Hardware Database

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

E.S. Rosenberg wrote:
> Call me old fashioned but why start yet another such database instead
> of contributing to existing efforts?
> 

Not only that, but it won't answer the original question.

It will tell you that something did not work and when, but it does not 
tell that something WILL WORK today.

The first reason is that it may not be granular enough, e.g. it may list 
a model but not a revision code or submodel (assuming the manufacturer 
changes them when they make changes).

The second is there is not a single Linux distro that is 100% stable. 
Even the UBUNTU long term support versions and the RHEL/CENTOS 
equivalents make Kernel and driver changes.

What you end up with is either "it did not work, but it might now", or 
"it did work, but it might not now" (the later being unlikely, but not 
imposible), which is pretty close to what we have now with our turbans 
and crystal balls.

That's why I keep around some PCMCIA and USB wifi cards/dongles going 
back to around 2005, some old ethernet cards and a USB DVD drive. I also 
have a few modern 802.11N dongles and cellular modems with various 
chipsets, so I can get some network connectivity. I can install and 
upgrade a distro with a low res slow display or no mouse, but I can't 
work without networking.

On the other hand, I am still looking for a $10 USB DVB-T tuner dongle 
with Liunux support.

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson,  N3OWJ/4X1GM/KBUH7245/KBUW5379
"Owning a smartphone: Technology's equivalent to learning to play
chopsticks on the piano as a child and thinking you're a musician."
(sent to me by a friend)