On desktop linux

I just had a really unpleasant hour attempting to follow the Windows 7 installation instructions for a Wacom graphics tablet. (No, it isn’t mine, before you rush to judgement.) Open box, read manual, follow manual, manual says it will auto-install drivers and software. Oh no it doesn’t.

Eventually, after trying the obvious solutions (unplug, turn off and on again a few times, type meaningful incantations into google), in some despair I attempt a by-hand download of fresh drivers. And 100 meg later — or so — it works. At least it saved itself from the lump hammer.

So I was a little worried when it came to installing it on the Actual Proper Linux box. I plug it in. I expect smoke, fire, explosions, segfaults. What happens? It Just Worked.

I’ve used linux since the days when if you didn’t type the right modelines into the X config your monitor would explode. But I’ve only just noticed that hardware got easy all of a sudden. I suppose that now Windows is the obscure system that Real Men use, that’s just Too Hard for us mere mortals.

My, doesn’t time fly?