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Written by DPic the 13 Mar 08 at 04:56.
Category: Hardware support.
Related to:
Nothing/Others.
Status: New
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Description
There should be a hardware compatibility tool that a user can run to determine how compatible their hardware is with Ubuntu or Gobuntu and also whether there is non-native support for it. People are lazy and will want to know whether it will work before even trying the LiveCD.
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Comments
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Cybercod wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 05:14
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What are you proposing? a small bootable utility? or do you expect the Ubuntu guys to program a windows app?
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daengbo wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 05:27
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Java would probably be good for this, since it works just about everywhere. Download the applet and get a report.
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XSP wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 06:20
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Yeah. You mention to do this all before running the LiveCD, so I am assuming you're talking about a Windows or Mac application.
What's wrong with all the websites that are devoted to listing the hardware supported in Linux?
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DPic wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 07:10
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Like i said, people are lazy. Do we want to make people go look through websites to find all of their hardware and make sure it works? People want to be able to find out what works, and what doesn't, and they don't want to have to go and investigate for themselves.
I'm proposing we do this in a way which makes the most sense. Java doesn't sound like a bad idea
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belovedmonster wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 08:41
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In my experience most average computer users DON'T KNOW WHAT HARDWARE THEY HAVE. So a list of what graphics cards are supported is of little help to them.
I think some application for Windows that scans their hardware and gives a report is a good idea. Ubuntu has Wubi now, so it's not like a Windows app has never been made relating to Ubuntu.
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zoubidoo wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 11:44
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How about running the app just once, which collects hardware data and uploads it to ubuntu. Then receive an email when the hardware is 100% compatible.
This avoids testing multiple times - useful if the hardware is at family/friends place.
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/3471/
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sourcejedi wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 15:39
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I would recommend against this solution.
It's very nice in theory, but making it work on Windows means a lot of effort, and that effort won't be useful if you aren't running Windows for whatever reason.
I think the LiveCD should come with a hardware checklist. In other words, a list of hardware features, and a test for each. So you can run through the list and check whether you have 3D acceleration, sound, correct resolution graphics, standby/suspend to ram, or whatever else you're interested in.
Scanning for hardware would obviously be very useful for such a checklist, so it could automatically give you a list of what it thinks your hardware can do, and whether Ubuntu can use it. But there are obscure things e.g. support for authentication on wired networks which Ubuntu doesn't support out of the box (not without editting config files), where the user may not realise that it would be a problem, and they would only find out by trying to connect to the internet using a LiveCD.
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spyyder wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 19:56
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Uh, just make it part of the live CD. Make it one the the selections in the boot menu. Query an online database and submitted hardware profles and provide an analysis. It could be web based too.
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DPic wrote on the 14 Mar 08 at 01:17
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"It's very nice in theory, but making it work on Windows means a lot of effort, and that effort won't be useful if you aren't running Windows for whatever reason."
This is aimed at people running other OSes....
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madjr wrote on the 14 Mar 08 at 05:06
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quote
>"How about running the app just once, which collects hardware data and uploads it to ubuntu. Then receive an email when the hardware is 100% compatible."
i disagree with the email thing, people should get a list of hardware they can buy that works now!, not wait millions of years till their winmodem works....
an ubuntu compatible store is what i propose:
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/3575/
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ayeomans wrote on the 14 Mar 08 at 10:16
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Current hardware compatibility sites never seem to give definitive answers on whether h/w works with any particular flavour of Linux. Or even a definitive list of what the kernel.org sources actually support. The best to date is arguably the Knoppix hardware detection routine.
So having a utility which scans the hardware, says "this is what I think you have" (can't be sure due to a few vendors mixing up ID numbers) and "this is what I support" would be great. Even better if there was some way of adding "not supported out the box but some reports of getting it to work".
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ayeomans wrote on the 14 Mar 08 at 10:21
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A related utility would take the wealth of data in /lib/modules/* and process it to get the definitive list of supported hardware. Such large lists would help overcome the myth that much hardware is not supported.
Maybe, if it isn't already there, we need an "unsupported hardware" driver so at least such unsupported hardware gets explicitly recognised and flagged. Saves wasting time.
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gijsterbeek wrote on the 14 Mar 08 at 13:48
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This would be very welcome when I'm in a computer store where the sales representative - strangely - doesn't allow me to run LiveCDs on 'his' hardware on display. Worse, a lot of sales people in computer stores simply don't even exactly know what they are selling.
But what they just might allow is an online java tool that would check compatibility without having to open the CD drive. Thus, people can safely buy a "ubuntu ready" desktop.
And: sales people would become more and more interested in selling Ubuntu computers. In the end, they might even advise Ubuntu.
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zoubidoo wrote on the 16 Mar 08 at 18:48
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@madjr
With all due respect, I think you are completely wrong to exclude people who don't go out and buy ubuntu-ready hardware. Many people already have bought hardware.
We want to include anyone who is prepared to give ubuntu a try, and letting them know that their hardware is compatible is a great way to give them a good first experience.
Your "us versus them" attitude really isn't helpful.
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ToSsMaStR wrote on the 17 Mar 08 at 21:52
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maybe something similar to the "checkupgradeonly" switch for windows?
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srul89 wrote on the 30 Apr 08 at 08:16
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I agree with the concept of having a hardware compatibility tester tool.I have seen one for Solaris OS.
If similar is available for Ubuntu the it will be good to know in advance for hardware compatibility issues,problems of not having drivers and so many,prior to installation.
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Blueprint hardware-compatibility-tester:
