[Oneiric topic] Ubuntu Friendly HW Validation Program

[Veli-Matti Lintu]

la, 2011-05-07 kello 19:18 +0200, Ara Pulido kirjoitti:
> Hello!
> 
> On the Hardware Certification team we would love to start a new
> community driven hardware validation program that we are calling Ubuntu
> Friendly:
> 
>     https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuFriendly

> This will be a non-commercial programme, and the goal is to have a list
> of systems that are known to be working fine with Ubuntu, that are
> Ubuntu Friendly, based on test results sent by Ubuntu users.

Hello!

This sounds really good. In the user stories there's one story about
buying a laptop. Easing that would help both the buyers and vendors
quite a bit. To give perspective, I'd like to give a little background
to the way laptops are sold in the Nordics (I don't know have details on
other parts of the world, so the situation may differ).

At any given time there are at least a hundred laptop models available
and the available models change twice a year. Many stores (online or
physical) do not carry inventory at all. Physical stores might have two
or three models on display, but everything else is usually ordered from
big warehouses when customer wants certain laptop model. This means that
neither the vendor or the customer has physical access to the laptop
before it is sold. This makes checking components really difficult.

There are vast amounts of hardware compatibility information all over
the web, but usually all of them are lacking one crucial bit of
information and that is the manufacturer's configuration code (part
number) of the laptop.

Of course there are a few customisable models, but at least in the
Nordic market most laptops sold are preconfigured with each
configuration having a code assigned by the manufacturer. The code is
either appended to the marketing name of the laptop or completely
different from it. One configuration is usually sold for some months.

Here are some examples of 13.3" laptop models from different
manufacturers available now:

Asus:

UL30A-QX380V - 13.3" SU7300/4GB/320GB/2200mAh battery
UL30A-QX163V - 13.3" SU7300/4GB/500GB/4400mAh battery

HP:

WT153EA#UUW HP 4320S - 13.3" P4600/2GB/250GB/6 cell battery
XN861EA#UUW HP 4320S - 13.3" I3-380M/2GB/250GB/6 cell battery
XN576EA#UUW HP 4320S - 13.3" I3-380M/3GB/320GB/3G modem/6 cell battery

Lenovo:

NV338MS - Edge 13 K685/2GB/320GB/5.2h battery
NV13CMS - Edge 13 I3-380UM/4GB/500GB/3G modem/8.0h battery

In some cases lshw lists the above codes (or parts of them), but in some
cases the codes cannot be retrieved programmatically. Asus laptop didn't
seem to return it, but if I remember correctly, HP boxes return it. This
makes automatic collection of the information tricky as sometimes
different configurations are reported as same model even if they differ
in hardware quite a bit. Of course one can list lshw information on the
web, but because vendors in many cases have no access to a physical
unit, identifying whether the box is really the same as the tested is
quite difficult.

The problem with the configuration codes (part numbers) is that they get
old really quick, but while they are valid, they are really helpful. For
an average person they may be really confusing and not all ads or online
stores show the configuration codes, but only the marketing name.

Just some food for thought..

Veli-Matti

> We will have to UDS sessions (on Wednesday) to talk about the specifics
> and to get input for anyone interested in having such programme in Ubuntu:
> 
>  * Ubuntu Friendly Hardware Validation Programme [1]
> 
>     This blueprint will contain the work needed to be done in terms of
> the programme itself: description of the programme, governance, etc.
> 
>  * Community Hardware Testing Infrastructure [2]
> 
>     This blueprint will contain the work needed to be done in terms of
> the technical infrastructure that is required to make the programme
> possible: testing tools, backend infrastructure, etc.
> 
> Hope to see you there!
> 
> Cheers!
> Ara.
> 
> [1]
> https://blueprints.launchpad.net/certify-planning/+spec/cert-o-ubuntu-friendly
> 
> [2]
> https://blueprints.launchpad.net/certify-planning/+spec/cert-o-community-testing
>