Linux utilisation of harware

This may be just another stupid question among the many you would get, but i do respect your opinions as I have been reading these forums for a while and you all know what you are talking about. How does Linux compare to other OS's in utilising such technology as Core 2 duo or a santa rosa chipset????? Any input would be appreciated.. Basically just how well does it utilise the hardware of a system or is there problems???

 

Core 2 Duos work under linux already, although there were some stability issues fixed with a recent kernel update IIRC.

Linux supports Santa Rosa as well as any other OS at the moment... considering that Santa Rosa isn't scheduled until Q1 next year.

Short answer is that core components (CPU, mobo) are usually well supported. It sometimes takes a while for the very latest GPUs to get linux drivers and for some of the more esoteric hardware, built webcams and memory card readers for example, may never be supported. Unless the vendor for the peripheral makes linux drivers available, it's up to some enterprising linux hacker to write his own driver... unfortunately, there are only so many people with the skills to write device drivers, and those people don't own all the hardware on the market.

 

Thanks 'TedJ' for your advice. However would you know how well it would utilise those duel cores compared to XP or Vista????

 

It would do it better, in general. Threads and process switching in Linux is overall much more efficient than it is in XP and Vista. Linux is also built to scale. There's a reason they almost exclusively use Linux for 32, 64, 128-CPU computers and clusters. Multiple processors is a place where Linux really shines.

 

Thankyou Pitabred that was exactly what i was loking for.. I just didnt want to pay all this money for my new comp, install Linux and find out from people that it is very poor at utilising harware