Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2011 20:00:16 +0200 From: kaltheat <kaltheat@googlemail.com> To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: hardware Rosetta Stone? Message-ID: <CAB-vBDFpVKVia_ch=apuKKnNXKoeXt7ML9Xr=CFMyn3cnmM5Tw@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <CA%2BE3k93BbveHC038DCM2w33TtK1EzsDdL1=tnEDTY6k=HxpKFw@mail.gmail.com> References: <CA%2BE3k93BbveHC038DCM2w33TtK1EzsDdL1=tnEDTY6k=HxpKFw@mail.gmail.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 6:39 AM, Royce Williams <royce.williams@gmail.com> wrote: > The tl;dr version: Let's start documenting our implicit knowledge > about hardware. =A0It will be significant force multiplier. =A0If we star= t > a stub on the wiki, it could become useful relatively quickly without > a lot of effort. > > The long version: > > I've followed a few list threads that end with "Go talk to Vendor X > about that." =A0Developers, vendors and hardware owners are all busy, so > this can be hard. =A0Most hardware vendors don't have someone like > Intel's Jack Vogel - competent, constructive, and paying close > attention to the relevant freebsd-* lists. =A0Even if Jack misses a > message, everyone else on the lists knows to say, "Hey, send that to > Jack." > > I've also spent a lot of time painstakingly reconstructing knowledge > from multiple forums in order to arrive at The Whole Truth about a > specific piece of hardware. =A0Someone knows the answer off of the top > of their head, but that person is busy frying bigger fish -- and they > should be. =A0Caching the results of that work would be a high-leverage > activity. > > I propose creating a hardware Rosetta Stone of sorts. =A0It would be > sort of a cross between the Hardware Compatibility list, parts of > Jeremy Chadwick's list of known issues, some FAQs, and a list of > FreeBSD folks to coordinate between vendors and the project. > > As a quick start, I propose a wiki page that would contain something > like these tuples: > > * Hardware family > * Name of vendor > * Brief advice on how to work with that vendor. > * Identifying device info (PCI/USB IDs, etc.) > * Links to significant PRs. > * Link to a FAQ page/section for that hardware/drivers. > * Name of coordinating volunteer(s) > > I'd bet that there are already some de facto vendor "ambassadors" of > sorts who could seed parts of the initial list pretty quickly. > > > Benefits: > > * Developers (who already get peppered with questions about given > hardware) only have to answer a question once, and simply link to the > Rosetta Stone thereafter. > > * Non-developers can take their hard-won research and put it where > others can reliably find it. > > * Newbies spend less time chasing their tails and FAQing the lists. > > * Vendors get a consistent voice from, and more deliberately connect > with, the FreeBSD community. > > * Developers who want to tackle a hardware family can easily survey > the state thereof. > > * Vendors who are hard to connect with might be swayed by a large list > of "this vendor won't work with us, but hey, their competitor is > totally helpful" data points. > > * People could rotate through ambassadorship, to spread knowledge and > prevent burnout. > > * Everyone gets to spend more time doing what matters. > > > If I'm reinventing a wheel, any breadcrumbs appreciated. > > (I got this idea from a club I'm in that has a semi-official > ambassador to eBay -- which has really benefited both eBay and the > club -- and also thinking about Jack, and Jeremy's list). > > Royce In my opinion this is a very nice idea. I've found this site: http://laptop.bsdgroup.de/freebsd/ but it seems to me as if it is specialized on laptops. I would support this idea! kaltheat
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?CAB-vBDFpVKVia_ch=apuKKnNXKoeXt7ML9Xr=CFMyn3cnmM5Tw>