Re: Floppy to check whether hardware is supported

[Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Richard Stallman writes ("Floppy to check whether hardware is supported"):
> A user suggested that there should be a program that could be put on a
> floppy, which would check the I/O devices on a PC, and report whether
> Linux and free X servers support it.  With this program, it would be
> much easier for someone who is thinking of buying a PC to check
> whether GNU/Linux can run on it.
> 
> Have you heard of any such project?
> If there is none, I will try to launch one.

I don't know if there is one.  I've CC'd this to debian-devel to see
if anyone there knows.

I've seen (and created) disks made for this purpose for particular
hardware; it's a good technique, and shouldn't be _too_ hard, though
complete accuracy will be difficult.

Ian.