list advice

[Net Llama!]

On Wed, 10 Jan 2007, Alma J Wetzker wrote:

> Tony Alfrey wrote:
>> I'm thinking about creating a webpage which would be a list of systems
>> (hardware) and distros that together form a foolproof Linux system.  In
>> other words, it would state, essentially,
>>
>> "My box consists of these parts.  I installed Distro X on this system
>> and it works *out of the box* with no tweaking, additions or magic".
>>
>> Why would I do such a thing?  Because my premise is that if a Linux box
>> were like a Mac, then more people would use them.  One component of a
>> Mac is that they are absolutely free of hassle, and the other component
>> is that the Mac GUI is gorgeous.  Linux apps still have a way to go, but
>> there are clearly some combinations of hardware/distro that are
>> bullet-proof.
>>
>> So I need to think about how to quantify/organize such a listing.  The
>> (obvious) question is "what makes a system"?  Clearly, for towers, we
>> need a motherboard/CPU, video card, hard disk/disk buss, sound card,
>> network card, DVD burner, wireless card/router.  Laptops, having less
>> adjustability, usually exist as bricks purchased as complete entities.
>> But often, the correct video card in a laptop can make all the difference.
>>
>> This would not be a hardware-compatibility list, it is a complete
>> system-compatibility list (full hardware listing plus distro).
>>
>> So do any of you have thoughts about additional things I should add to
>> said list of hardware components and comments on the structure and what
>> might constitute "works out of the box"?  Should I include things like
>> price and vendor?  How about the e-mail address of the contributor?
>
> I hate to try to dissuade you, but...
>
> How are you planning to keep said data up to date?  I have seen things
> like this work brilliantly, for the initial site.  It rapidly
> deteriorates into a cobweb.  Initial data is not as useful as ongoing
> relevant data.  How will you maintain it?

Yes, there's that too.  Just changing a single driver version could render 
the data invalid.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lonni J Friedman                        netllama at linux-sxs.org
LlamaLand				http://netllama.linux-sxs.org