuses to install on his Core 2 Quad. Maybe Linux actually has better hardware support than Windows? I think it does. I think if you took a windows disc and a Linux disc and tried to install both on every single PC on the planet, that you would have better luck with the Linux disc. In the trial, you are permitted to install only authorized packages, meaning drivers either direct from the OS distributor (from the package archive, from windows update, on the CD) or from the OEM or ODM (e.g. Compaq or Atheros.)
I think you'd have less machines that just outright refuse to install, and you'd also have more working peripherals at the end of the day. For example, all but one of the scanners I have ever owned, I got cheap used because they weren't supported on newer versions of windows even though the same scanner protocol was still in use; the manufacturer simply removes support for the old hardware from the new version of the driver, even though the new driver is perfectly capable of operating it. HP is especially horrible about this, never ever buy a scanner from them and expect to use it through an OS upgrade. Same for all-in-one imaging devices. But everyone does it. Meanwhile, SANE just keeps adding support for more devices...