Xp

accymel · 07-08-2007, 10:54

They say XP is plug & play, why is it they always require drivers for the device then whatever it is except mem sticks & MP3 is the only things that are exception

Liam · 07-08-2007, 11:10

because Xp like to say that everything you plug & play is always compatible. but unsuprisly its never as easy as that and when you plug it is an xp pop up window goes 'sorry device cannot be detected' or 'device may not be installed properly' i know its stupid.

KIPAX · 07-08-2007, 11:13

It's far more plug and play than previous windows versions... however i doubt it will ever be 100% while third party developers require there own drivers that dont get distributed properly.

accymel · 07-08-2007, 11:19

Like the 2 i've mentioned nothing else does [yet for some people they can

] in this case its nowt much an improvement than '98 - even when u do find drivers it goes finickety.

andrewb · 07-08-2007, 11:22

Linux is plugin and play for everything i've tried to use it with

accymel · 07-08-2007, 11:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyfr

Linux is plugin and play for everything i've tried to use it with

Even with a cahiba wlan

Mick · 08-08-2007, 05:45

Well mel i have just built a pc and have put XP on and i decided to put a new sound card in a "creative labs sound card" its an oldish one but its a 6.1 anyway i went to creative website and downloaded the drivers onto a flash drive ready to install it i installed the card and switched pc on and on booting it said new hardware found and installed everything itself and it works fine did not need the drivers.
i think xp has a lot more drivers for the more reconised names like creative ect .
anything that is USB there is a standard driver like scanners use "twain" you put a flash drive in and it picks it up as a "mass storage device" which covers all sorts of usb storage devices .

entwisi · 08-08-2007, 07:22

Not *Quite* true Mick, wifi usb sticks don't have standard drivers, neither do printers. TWAIN isn't a USB interface for scanners its a sort of protocol that scanners tend to talk, you still need a basic driver which can vary widely. Even mass storage device drivers don't work for all USB drives/flash sticks.

PLug and Pray to give it a better title was an attempt to make it easier for people to install stuff themselves, it can however make a right mess of the driver susbsystems if it gets it wrong.

Believe it or not Linux despite having next to zero manufacturer support has far more efficient and SAFE(as in it can never mess things up no matter how hard it tries) P&P. Distros such as Mandriva and Ubuntu really do a stunning job of loading drivers when necessary.

alexboy456 · 13-08-2007, 09:00

Plug and play sets up the IRQ and the memory addresses. something you had to setup manuly in Windows 3.1 and in windows NT4.0 unless you installed a very dodgy addon. pluss if you think of how may devices have come out since windows XP was released. The database would be huge. Device drivers sometimes add other featurs and software. Look at ATI drivers