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0 pointsifh-hn3mo ago0 comments

Are apples drivers open source?

0 comments

No. Which is why "the only exception is macOS" is also false. At some point Apple drops support for that model and then that hardware not only gets no more driver updates, because the whole system is tied to the rest of it, it gets no more updates at all.

So the only exception is systems with open source drivers. Those are basically supported as long as the hardware architecture is and enthusiasts even have the option of adding support themselves. You can install the latest version of many Linux distributions on the first generation of x86-64 hardware from 2003 and some on 32-bit PC hardware going back to the 1980s.

It should literally be a crime that you can't do the same thing on a five year old phone.

mschuster913mo ago

My point is that with macOS, Apple writes the drivers which means at least as long as the hardware is supported you can be pretty sure that there will be prompt fixes for any issue. With Android, Windows or closed-source Linux drivers (cough NVIDIA) you're left entirely at the mercy of whoever made the tiny little component controlled by the driver to provide a fix, which then has to bubble up through the ODM/OEM until it finally appears in an update you can install.

If you want fast responses to driver bugs, you only have Apple or a fully open-source Linux systems as an option.

ifh-hnOP3mo ago

I can't see how the situation with apple is any better considering what you've said, you're still beholden to apple to provide a fix. Even if that fix might be quicker coming IF apple is currently supporting the device; not at all otherwise.

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