Table 11. Feature & Hardware Considerations Under Linux - Compaq Armada 1500c White Paper

Operating System Support for Compaq Portable Products
Table 11. Feature & Hardware Considerations under Linux
Feature
Premier OS
Functions
Free OS
Legacy File
Support
Support for
networking
The following features important to portable customers are not currently available under Linux:
Feature
Premier Mobile
Support
Compaq Unique
Features
Movie Playback
USB
Linux Advantages/Disadvantages
The following matrix represents the results of a small, qualitative study conducted in December
1998 by Compaq Computer Corporation's Enterprise Computing Group.
consisted of participants from corporations, ISPs, research institutes and academic institutions.
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Additional distributor value-added drivers or enhancements are generally provided at additional cost.
NA120D/0199
Description
Multitasking: several programs running at the same time.
Multi-user: several users on the same machine at the same time.
Multi-platform: runs on many different CPUs, not just Intel.
Multiprocessor: Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) support is available on the Intel
and SPARC platforms.
Multithreading: Linux has native kernel support for multiple independent threads of
control within a single process memory space.
Multiple virtual consoles: several independent login sessions through the console.
Source code for the kernel, drivers, development tools and user programs is
available and can be freely distributed54.
Supports several common file systems including Minix, Xenix, and all the common
system V file systems as well as an advanced file system of its own, which
supports large volumes (up to 4 TB) and long file names (up to 255 characters).
Transparent access to MS-DOS partitions (or OS/2 FAT partitions).
Special file system called UMSDOS which allows Linux to be installed on a DOS
file system CD-ROM file system which reads all standard CD-ROM formats.
TCP/IP networking, including FTP, telnet, NFS, etc.
Netware client and server.
Many networking protocols: the base protocols available in the latest development
kernels include TCP, IPv4, IPv6, AX.25, X.25, IPX, DDP (Appletalk), Netrom, and
others. Stable network protocols included in the stable kernels currently include
TCP, IPv4, IPX, DDP, and AX.25.
Description
Hot-swapping of optional storage components (such as Hard Disk Drives, Floppy
Disk Drives, CD-ROM, DVD, LS120 or ZIP drives).
Hot-docking into Armada Station docking stations.
Enhanced audio features.
Use of Compaq programmable keys.
Multi-media support of MPEG-2 Hollywood Encrypted video content designed for
Digital VideoDisks (DVD-ROM) drives.
USB support is experimental only.
18
The study group