I got asked If i could do a listing of “compatible” hardware and also the preinstalled resellers (see link below), so that we can have easy access to such a listed information and keep it up to date I made a wiki.
@augenauf I propose you list it there as a hardware reseller with (Fedora) Linux compatible hardware and for clearing up if they are official resellers I would move it to the Discussion / # marketing-team to check if it is so as they say. If needed you even can hide it so that just TL4 can see it.
I have split off this post from the discussion in Guidelines for commercial posts and company accounts? since it seems to be a different topic that we should discuss separately from guideslines for commercial posts and company accounts.
@ilikelinux Sorry, I don’t fully understand the above proposal. What should be listed where? Could you please explain a bit more. Thanks.
The list is probably appreciated by new linux users, however, I personally have some doubts:
keep the list up to date requires frequent effort – who is going to do that in the long term?
we won’t be able to list all hardware that is compatible with GNU Linux and Fedora Linux, since it’s not about the machine but the components that the machine contains. There are hundreds if not thousands of models and builds that Fedora would run on without any problems.
devil in the detail: there are sometimes models that have same name but for example a different wifi chipset that may not work out of the box in Fedora.
if a certain model of a certain manufacturer is certified for Fedora, it doesn’t mean that their other 20 models won’t run Fedora. So this can be confusing.
Reinventing the wheel: a compatibility list for hardware already exists, https://linux-hardware.org/, we could maybe rather help people find out what components are used in a specific model and then send them to check the existing database.
Definition of compatibility: when do we consider a notebook compatible with Fedora? Does LVFS have to work? (Ex.: I consider my T450s laptop and my E32 Thinkstation perfectly compatible with Fedora, even if Lenovo does not provide fwupd though LVFS; Ex2.: Is my X201 too old to be considered compatible?).
Fairness: If we only list some vendors and some models, wouldn’t this raise the question of why we don’t list other vendors and models that offer Linux compatible machines?
Again, I am happy to link, move, or reference the list somewhere, however, I personally think that the list is too much work for what we gain, and it will non-exhaustive.
I see your arguments, just the discussion should not happen now and here. Because they already made it in the Lenovo-Fedora world domination plan and other topics.
I also just offered to make a wiki here in discourse to manage it easy. I guess now it is up to us to make the decision where we want to reside it. Please try to see it also from the point of view of a requester as @slimbookteam made a request to communicate something positive. If we do want to collaborate we do need a space where this collaboration can made in public, discussing problems and find solutions.
Could we not try to manage a space like we do have for known issues? A smaller group manages what is ok to publish and a bigger group like users of specific hardware and this resellers can make proposals what they would like to have published (solutions, workarounds).
Otherwise we do practice a kind of dead end communication, the resellers and enthusiasts try to communicate and we let id die in the ask in English section?
I guess the big lessons we all learned from the pandemic is, when there is a shortage of electronic components we can discuss as long as we want about any certification, if the certified components are not available they (resellers) can not deliver. So they use the available once who are not certified. But even then we need to communicate how to solve issues together that things work, probably not perfect but they work.
Thank you so much for this list! I think it’s going to be the starting point for the initiative of getting this information living somewhere, which is still kind of in flux right now.