--- On Sun, 11/14/10, Bill Davidsen <davidsen(a)tmr.com> wrote:
Patrick Bartek wrote:
> Since FC6 (I've been using Fedora since Core 3), I've
only upgraded with every third release--6-9-12. I
think it wasteful of time and energy to upgrade any
faster. It takes almost the 6 month release cycle to
get everything working smoothly anyway. Then chuck it
all and start anew with a new set of problems? No
thanks.
>
I went from 6->13 on one machine, had some drivers for
custom hardware which new
driver models didn't support. Finally the USB passthru in
KVM got good enough to
run in a VM, and I do.
Custom hardware isn't required to have new release issues. Just older hardware is
good enough, particularly peripherials. And they don't have to be that old. For
example, my Samsung ML-1710 laser printer has been discontinued for 4 years or so. I
bought mine in 2006. No problems. FC6's CUPS had the driver. So, did F9 when I
upgraded to it a year or so later, but F12 didn't. Support had been dropped due to it
being discontinued (I guess). Samsung's dedicated driver had problems with F12. Or,
perhaps, it was the other way around. Fortunately, I was able to find a third party
compatible driver through the LinuxPrinting site.
Now, there is nothing wrong with the printer. I've used it daily in my business since
I bought it. Have gone through 4 or 5 toner cartridges, and reams and reams of paper.
One of these days, it will finally die and I'll replace it, but I resent having to
replace something that works perfectly well simply because support has been dropped due
solely to time and not lack of demand.
Another reason, I'm looking for Long Time Support in my next OS.
B