the Linux Foundation and hardware manufacturers

Project:Linux hardware
Component:Documentation
Category:feature request
Priority:normal
Assigned:Unassigned
Status:active
Project wiki:Hardware
Related pages:#98: The most Linux-friendly hardware manufacturers :-:-: #110: Linux Advocacy
Description

The Linux Foundation maintains the Linux Standard Base for better software interoperability.

What would be interesting to know is whether the LF is in touch with hardware manufacturers about them opening the specs of their hardware so that Linux developers can develop proper Linux drivers for all the hardware.

It'd be worth contacting the LF and ask them about this.

Comments

#1

It seems that they are, e.g.
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/node/6242

AN FRANCISCO, May 11, 2010 — The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced it has appointed Alex Lu as its new Director of Taiwan Operations. Lu will use his experience working with consumer device makers in Taiwan to advance collaboration on strategic mobile initiative such as MeeGo.

“The global movement towards ubiquitous mobile computing would not be taking place if it weren’t for the people and companies in Taiwan,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director, The Linux Foundation. “New competitive pressures and widening market opportunities are leading Taiwanese companies to adopt Linux even more, and there is no one more naturally suited to facilitate collaboration on Linux in Taiwan than Alex Lu.”

With initiatives such as Android and MeeGo, analyst estimates indicate that Linux is the fastest-growing platform for mobile computing – on phones, laptops, MIDs, infotainment devices, and more. Taiwan, in particular, is a hotbed for mobile and embedded development, and there are a variety of companies in the country that today are increasing their participation in the Linux development community and initiatives such as MeeGo. Lu’s work will help focus efforts and advance Linux on PCs as well as on for mobile and embedded computing.

“Taiwan may be a small island but it packs a global punch when it comes to computer and electronics manufacturing,” said Alex Lu, Director of Taiwan Operations for The Linux Foundation. “There is a great opportunity to share technical expertise and marketing power between the Linux development community and Taiwan companies. I’m looking forward to helping bring together these important stakeholders to advance Linux.”

#2

we were talking about linux standards base as being software more than hardware but

coreboot is certainly hardware but maybe more lowlevel than looking for
though worth mentioning as well:

http://www.coreboot.org/Welcome_to_coreboot

"coreboot (formerly known as LinuxBIOS) is a Free Software project aimed at replacing the proprietary BIOS (firmware) you can find in most of today's computers. It performs just a little bit of hardware initialization and then executes a so-called payload."

#3

Oh! Very good! I never heard about it.
I'll add this in the wiki. Thanks.