From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S265407AbUEZKJy (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 May 2004 06:09:54 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S265409AbUEZKJy (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 May 2004 06:09:54 -0400 Received: from grunt22.ihug.com.au ([203.109.249.142]:52895 "EHLO grunt22.ihug.com.au") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S265407AbUEZKJ2 convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 May 2004 06:09:28 -0400 Subject: Re: drivers DB and id/ info registration From: Zenaan Harkness To: debian-devel@lists.debian.org Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <200405260918.51589@fortytwo.ch> References: <1085542706.2908.25.camel@zen8100a.freedbms.net> <20040526065447.GA32304@dat.etsit.upm.es> <200405260918.51589@fortytwo.ch> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Message-Id: <1085566079.2522.54.camel@zen8100a.freedbms.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.6 Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 20:07:59 +1000 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Wed, 2004-05-26 at 17:18, Adrian 'Dagurashibanipal' von Bidder wrote: > On Wednesday 26 May 2004 08.54, Javier Fernández-Sanguino Peña wrote: > > On Wed, May 26, 2004 at 01:38:26PM +1000, Zenaan Harkness wrote: > > > My biggest itch in our free software world is drivers. > [...] > > > Does it make sense to set up a centralized website/ DB where > > I always jump when somebody wants to centralize things... I know how you feel, although this is more from a manufacturers point of view: I develop widget X. I contact microsoft and have X incorporated into windows. I want to get it into free software kernels ... ??? > OTOH, one place to collect the info would probably be good. Or at least > (to start with) one place listing the various places where such info is > currently collected. Perhaps this is a case for a Wiki, and then you'll > see in what direction this develops. Might be a good way to start. > > > hardware manufacturers and individuals can submid hardware info, > > > and that is widely advertised to hardware companies around the > > > globe? > > > > Yes, it does. I'm not sure if it makes sense to have it > > distribution-independent. End-users want to see which hardware is > > supported by their operating system (the current release, not the > > development release) The primary intention here is to make it easy for the manufacturers, not the end users (however a nice searchable interface for users would assuredly be a side effect). If I have a device that has multiple connection types (eg. parallel, usb, ethernet), who do I contact in the free software world? It's currently not easy/ known. It could/ should include information (perhaps in wiki or some "user submissions") about which kernels/ distros currently have support too, since that is useful information. > I guess this depends on what this site wishes to do. Should it be a > repository for end-users to get information, or should it be a resource > for distribution developers to go looking for device identification > information? Primarily for manufacturers to provide/ submit information to. Therefore the second primary target I guess would be developers. Thirdly is users. Thanks Zenaan