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How you can leverage the 2.4 Linux kernel to make Linux your desktop OS ALL OF THE TALK about the recently released Linux 2.4 kernel centers around the improvements that will make Linux a better operating system for the enterprise. I have not yet subjected the 2.4 kernel to intensive server testing. But I do have a lot of confidence in the 2.4 kernel for enterprise use, if for no other reason than the fact that IBM and Oracle have already loudly endorsed this new kernel.
There is definitely more work to be done. But 2.4 has made very significant strides, and the kernel developers are busily filling the remaining gaps. (You can find a general summary of the advances in kernel 2.4 at www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-01-05-007-04-NW-LF-KN.) As for my personal experience so far, I can say that 2.4 doesn't deliver what Linux needs to make Linux the default desktop operating system of tomorrow. Let me qualify that statement a bit, however, lest you get the mistaken impression that my complaint is with the kernel itself. It is not. But before I can properly place the blame, I need to explain what it is the kernel lacks. The 2.4 kernel integrates USB support. (Limited USB support has also been back-ported into some of the earlier 2.2 kernels, but you usually have to compile it into the kernel yourself. It is more convenient to simply use a 2.4 kernel if you want USB support.) But having USB support is not enough. Linux needs broad support for the USB peripherals themselves. For example, I have two USB-enabled digital cameras, and neither of them works with Linux. They both work fine with my copy of Windows 98SE. Here's where the situation gets tricky. Commercial operating systems such as Windows and the Mac (I assume this is true of the Mac, anyway -- I'm not a Mac user) include a number of USB drivers by default. Naturally, many drivers are missing. But when a new digital camera, printer, or scanner is released, you can usually count on it to include a driver for Windows and the Mac. You can't usually count on it to include a driver for Linux, or just about any other operating system for that matter. The catch-22 is that this probably won't change until Linux is more popular on the desktop. And Linux won't penetrate the desktop in large numbers until more USB drivers for consumer peripherals are available. (Actually, Linux suffers from a few other problems that stunt its desktop growth, such as printer support, but generally the solution options are the same.) There is at least one way we may be able to solve this problem and avoid the catch-22. Linux could really benefit from a nonprofit or for-profit group whose job it is to put pressure on vendors to include Linux drivers with their products. This group could coordinate an open-source approach for providing drivers or in special cases help the company create proprietary drivers. But the idea would be to work with these vendors during the product development phase to ensure that Linux drivers ship on the CD-ROM included with the products. That lends Linux greater credibility, and it reduces the burden on the consumer, who would otherwise have to download the drivers. Better still, this group should encourage the vendors to make deals with companies that sell Linux software. For example, the group could encourage makers of digital cameras to include a copy of the digital content manager Compupic (www.photodex.com) with every camera and work with Photodex to enable Compupic to download images directly from the camera. A product such as Compupic would be ideal because it works on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux, so the bundle wouldn't have to have separate programs for separate platforms. What do you think? Any volunteers out there to create such an organization? Related package Test Center In Focus: Enterprise operating systems Nicholas Petreley is the founding editor of LinuxWorld ( www.linuxworld.com ). Reach him at nicholas@petreley.com.  RELATED SUBJECTS  Operating SystemsSoftware DevelopmentDiscuss this article in our online forums MORE > SPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
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