From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S265564AbUEZMpt (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 May 2004 08:45:49 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S265566AbUEZMpt (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 May 2004 08:45:49 -0400 Received: from chaos.analogic.com ([204.178.40.224]:8064 "EHLO chaos.analogic.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S265564AbUEZMpQ (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 May 2004 08:45:16 -0400 Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 08:44:49 -0400 (EDT) From: "Richard B. Johnson" X-X-Sender: root@chaos Reply-To: root@chaos.analogic.com To: Zenaan Harkness cc: debian-devel@lists.debian.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: drivers DB and id/ info registration In-Reply-To: <1085573236.2213.77.camel@zen8100a.freedbms.net> Message-ID: References: <1085542706.2908.25.camel@zen8100a.freedbms.net> <20040526065447.GA32304@dat.etsit.upm.es> <200405260918.51589@fortytwo.ch> <1085566079.2522.54.camel@zen8100a.freedbms.net> <1085571316.906.3.camel@localhost> <1085573236.2213.77.camel@zen8100a.freedbms.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Wed, 26 May 2004, Zenaan Harkness wrote: > On Wed, 2004-05-26 at 21:35, Wouter Verhelst wrote: > > Op wo 26-05-2004, om 12:07 schreef Zenaan Harkness: > > > I develop widget X. > > > > > > I contact microsoft and have X incorporated into windows. > > > > Rotfl. > > OK, bad assumption. > > The only reason I say that is that so many devices work > "seamlessly" with MSW* > > - recently I read a review on the X-Arcade retro joystick > controllers (those heavy "for cabinets and MAME" things). > The reviewer just plugged it in and Windows literally popped > up with a dialog telling the "end user recognizable" name of > the device. > > - a year or so back, my brother bought a "blue eye" USB > external 2.5" HDD (really nice looking thing) and on his > XP box it auto added a new drive (E: or whatever). Seamless. > > So how come devices tend to just plug and play when > used with Windows (USB HDDs, audi cards, logitec gear)? > > Will a "visible"/ centralized location where manufacturers > can submit info on their devices (for free software kernels) > help to get us closer to the "front line" of device support? > > thanks > zen M$ has a whole division dedicated to plug-and-pray developers. When their USB disk, camera, or whatever gets "approved", its name is put into W$ even without installing any "drivers". That's why W$ is so large. It would be good if somebody started to do something like that for Linux, perhaps a database from which configuration stuff could be extracted. It's not a kernel issue, so some distribution really should take it up. Of course, the work needs to be done correctly so you don't get the M$ problem of; "Everything was working until I installed my new printer...." Whereupon you install everything from a newly-formatted hard-disk, all over again, installing the new printer first! Cheers, Dick Johnson Penguin : Linux version 2.4.26 on an i686 machine (5570.56 BogoMips). Note 96.31% of all statistics are fiction.