Re: Debian stickers
On 07/21/2012 10:48 PM, Philip Ashmore wrote:
> Hi there.
>
> Has anyone thought of making Debian stickers for
> 1. products that work with Debian
> 2. products that can have Debian installed on them
>
> This would need some kind of database detailing products and any
> issues associated with them.
>
> These could be grouped by company, country of origin, application etc.
>
> Maybe there could also be an offenders top ten list for companies that
> aren't bothered
> 1. providing the software they developed using Debian or GPL code
> without build instructions
> 2. closed source firmware
>
> I know I would have liked to see a page on the installation process
> that told me how well the PC I was installing Debian on was supported
> in terms of drivers and features.
>
> For unidentified or new hardware it could offer to add the PC to a
> database where users of the same make/model could go to track updates
> in driver selection etc, or even do it for them.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Philip Ashmore
>
>
Hi,
Such Debian stickers would make no sense without certification. A hardware
certification can only be done if we have the necessary software to do it.
We don't have it (yet), so let's discuss that instead, then when we have
it, we may talk about Debian stickers.
I had then intention, about a year ago, to write a small GUI, that would
run dimdecode, lspci, lsusb, attempt to play sound, see if there's mass
storage (HDD, etc.) and see if there's network connectivity. Once all
that would be done, all of these result would be sent to a central Debian
server, collecting all of these information. If no network is available,
there would be the possibility to save these as a file, then it would be
the responsibility of the user to send it to the central server. This
small app would then be added to Debian Live, so that OEM makers would be
able to try Debian on their hardware.
I had the idea and I think I would have the necessary skills to write
such GUI (both client and server side). But frankly, I had a look (once
more) at the QT and GTK tookits, and reading the documentation makes me
sick considering how lame all that is (disclaimer: I began my professional
carrier writing GUI cores, so I have enough knowledge to be able to say
that QT and GTK sux). So even with some efforts, I haven't been able to
convince myself to write some code that does a bit more than just opening
a window.
So, either someone stands and write the above in QT or GTK, or someone
points at a decent GUI toolkit (hint: this *must* include a GUI editor
working with a mouse, like I've been using since the late 80ies on Atari
computers...) and I make the effort. :)
Thomas
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