From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 4 06:35:21 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 87584106564A; Thu, 4 Dec 2008 06:35:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from vehemens@verizon.net) Received: from vms173005pub.verizon.net (vms173005pub.verizon.net [206.46.173.5]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 652F08FC0C; Thu, 4 Dec 2008 06:35:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from vehemens@verizon.net) Received: from sam ([71.106.251.162]) by vms173005.mailsrvcs.net (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)) with ESMTPA id <0KBC002OP7ILC9RB@vms173005.mailsrvcs.net>; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:35:10 -0600 (CST) Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:39:47 -0800 From: vehemens In-reply-to: <1228365988.1945.15.camel@wombat.2hip.net> To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Message-id: <200812032139.47862.vehemens@verizon.net> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Content-disposition: inline References: <20081128234155.0221e263@serene.no-ip.org> <6fb2b4650812031953y14ddfeb4ycb4f5ae2bddffd49@mail.gmail.com> <1228365988.1945.15.camel@wombat.2hip.net> User-Agent: KMail/1.9.10 Cc: "Conrad J. Sabatier" , cpghost , Robert Atkinson , Robert Noland Subject: Re: i give up X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:35:21 -0000 On Wednesday 03 December 2008 08:46:28 pm Robert Noland wrote: > On Wed, 2008-12-03 at 22:53 -0500, Robert Atkinson wrote: > > I second this idea since with my nearly a decade of FreeBSD > > administration under the belt, it is a waste of my time to throw it > > away. It is much cheaper for me to swap a card or even task a > > different machine for hardware that just isn't meant to be in FBSD. > > > > I'll use the penguin where I have too, I am forced to use it due to > > the VPS solution I chose. The price was right and it does what I wish > > it to do, but I would never, ever give up on the box under my desk and > > turn my back on this otherwise outstanding operating system. > > > > I have however, had many users who I show Linux give up because > > everything they own in the house is not supported. They always say > > "isn't linux supposed to be great?" and I can only say that they > > should learn to write device drivers and only buy hardware that has > > well known support. > > Folks, I hate to contribute to this bikeshed, but developers are few, > hardware specs are scarce and developers have to put what resources they > have to work where it does the most good. I personally think that we do > a fantastic job, given the resources available, but we can't support > every random piece of hardware. > > For the original poster, I hope that you will reconsider your options > and send specific details to a wider audience than Soren. If Soren is > busy with life, perhaps someone else has the bandwidth to help with your > issue. I generally find our developer community is quite willing to > help sort out issues, often at the expense of having a life. > > All of that said, when given an option I also try to acquire hardware > from vendors that provide open documentation as attempting to reverse > engineer, or crib from linux code is the suck... Vendors that do > provide open documentation are usually well supported. If the device interface was more common between the BSDs and Linux, then the work would be minimal. As long as people create/insist on incompatible interfaces, then the work will always be time-consuming and difficult.