The Hardware Database Needs You!
Hello all,
On behalf of the crew at PCLinuxOS Hardware Database we would like to say thank you for all of your submissions and support of the Hardware Database. Currently we have 250 hardware submissions that allow users of PCLinuxOS to view and rate their working or non working hardware. When I think about it, that's really a lot of hardware. So thank you. We still need your help though and you may be aware there is a lot of hardware out there and I know a lot of you have it working. I have created a FAQ (that can be found in the FAQs tab at the top of the page) on how to navigate the site if there's any confusion and a short explanation of the "User Menu". I'm planning on creating a FAQ and a PDF that goes more into detail about hardware submissions. Really what is needed is: (items in bold match the fields on the submission form)
Item title: A title to the entry
PCLinuxOS Version: What PCLinuxOS distribution it's been tested on. I was allowing .93a submissions but now it's EOL (end of life) so now I've included TinyMe and Sam so they don't feel left out.
Item Summary: A short description of the product in a few lines.
Item description: An in depth description with Specifications, etc..
Images: An image of the product.
Meta Description: This is a short, few word description for search purposes.
Meta Keywords: This is for searches also, these will be keywords that will bring up this hardware in a search.
Review Title: A title for a short review.
Ratings: Rate how well the hardware works with PCLinuxOS, not based on how well you like the hardware, or hardware deficiencies outside of the realm of PCLinuxOS. Rating system follows:
- Does not work at all
- May work but is not effective, fast enough, etc.. to be acceptable.
- Works, but is maybe slower than usual, or has small to minor discrepancies.
- Works well, but not "out of the box." May take some major steps to get working or not all features may work.
- Works either "out of the box" or near enough (maybe, simply copying a firmware file) but every feature works as should.
Review Comments: This is the special place where you can tell the rest of the users your experience with how well the hardware worked/didn't work with PCLinuxOS. You can even brag about how great PCLinuxOS is if you feel like it.
Once you've submitted the hardware, it goes into a queue. I look it over, fill in any missing specifications, pictures, and tidy things up a bit. Your entry doesn't have to be perfect as long as I get a part number or a descriptive enough title I can easily google your device and fill in the blanks as needed. If you like the challenge of being a perfectionist, most of the specifications I find come from the manufacturer, cnet, dealtime, amazon, newegg, and a few other sites. I format the tables so they look nice and that is how things work. If you're a Linux guru and know how to get hardware IDs through lspci, lsub etc.. that information is very much appreciated and will be placed after specifications in the entry when supplied.
I can't stress this enough though, we need you to do submissions. The more submissions the more successful the site can be and the more useful it will be to other users. I have big plans for this site and hardware submissions in the future. Please help make it a worth while venture and submit your hardware.
Please do your submissions at http://PCLinuxOSHWDB.com. If you have problems getting to the Add Hardware Form read the FAQ on site navigation and make sure you're logged in with your Hardware Database account.
Thank you all,
jmiahman
