On Tue, Dec 06, 2005 at 02:28:27PM +0100, Paulo Rodriguez wrote: > Hello misc, > > I was curious about something. Is it considered as a sensible thing to > do, to request hardware info in name of the OpenBSD community directly > from vendors, for your own experimentation purposes? If it is for your own experimentation purposes, do it in YOUR NAME.
> My question comes from the idea that a fun way to learn device driver > programming would be bugging the vendors of material you want to work on > your own pc for docs. I would believe this would keep the motivation > factor high, to learn how to program. better idea: learn by working on a documented product. Don't waste people's time trying to do something you have never done before on something that is also undocumented. > Of course, saying that you are interested to make it work on OpenBSD > might be able to open some doors, as opposed to just barge in and say > 'gimme tech doc now, I'm John Doe'. Saying, "I would like to get your product to work on OpenBSD" is a LOT different from saying, "I'm working with the OpenBSD project and would like to add support...". BIG difference. > At the moment, people who want to learn the above read already available > code, then play around (as far as I can see). Looking into such docs and > play around with it could be an interesting experience. > > Are there any objections to such approaches (requesting things in name > of the OpenBSD community)? I got BIG objections. Let's say you DO leverage info out of a HW maker because they want to see their product on OpenBSD. You either produce a really crappy driver or no driver at all (as this is a "learning experience")... or maybe a "great" driver that developers don't feel the desire to stick into OpenBSD. What does that do to OUR credibility? OpenBSD developers contact HW makers when they are ready (desire + ability + availability) to deal with a new product. If there is need for "community action", let Theo make that decision. That's a very unusual situation. Nick.
