This is definitely a big step in the right direction. One feature that
will (sadly) need to be added is a form for indicating a newly
discovered hardware incompatibility. The reason for this is that the
supported hardware list on the netbsd web site has become inaccurate
due to bit rot in some of the older drivers, and it would be a shame
if people or companies made hardware purchasing decisions based on
inaccurate NetBSD compatibility information.

example #1: I recently purchased a Cyclades YeP 16-serial port card
and breakout box, compiled a NetBSD 1.4.1 kernel with the cy driver
included, and hooked it up to the machine. Unfortunately, the serial
ports are unusable and my whole NetBSD box locks up within a couple
minutes of any attempt to use these ports. From the attempts I made
via the netbsd-help mailing list to get help solving the problem, it
became apparent that nobody has used or tested one of these Cyclades
boards with NetBSD since 1.3.2, and that I'm on my own.  Since I'm no
kernel programmer, I'll probably have to drop this board in the back
of my closet and forget about it, the money I spent on it, and the
robotics and other projects ('Java ring' based home security system) I
had planned for it.

example #2: The Gravis Ultrasound Classic no longer works with
NetBSD. A 1.4.1 kernel with the gus driver included will drop into the 
kernel debugger as soon as it reaches the soundcard initialization
portion of the boot process. Lucky for me, the original author of
NetBSD's gus driver is interested in fixing this, and we'll hopefully
be doing a joint kernel debugging session soon using two NetBSD boxes, 
an internet connection, a null-modem cable, and 'kibitz'. 

I look forward to using the supported hardware database, and I hope
that there aren't many drivers beyond those I've mentioned above that
have stopped working with current incarnations of NetBSD.

-Zach Fine
czyz@serv.net

PS. If anyone out there would like to try to fix the cyclades driver
so that it can remain on the supported hardware list, I'd be happy to
send it to you and pay return postage. I just want to be able to use
the thing.

>>>>> "Tim" == Tim Rightnour <root@garbled.net> writes:

    Tim> http://mail-index.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/hw.cgi

    Tim> I have created a Supported Hardware Database for NetBSD.  The
    Tim> idea here is to eventually get a good listing of all the
    Tim> various cards, and onboard chip options of various machines
    Tim> that work with NetBSD.

    Tim> How you can help:

    Tim> This will only work, and become a useful database, if people
    Tim> get on there, and fill in thier cards.  Pull up your dmesg
    Tim> output, and a web browser, and start filling out entries for
    Tim> cards you own.  I and some of the developers who tested the
    Tim> database have allready filled out some examples, and I've
    Tim> personally put most of my hardware in there.

    Tim> For the unique ID's it would be preferrable if you chose
    Tim> something like the PCI device ID of the card.  If you are
    Tim> filling out an entry for an OEM version of a card, which is
    Tim> identical to an existing entry, simply differentiate the
    Tim> unique ID in some way, like 1043a instead of 1043.

    Tim> I'd eventually like to see a database that is full of
    Tim> products, so people know what to buy for thier machine, and
    Tim> if people have tested it.  The database contains a simple
    Tim> testimonial engine as well, so you can put down what versions
    Tim> of NetBSD you have tried cards on, give a rating to the
    Tim> card/driver, and write a short free-form entry about the card
    Tim> if you would like.

    Tim> So get in there and try it out.  Also.. if you feel there is
    Tim> something missing from the database, tell me and I will try
    Tim> to get it added.

    Tim> Again, the address is:
    Tim> http://mail-index.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/hw.cgi

    Tim> --- Tim Rightnour <root@garbled.net> NetBSD: Free
    Tim> multi-architecture OS http://www.netbsd.org/ NetBSD Mailing
    Tim> lists on the web: http://mail-index.netbsd.org/