[opensolaris-summit] Summit Hardware

[Garrett D'Amore]

Al Hopper wrote:
> On Thu, 4 Oct 2007, Shawn Walker wrote:
>
>> On 04/10/2007, Garrett D'Amore <gdamore at sun.com> wrote:
>>> John Sonnenschein wrote:
>>>> Apple actually published a fantastic set of docs on the filesystem,
>>>> but more to the point OSX/darwin contains a CDDL compatible licensed
>>>> implementation, but I'm not as attached to the particular idea as I am
>>>> with the idea of having technical (rather than political or design )
>>>> breakouts
>>>>
>>>
>>> As we are quickly running out of time, and I'm still not clear what
>>> exactly is going to be discussed here.  I can't tell whether the summit
>>> is going to be folks presenting their ideas for future directions on
>>> topics like packaging and installation (both of which bore me, but I
>>> actually happen to *like* the SYSV packaging that we have today), or
>>> whether this going to be any multiway exchange of ideas going on.
>>>
>>> The "drivers and laptop support" topic is potentially very germane to
>>> me, as that is my current focus (specifically drivers for SDcard, and
>>> laptop power management including suspend/resume), but I'm still not
>>> sure what is going to be discussed there... I don't recognize David
>>> Stewart from the laptop or device drivers communities, nor from the
>>> internal group at Sun that is focused on mobile platforms.  *So*, what
>>> will that topic be about, really?
>>>
>>> I'm still afraid that the very non-technical focus of the topics means
>>> that a lot of potential participants like me might be turned off by the
>>> Summit.  This looks a lot more like a meeting of the Program Managers
>>> than of the Engineers.  (And maybe that is indeed necessary and is also
>>> the need the Summit is intended to fill, but if that is the case then
>>> there is approximately zero purpose in my attendance.)
>>
>> I wouldn't call installation, packaging, upgrading, virtualisation,
>> laptop drivers, open sound, etc. "non-technical" -- but that all
>> depends on what you mean but "non-technical."

Yes, it does.  But if you look, virtualization for example, is still 
focussed on install.

I'm not sure that laptop drivers, OSS, etc. are really going to be 
covered in technical detail, other than a presentation of slideware.  I 
expect Intel will offer some information about what they are 
contributing (which is indeed valuable!), but at the end of the day, 
this is more likely, IMO, to be PM level stuff than 
hands-gritty-in-the-code stuff.

>>
>> I'd be happy to see you there, as I know there are at least a few of
>> us that would like to pick your brains about driver development during
>> a breakout session. However, that's up to you.
>
> A big +1
>
> You can only influence the agenda by being present.  And we'll have 
> some systems where you could provide a real hands-on demo of your 
> expertize - rather than presenting slide-ware.

I'd offered to present a technical breakout on one or more topics 
related to drivers, networking, GLDv3, etc.  The "general" consensus I 
got was (or that I thought I got was), there wasn't enough interest in 
such topics at this particular venue.  And I've not seen anyone else 
offer to present anything close to the technical level that I was hoping 
for, outside of installation/packaging/patching.

And, fwiw, the problems I had hoped to see go beyond my personal 
interests, but could include other areas like OpenGL, compiz, looking 
glass, etc.  But again, maybe those communities are taking care of 
things in their own way.  (Gnome and X11 have their own 
non-OpenSolaris-hosted communities at least.)

Anyway, is this a forum where folks are going to get together and try to 
solve problems, or is it more each presenter giving his thoughts and 
slideware?

One way presentations have their uses, and (as indicated above), I'm 
willing to present if there is demand.  (Topics I am equipped for 
include power management, dynamic reconfiguration, GLDv2/v3/DLPI, and 
general kernel/device driver development.)

But I'm also very, very interested in having conversations that are not 
one-way.  There are some significant feature gaps, and technical 
challenges that the community could use more help with.  A dedicated 
forum to tackle group design problems, and even individual hacking (got 
a pet bug you want fixed?)  would probably be very useful.  So far, this 
doesn't look like (at least this time) this is evolving into that forum.

Anyway, I need to make up my mind today, because I still have to figure 
out travel and hotel plans.  And if I were to plan to present anything, 
I'd need to gather materials.  Don't get me wrong: I *want* to 
participate.  But I want the participation to be worth the time that it 
distracts me from actually *doing*.

    -- Garrett
>
> Water always finds its own level...
>
> Regards,
>
> Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.  al at logical-approach.com
>            Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134  Timezone: US CDT
> OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member - Apr 2005 to Mar 2007
> http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/ogb/ogb_2005-2007/