Linux Offers The Flexibility To Work Around Hardware Problems

Because Linux is by nature very flexible, and the source code is available for nearly everything, you can adapt the software to your particular hardware, even to the point of fixing bugs or deficiencies.

For example, my scanner (Mustek TwainScan II SP) is SCSI based, but is really designed to be the only device on the SCSI bus. During a scan, it locks down the SCSI bus so that no other activity can happen. Under Windows, this often causes disk timeouts and other major problems. The only remedy is to get a second, dedicated SCSI card for the scanner.

I wrote the author of my SCSI card driver and received detailed instruction on how to patch my kernel so that I could put my scanner and my external SCSI drive (SyQuest EzFlyer) on the same bus, and even scan directly to a file on the SyQuest drive. (See the section on tech support). It works like a charm.

As another example, my wife bought me an Uninterruptable Power Supply for my birthday. This would provide a battery backup, and give me time to safely shut down my system if the power failed. The problem was, I run my system 24/7, and this UPS didn't have a serial port to signal to the computer that the line power had failed. If I wasn't around and the power went out, my system would drain the battery and then fail anyway.

However, I did have an external modem. I plugged it into the wall (through a surge protector, of course). Then I set up my Linux system to monitor the modem, making sure it's alive. If the wall power fails, the modem fails. My system detects this, and smoothly shuts down, saving all my precious data. Of course, even while it's monitoring the modem, I can still use it to dial out or dial in.

These sorts of things are possible because nearly everything on a Linux system comes with source code. Even if you don't know how to program something yourself, you can ask for help, even from the code authors, and actually get answers.