[ubuntu-uk] UK hardware list

[Mark Van den Borre]

2006/7/12, Robert Schumann <robert at cantab.net>:
> On Wed, 2006-07-12 at 09:26 +0200, Mark Van den Borre wrote:
> > 2006/7/12, Steve Smith <steve.lists at googlemail.com>:
> > > We've started a wiki page of Ubuntu-compatible hardware that is
> > > available in the UK.  If you have bought anything recently that you
> > > think's worth adding, pop it on
> > > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/Hardware
> > > Remember, UK-focus what we're looking for :).
> > I'm sorry to say that I miss a lot of focus in this. What exactly is
> > the goal of this page? I don't really see it.
>
> I do see the point, and I'd perhaps like to amplify the goal.
>
> A friend for whom I've installed Ubuntu complained to me that his one
> major problem with Ubuntu is not knowing whether a product he wants to
> buy - external DVD drive, printer/scanner, wifi card - will work in
> Ubuntu.  I think being able to point him to a site which says "this
> product works great under Ubuntu" serves two purposes: first he knows
> what works, and second products that support Linux get exposure.
>
> And I don't want to know that John Doe in Miami, FL, has managed to buy
> a good wifi card from his local Radio Shack; I want to hear about UK PC
> World, ebuyer.co.uk, Bits-n-Bobs in Swindon.
>
> Si I would in fact recommend including where and when an item was
> bought, because sometimes - with obstructive manufacturers who change
> chipsets without changing product codes - details can be important.
I am absolutely convinced a well-maintained list of Ubuntu/free
software friendly hardware and where to buy it in the UK would be
useful. I do have my questions  about focus and maintenance. Shops and
hardware are both moving targets. Lists featuring these require quite
a lot of maintenance work. Regular maintenance is _hard_ to do well
for a group of volunteers.

For ubuntu-be.org, we're just starting a similar experiment right now.
See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BelgianTeam/OsLessLaptopShops .

The goal of this page is to help potential ubuntu users in Belgium buy
a laptop without paying for a non-free OS.

This solves a major hardware related problem for Ubuntu users. It also
reduces the maintenance problem to one moving target (shops) instead
of two (shops and hardware).

The idea is to integrate this with our volunteer database, to make it
very easy to maintain. If this works, we have the first moving target
covered (shops). It should then be easier in a later stadium to add
information to each shop's profile about problematic hardware (wifi,
scanners, 3D accelerated video cards).

Mark
ubuntu-be.org
-- 
Mark Van den Borre
Noormannenstraat 113
3000 Leuven, België
+32 486 961726