Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:42:33 +0300 From: "Alexander Churanov" <alexanderchuranov@gmail.com> To: "Gavin Atkinson" <gavin.atkinson@ury.york.ac.uk> Cc: "Conrad J. Sabatier" <conrads@cox.net>, freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: i give up Message-ID: <3cb459ed0811291342i524eaab3g1acadcd9cbdb638b@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <20081129174625.U70754@ury.york.ac.uk> References: <20081128234155.0221e263@serene.no-ip.org> <20081129174625.U70754@ury.york.ac.uk>
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Folks! I have some ideas on that. The problem is it's sometimes hard to check that given hardware is supported by FreeBSD, even in case you know and want to do it. The list of supported hardware is often written in terms of chipsets and manufacturers often produce cards using supported chips, but named after their own trademark. For example, at my location one of frequently sold TV card brands is "beholder". It is not in the supported hw list. However, three years ago I've installed ethernet cards named "compex" to PCs and they worked well and were detected as "realtek". Given that, should one try "beholder" tv card in the first place? The solution is to ask someone, or, better, to pay someone for providing that knowledge. Computer shops rarely indicate that hardware is compatible with FreeBSD. Whom to ask/pay? All this leads to idea of creating some organization that will sell FreeBSD compatible PCs and hardware. I'm sure, business like that can not exist , because FreeBSD userbase is not largest. But non-profit organization, would, probably. Currently I have ordinary PC and several years ago it was running Windows, now FreeBSD. Fortunately, all hardware works. Now I am thinking of buying new PC and I would pay 10% extra for a brand PC with a sticker "FreeBSD inside" or "Designed for FreeBSD". A shop like that would also sell 100%-compatible photo cams, remote control units, etc. All of these is highly hypothetical, but probably is possible. 10% is a good donation. Alexander Churanov
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