Joe

There is plenty of consumer hardware that is supported on Linux, or will be as soon as a kernel developer gets their hands on it, reverse engineers the protocol if necessary, and adds support. For things like keyboards, there are often proprietary extensions (eg. for built-in displays, macros, etc.). It pays to check for Linux support before buying hardware though. Sometimes it’s not the kernel drivers, but supporting software (eg. Steam input) that might not support it.

First class vendor support for Linux is more common for niche/premium hardware designed in the west, than cheap chinese knockoffs that follow it. Long term customer support is not their strong suit.

Sure… but why would el cheapo hardware want/need to support proprietary drivers? Now, for premium hardware and software, they might still want vendor lock-in mechanisms… So unless you absolutely have to, you should avoid hardware on Linux that needs proprietary drivers.

That’s capitalism for you. But also Linux, where it’s typical to upstream hardware support and rely on existing ecosystems rather than release addon drivers or niche supporting apps.

China has made some strategic investments in Linux over the years though – often domestically targeted, like Red Flag Linux, and drivers for chinese hardware, etc.

One of the interesting use-cases for LLMs is to find potential inconsistencies (across many sources), brainstorm abuse vectors & potential legal challenges, and then rewrite natural (including legal) language in a less ambiguous way. If this process were guided and vetted by talented lawmakers, it could be quite a useful tool, and is probably already used that way in many quarters.

The current executive will almost certainly abuse it and come up with hilariously bad proposals, vetted only by a marketing team, which will be ridiculed for years to come. Popcorn time.