Hardware Database (WAS Re: RH recommends using Windows? plus a Question!)

[Sean Millichamp]

On Wed, 2003-11-05 at 02:13, Maxwell Kanat-Alexander wrote:
> 
> 	Primary Purpose of the System: To allow users to know if their hardware
> works with Fedora/Red Hat Linux.

When cataloging hardware things like PCI ids and chipsets obviously need
to be tracked because ultimately that is what Linux tends to care about
and that seems to be what most of the discussion is around.

However, from a user's standpoint they are much more likely to be
looking at brand names and models.  I think it is very important that if
there is no way to conclusively determine a brandname/model from the
hardware systematically then there should be a spot for the user to
enter the brand and model as the product is sold and marketed.

I can do all the legwork finding a motherboard, looking up what
northbridge and southbridge it has on it and then searching the web for
any reports of problems with Linux but the average user isn't likely to
ever get more detailed then saying "I have a motherboard made by XXXX,
it's model number is YYYY, and the revision is ZZZ".  Actually, even
getting the revision might be too much for most.

This sort of brand/model information will help people select Linux
compatible components before they ever purchase anything without having
to become experts on all the chipsets that go into it.

Sean