On 5/18/06, Kenneth Schneider <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Thu, 2006-05-18 at 12:34 +1000, Peter Flodin wrote: > On 5/18/06, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Peter Flodin wrote: > > > Excellent! Novell has apparently just 'solved' all Linux driver issues, > > > in a single swoop. > > > > > > If what they are proposing takes off, it will be really good. The end point > > > if I have understood right, is going to the computer store and there are > > > green lizards on the hardware boxes, saying it has a driver for SUSE. > > > > Exactly. A driver for at least one SUSE kernel. Not a driver for Linux. > From the FAQ: > "The technology is all open source and included in openSUSE. Novell is > providing and explaining the inner workings of this technology to the > industry and other Linux vendors. Our intention is to further the > general adoption of Linux." > > So the scenario is this (shoot me if I am wrong): > > I buy some hardware from a vendor that is taking part in this. > I install the hardware, and it is registered in Yast as an add-on - > this tells YAST what kernel the driver is for and an update URL. > While on this subject, can someone give a simple explanation as to why I need to install a new driver when I go from say 2.6.15 to 2.6.16 or even worse 2.6.15-2 to 1.6.15-3? Is there that drastic a change in the kernel that would render the driver totally useless? perhaps this is the real reason vendors don't supply drivers. What vendor has the man power to keep track of every little kernel change and provide an updated driver for every distribution. If I were a vendor I wouldn't.
You didn't actually read the pages did you? This is the whole point of what Novell is proposing. Vendors will be notified of kernel changes, Novell will build some of these drivers on the behalf of vendors, some vendors will build themselves, some will use the resources of openSUSE (which I can only assume is the build server). I never understood why the build server was advertised as it will be able to build packages for other distros, but the pieces are starting to fit together. Time is the last judge of everything, but this all has the potential of being significant for Linux in general. Peter 'Pflodo' Flodin.
