HCL Considered Harmfull [Re: Fedora HCL guide writers?]

[Tommy Reynolds]

Uttered George Ganoe <geoganoe at cox.net>, spake thus:

> > > I do not think that having an HCL will be a good idea for Fedora.
> > I definitely agree with Tommy that attempting a HCL would be a bad idea.
> While I agree that taking on the task of an HCL is a monumental
> job, as a five year Red Hat/Fedora user, I believe it would be
> a tremendous service to the user community to have a HIL (Hardware
> Incompatibility List).  Many times I hesitate to buy new hardware
> because I can't find information about what models will work with
> my OS, and it is a daunting job to even begin the task of finding
> out.  A list of things to stay away from would be a great help.

Yeah, I've carefully bought stuff that turned out to be a MicroSorft
brick.  Tip: shop only where sales returns are not a hassle.

Hmm... an "avoid like the plague" list might be helpful but it may
also annoy folks (liability issues for lost revenue?).  This list,
too, will probably prove to be rather volatile.

But, what I would endorse would be a "Got Drivers?" list.  The Linux
kernel ships with nearly 6 million lines of code: the kernel is about
1.5 million and all the rest are those lovely device drivers.

	Could somebody scan each of those drivers to see just what
	the heck hardware they support?

For some drivers, just looking through the kernel configuration help
should be enough.  Others should have a simple table of PCI
vendor/device code pairs.  Others will need a code audit.

Herculean? Not really, because every one of those drivers has a
author, or at least a maintainer, clearly listed.  We just need
someone to bulldog down that list with a spate of emails.  Then make
the "Got Drivers?" list from that.

Any takers?

Cheers
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listman.redhat.com/archives/fedora-docs-list/attachments/20050605/2bc53682/attachment.sig>