Ask Slashdot:The Debut

Our first question comes from john beale who writes "I like Linux and use it for graphics and some development/hacking. However I have some nifty toys (Kodak DC120 digital camera, Turtle Beach Fiji soundcard) which are not supported at all under Linux and others (eg. HP Photosmart film scanner) which have very limited support. Much as I'd prefer not to, I have to boot Win95 to use these devices. Question: how can we encourage hardware manufacturers to either support Linux directly (ha) or release info so others can write drivers?" Hit the link below and let's see what you have to say about this.

Couple of Technical Notes: Ask Slashdot will soon be a more isolated thing, so you'll be able to keep track of them better. For now, I'll make sure to prefix titles with 'Ask Slashdot' so you can quickly skip these questions if they don't interest you.

If you have a question that you want Slashdot's readers to try to answer, email Clifton Wood (note that the email address has changed). Any topic is cool, from Linux to Unix to X-Files to Southpark.

Our first question is really one of Advocacy, but hopefully in the future we will have questions on any topic that happens to be Stuff that Matters.