Excellent plan. I'd definitely contribute.

Amadeus

On 6/7/05, Stefan Schumacher <stefan@net-tex.de> wrote:
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> I submitted a proposal to Google's Summer of Code programm, so i think
> it's a good idea to announce it here for further discussion.
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> Project Title:
>   BSD Hardware Database
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> Synopsis:
>         The Database will be a website driven by a database to collect
>         user-submitted data about the support of several hardware items b=
y
>         BSD operating systems.
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> Technical Details:
>         The DB will be implemented in PostgreSQL and Perl (CGI.pm,
>         HTML::Mason as a famework and several other minor modules)
>         using Apache as a Webserver to deliver dynamic websites.
>         Some kind of catalogue can be created with pdfLaTeX or may be
>         DocBook.
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> Project Description:
>         The project should offer a portal for collecting and retrieving
>         information on hardware and it's status regarding support by
>         BSD. IMO it is a good idea to incorporate other BSDs like FreeBSD
>         and OpenBSD too, to attract a larger userbase.
>         Users shall be able to submit information about hardware and
>         supportstatus via a webformular (eg. like Google's advanced searc=
h)
>         and of course this DB will also be searchable via a webinterface.
>         Additionally it might be good idea to generate some kind of
>         catalogue with LaTeX oder DocBook (I'm more into the first one).
>         A database with a standardized interface will be easier to query
>         than a "prosaic" description of hardware eg. sometimes found on
>         personal homepages/weblogs.
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> Benefits for NetBSD:
>         Almost any user of NetBSD knows the problem of getting informatio=
n
>         if hardware (eg. videocards, WLAN-NICs, Laptops) is supported. On
>         roadshows we are often asked if several hardware is supported and
>         usually one has to say "ask google" or search the FAQ. The
>         database would offer some kind of official portal on getting
>         statusinformation, which will also be very useful on advocacy,
>         esp. in the professional area.
>         Users will be able to query for specific hardware eg:
>         "which Wireless LAN PCMCIA Nic supporting IEEE 802.11g runs on
>         NetBSD/macppc > 2.0?"
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> --
> PGP FPR: CF74 D5F2 4871 3E5C FFFE 0130 11F4 C41E B3FB AE33
> --
> A strange game, the only winning move is not to play.
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>=20
>