Helping with Hardware

[Dr. Michael J. Chudobiak]

On 12/07/2010 02:20 PM, Jonathan Gardner wrote:
> I've been using Linux for over 10 years, and I've been with Red Hat
> since the 7.2 days and I've been using Fedora since it was first
> announced.
>
> I've never gotten around to dealing with hardware issues seriously,
> instead content to let things be and just hope the next release fixes
> the problems I see. (It's surprising how well wait-and-upgrade works
> as a strategy in Fedora!)
>
> My question is, how can I contribute to Fedora and thus the larger
> Linux community through getting my hardware better supported? Or is it
> just not suitable for a lay-person who knows how to program but
> doesn't already have a background in these things to get involved?
>
> Do I need to set up my system so either I use it for work or I use it
> to tinker with the hardware but not both at the same time?

File bugs, and read bugs, both in the Fedora bugzilla and upstream (for 
whatever project). Often, hardware bugs will end up as "NEEDINFO" 
because the developer doesn't have the right hardware. You can help fill 
that gap by supplying the requested logs and running tests.

You learn a lot just by reading bug reports in your area of interest, 
even if they don't affect you directly.

Install lots of *-debuginfo packages, so that crashing software supplies 
good backtraces.

If you feel adventurous, install rawhide on a spare computer, so you can 
file bugs early. Do not use rawhide on a must-work system. It WILL cause 
grief.

Buy cool hardware for developers, and for people who reply to you on 
mailing lists :-)

- Mike