On 2015-12-02 14:12, Reyk Floeter wrote:
n Wed, Dec 02, 2015 at 06:37:19AM -0500, Ted Unangst wrote:
>There are many other product lists, but starting with the two big broadcom
>flavors here. I've had a dozen machines with bge, but none of them were listed
>in the man page. I don't think these product lists are helpful.
>
>1. If you have a device and want to know if it's supported, there's no reverse
>mapping from product to driver. How do I know what driver supports my NC320m
>nic? It's faster to plug it in and find out than to read every ethernet man
>page looking for it. (And then plugging it in anyway after I don't find it
>because these lists are perpetually out of date.)
>
>2. If you have picked a driver and are trying to find a device, these are very
>incomplete guides. Most of the devices aren't for sale anymore. Many of the
>rest are now revision B or revision C and may or may not work.
>
>I think we are better off not maintaining such lists. We document the chip
>(family) supported by the driver. Consult the spec sheet if you want to know
>which chip is on your network card.
>
>There may be exceptional circumstances for some drivers, so I'm not planning to
>delete all the lists all at once, but deal with one family at a time.
>
The last time I used it was when I looked up if the "Intel X540-T2" is
an ix(4) - before I ordered it online. It is listed in the manpage,
so I didn't bother asking other people or looking up the chipset. And
it worked, of course. I think it is convenient for the most common
devices and doesn't have to be a comprehensive list.
Reyk
I don't mind if this information is removed from the manual of the
device driver but I do mind if this information is lost without being
implemented somewhere else. Maybe it can be a list on the web FAQ
somewhere if you don't want it there. I'd also be happy to help maintain
that list of "known working hardware for driver X".
Alexander
