From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jun 10 21:31:37 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 603A616A4CE for ; Thu, 10 Jun 2004 21:31:37 +0000 (GMT) Received: from gizmo03bw.bigpond.com (gizmo03bw.bigpond.com [144.140.70.13]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 8CF6543D58 for ; Thu, 10 Jun 2004 21:31:36 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from zen@freedbms.net) Received: (qmail 6673 invoked from network); 10 Jun 2004 21:21:36 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO bwmam09.bigpond.com) (144.135.24.94) by gizmo03bw.bigpond.com with SMTP; 10 Jun 2004 21:21:36 -0000 Received: from cpe-144-132-218-244.nsw.bigpond.net.au ([144.132.218.244]) by bwmam09.bigpond.com(MAM REL_3_4_2a 144/10766976) with SMTP id 10766976; Fri, 11 Jun 2004 07:31:32 +1000 Received: by zen8100a.freedbms.net (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 0960041ED7; Fri, 11 Jun 2004 07:31:30 +1000 From: Zenaan Harkness To: hardware@mandrakesoft.com, info@osdl.org, steve@silug.org, bcollins@debian.org, esr@thyrsus.com, PWCS@us.ibm.com, techline@my.ibm.com, sac@conectiva.com.br, press@lycoris.com, info@libranet.com, netbsd-help@NetBSD.org Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <1086903090.2237.77.camel@zen8100a.freedbms.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.6 Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2004 07:31:30 +1000 X-Mailman-Approved-At: Fri, 11 Jun 2004 12:28:40 +0000 cc: pr@lindows.com cc: hardware@redhat.com cc: questions@FreeBSD.org cc: bruce@perens.com cc: mickey@openbsd.org cc: cdb@suse.de cc: leader@debian.org cc: gtaylor+web_bgehc060504@picante.com cc: ja2morri@uwaterloo.ca Subject: RFC: Free Software Hardware Compatibility - Centralised DB X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 21:31:37 -0000 PLEASE NOTE: * Please do not reply-all (this is essentially an announcement and request for comments. For further discussion, please advise that you wish to be added to the soon-to-be-created mailing list (I'm still looking for an appropriate site to host this)). * Please forward this as appropriate (namely to those involved in hardware compatibility, certification, driver development, and/ or manufacture, as it relates to our free software community). ------------ ASSUMPTION: We in the free software community wish to have better and more up to date hardware identification and support. We assume that it is in the best interests of each Free Software Unix-like operating system distribution, each kernel (eg. Linux, *BSD, HURD) and in the best interests of the end users, to have a centralised/ unified location for hardware information. First and foremost though, it is in the best interests of the manufacturers - to simplify their job: For Microsoft, they have a single point of contact. Contrast this with the numerous HCLs, hardware sites (such as www.linux1394.org and linuxprinting.org), kernels and distributions, such as Debian, Red Hat, FreeBSD and a myriad of others. As a manufacturer, it is simply impossible to (generally) go anywhere near supporting all these free software projects. And so it is in the best interests of each of us individually, and collectively, if we can simplify the job of the manufacturer. As a manufacturer of a widget, if I have a single, commonly known place to go to provide technical and contact information, as much or as little as I desire (even perhaps just bus IDs and product names), then I might actually do so. We, as a community, might just have a hope of keeping up to date as compared with the proprietary os's out there, namely MSW*. --------- So, I hereby propose such a database be established. I am willing to contribute some of my own time and effort to doing so. This database and surrounding facilities will be os-, vendor-, distribution- and kernel- neutral, and will thereby attract many otherwise disparate parties, such as the BSDs and the GNU/Linux distros. If you and/ or your company is interested in supporting this effort, by way of working together on this project to unify HCLs, device and driver information or the like, then please reply to me and let me know that you would like to be added to the soon-to-be-created mailing list. If your organization can actively devote even some small resources to the project, that is obviously very much appreciated. --------- Once the database and submission facilities are minimally established, I propose that relevant parties widely advertise/ promote the fact to manufacturers (and users and developers too), that this database is the preferred and centralized means of submission of such information. The plan is to integrate seamlessly with existing Distribution-specific HCLs and due to the centralization provide and richer facility than is otherwise possible today. Thank you in advance, and regards to all, Zenaan