From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Oct 4 18:27:20 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 053D8106566B for ; Tue, 4 Oct 2011 18:27:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kaltheat@googlemail.com) Received: from mail-ey0-f182.google.com (mail-ey0-f182.google.com [209.85.215.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8DEA08FC1C for ; Tue, 4 Oct 2011 18:27:19 +0000 (UTC) Received: by eyg7 with SMTP id 7so1084872eyg.13 for ; Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:27:18 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=m5cHMtgoslygFqk8/UeZ/sbHbtV8ShMGJ5sGbO6eEME=; b=UkAk8ItAzuFVlGDRqU693u7rDgrwuG33qJWD7i8XCUYqdPznqR4r22JX3S0PXzyTsC D6NLajzJWvM0VX9R7XUXwKkGuMdWvKTEwqNuIAMgIXme8KesXeKX9KszRZUvTtki6jKr JDgantC1YCs0rMIjsAFL19u22hT4Q6TuUTJMo= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.213.17.196 with SMTP id t4mr1701664eba.0.1317751216658; Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:00:16 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.213.33.76 with HTTP; Tue, 4 Oct 2011 11:00:16 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: References: Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2011 20:00:16 +0200 Message-ID: From: kaltheat To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Subject: Re: hardware Rosetta Stone? X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:27:20 -0000 On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 6:39 AM, Royce Williams 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