Talk:Gentoo Linux hardware compatibility

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Is this really necessary?

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This discussion is done as of 2021-12-15.

I have a feeling this is too broad of topic to contain a sane list. Mediawiki articles have a maximum length and it won't be long before it would have to be split anyway. Please categorize these if you insist on keeping such a set of lists. --Grknight (talk) 02:22, 23 November 2021 (UTC)

In what way is the topic too broad ? Is it just because of the risk of becoming a very large article ?

The idea is to give just some indication of if a device could be expected to work, or not. When purchasing some less mainstream hardware these last few years, I have on occasion had a hard time finding any information at all regarding compatibility. Just one line in a document such as this one would have been a great insight into what to expect.

The hope is that if somebody adds a piece of hardware to this list, it may be invaluable knowledge for some users - especially when warning against incompatible devices, partially functioning hardware, or other difficulties. If this page were not to exist, there are few serious alternatives currently, as far as I can see. If someone has a wiki account, or is a user of Gentoo, I think they could be more amenable to add a line here than to any other place on the Internet, which is why I think this could have it's place on the wiki.

The intention is to be a complement to the category:hardware articles that explain the details of installing a particular device, which, I would argue, definitely have their place here. The key difference between such pages and this one, is that this page is easier and quicker to add to. Adding a line here in no way precludes creating a dedicated article, and could even serve as a motivation to create one, or as a base if the "notes" for a particular device start to get large.

Another reason I thought a page such as this would be a good idea is the expectation that it might be a low-barrier entry point for people to start editing the wiki. I'm supposing that the more "eyes" there are on the wiki, the more likely that someone may contribute, especially if they have created an account, and adding a device here could motivate some to sign up. As a case in point, it seems that someone has already created an account just to add information here.

If the only reason to split this article up is the risk of it becoming too long, could it not be split when (if) it starts getting large ? Is being a "too broad a topic" reason to delete something, even if it might be useful to some ? Is having some information not better than having nothing, supposing that some people would add a little info here whilst they would not take the time to create a dedicated category:hardware page for the same device?

I hope all this doesn't come off the wrong way, I'm just trying to convey my thoughts and motivations for having spent time creating this page. I can't prove in any way that the hope that people will add to this list will play out, but the only way to find out is to leave it up. I can understand that it may not seem strictly necessarily, nevertheless, I do believe that it can be of use, and could on occasion be crucial for some users.

-- Ris (talk) 17:02, 23 November 2021 (UTC)

I am of the opinion that listing working hardware is much less helpful than listing what does not work. Most things do work in Linux and Gentoo by extension. If anything, this should be a meta article pointing to many other pages. Creating an account specifically for this page is not productive for anyone. I see it all too often where they never care once one edit of hardware is added. The many laptop and other hardware articles exist to point out what could be wrong with things not working. There really isn't a way to ever have a full "Gentoo Linux hardware compatibility list" just like there is never a way to have the Handbook show every possible installation path. It is just not feasible. --Grknight (talk) 17:34, 23 November 2021 (UTC)

>listing working hardware is much less helpful than listing what does not work

Less helpful perhaps, but sometimes better than nothing, no?

>Creating an account specifically for this page is not productive for anyone.

Not productive in itself, maybe, but can't hurt as far as I can see, and could lead to more productive things, couldn't it? Just today someone who mentioned an omission on a talk page added a new section when I asked if they wouldn't mind putting the info directly in the article - surely having more people to contact via accounts can't hurt ?

>There really isn't a way to ever have a full "Gentoo Linux hardware compatibility list"

It may not be feasible to have a full list, but is this really a reason not to have a list at all ?

I put in the article text that it is particularly useful to add devices that have issues. Even if this article would be better split up, can it not start out like this until it grows a bit ?

-- Ris (talk) 18:12, 23 November 2021 (UTC)

I really don't understand.

-- Ris (talk) 21:43, 23 November 2021 (UTC)

Though I think the article does have a lot of uses especially for a beginner starting out using Gentoo or building a computer to use Gentoo on, I feel that the article would get long too quickly. In my opinion, I think this article should not be deleted but rather be made a pseudo-article with links to different articles with compatibility of each specific hardware type so that it still could be used. THough I also see Grknight's opinion.

-- Jeff132312342q4323 (talk) 24 November 2021 (UTC)

I'm going to move the deleted bits to multiple pages in my user namespace soon.

-- Ris (talk) 00:48, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

I can't wait to see the final product :)

~~ Jeff132312342q4323 (talk) 24 November 2021 (UTC)