I like Linux. Use it nearly exclusively. But sometimes it Really Pisses Me Off

My new keyboard is a case in point. Bought a nice Corsair K55 that suits me in every respect save one: The caps lock indicator doesn't light.

Assumed it was defective. Requested a replacement from Amazon. They quickly complied, because, you know, Amazon. Got it today. Plugged it in. Still no caps lock indicator!

WTF, over?

Well, it turns out the fault is not with the keyboard, but with Linux. And it's a known bug. It's been a known bug for just about forever.

I can "fix" it for console logins, but then the num-lock key acts wonky, which is even worse. Never did figure out how to fix it for graphical logins (X).

So I guess I'll just disable the verkakte key. At least that way I won't be left guessing. (Ironically, disabling it works.) But, because Linux devs can't be sussed to make even basic functionality work correctly, I've caused my vendor, Amazon, to unnecessarily turn a brand new keyboard into a used one; caused them unnecessary shipping expense and wasted a bunch of my time.

It's sloppy, it's lazy and it's irresponsible.

There's a lot of that in Linux.

I've been messing around with Mint the last few weeks...both 17.3 and 18.3, Cinnamon. My caps lock light works on my Dell keyboard. What distro are you running?

Yep. And make X work with new chipset, and sleep on a laptop....

Which is why I use the Mac.

It’s not that Windows is really any better, plenty of craptastic vendor drivers have showed up in that ecosystem over the years.

From a Monitorama in 2016. It’s a little like Jeff Spicoli giving s tech talk, but it does bring up internal inconsistencies.

https://vimeo.com/173610178

I’ve been using it (among other various unix*) since the Yggdrasil distros way back when. I’m perfectly fine with it as a server, but I don’t want to endure the desktop pains. Though I would to avoid Windows, if push came to shove.

the Linux guys are too busy feeding their cats to work on your Keyboard fix

I've been running an older Ubuntu variant for a few years and it's really been pretty good; I'd like to update it, but when I try, I get a message that it is 'too new' for my old graphics card and things may not work any longer if I continue with the upgrade. I'm no tech genius, and it got me quite long enough to get this version working as I think it should, so I'm just a bit leery of doing the complete upgrade. Now it may just be a CYA thing from Ubuntu, but right now, I'm not totally willing to risk it.
s.

It never will be, but it still has it's uses.

I would never rely on a linux machine as my primary because you are left at the mercy of whatever the open source community considers a priority and it will seldom align with your opinion.

For me linux is a tool, definitely not a real OS.

Because gaming.

quote:

Originally posted by DoctorSolo:
It never will be, but it still has it's uses.

I would never rely on a linux machine as my primary because you are left at the mercy of whatever the open source community considers a priority and it will seldom align with your opinion.

For me linux is a tool, definitely not a real OS.

Because gaming.

I'm assuming you are strictly talking consumer grade? I'll take a Linux server over a Windows server any day.

quote:

Originally posted by sorenson:
I've been running an older Ubuntu variant for a few years and it's really been pretty good; I'd like to update it, but when I try, I get a message that it is 'too new' for my old graphics card and things may not work any longer if I continue with the upgrade. I'm no tech genius, and it got me quite long enough to get this version working as I think it should, so I'm just a bit leery of doing the complete upgrade. Now it may just be a CYA thing from Ubuntu, but right now, I'm not totally willing to risk it.
s.

Setup a partition or get a small cheap HD and install the newer version to test it?

 
I don't (never have, never will) use a *nix machine for a desktop. For me, they are very powerful server platforms to be used in console mode only. For a GUI, I'll use a Mac. And I prefer FreeBSD over Linux, but both work well.
 

Linux is cool as a server OS. I can't speak to ensigmatic's complaint about it being sloppy because I don't use it for a desk/lap top OS. A couple of really bright web developers that work for me swear by it. They also use Vi/Vim for their text editors. WTF I like W10 and MS development tools but whatever works best for the end user is fine by me.

Linux will never be mainstream because there are too many different versions of it floating around and each with it's own quirks and ways of doing things.

As much as people hate on Bill Gates, he was brilliant in that he was able to bring one standard, Windows, to the computing world.

Uh huh.

But its open source, man! you can modify the source code any way you want!
All you had to do was download a tar file, decompress it to 3 different folders, edit 4 unrelated config files that are buried 17 layers deep in the /usr file structure, then re-compile the kernel. That should make your caps lock work.
Of course, it also disables your "a" and "h" keys, and remaps the backspace and space bar.
And breaks your wireless Ethernet card....

Yeah, thanks, I'd really like to just install a driver and move on.

Yeah, but it’s open source. Just clone the appropriate git repo, fix the bug yourself, and then submit a pull request... explain to the maintainer what you did and convince him of your good intentions... it should all be good in a few months.

Obviously, I jest.

What you describe is precisely why open source software sucks. Until some dev is personally annoyed enough with the problem you describe, it won’t get fixed. Instead, they’ll be off scratching their own itch and making some pointless, yet entirely incompatible, kernel change.

If that bug was in Windows, somebody would get assigned the job of fixing it. It might take a year to see the light of day, but it would be fixed.

Although, these days, I’m starting to wonder...