What Would You Like To See Next?

[Michael]

While none of these additions will come immediately (since they will likely require extra staff along with additional equipment and capital), I would hope some of these changes are just about a year away from becoming a reality. Outside of all of the Linux hardware reviews and other content, I am looking for Phoronix's next big step -- what is currently on the table is Linux media: specifically, audio or video "podcasts". However, that is where you come into play. Below are just two of the possibilities being considered for this media. More will be added to this thread later. Any comments or other suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Linux How-To Videos - Would you be interested in videos of how to perform different operations within Linux? While anything could be covered here, some of the possibilities could include videos of how to install proprietary drivers on different distributions with how to optimize the driver, etc... Another possibility could be how to setup Apache, PHP, and MySQL. Videos would likely range from beginner to advanced in skill.

Linux Technology Podcasts - A weekly audio/video podcast covering Linux news, hardware, and much more.

[niniendowarrior]

Those are great ideas.

I personally would like a game video review, but that idea would not have very long legs.

Maybe it would be possible to have web blogs available for forum users. I don't know just an idea out of the blue.

Great stuff, Michael!

[byteframe]

It's the 9th of may, and all the shit about JAVA on the front page is really unsettling.

Does SUN pay the site?

[Michael]

It's the 9th of may, and all the shit about JAVA on the front page is really unsettling.

Does SUN pay the site?

No.

Well, if it makes you feel better, by the end of the week it will be all gone.

[joshuapurcell]

It's the 9th of may, and all the shit about JAVA on the front page is really unsettling.

Does SUN pay the site?

I don't know if there is a need for comments like this. What's wrong with covering JavaOne? Java isn't connected to hardware like some other topics would be, but Java is now one of the biggest open source projects around, and last time I checked Phoronix covers lots of open source topics. Not only that, but Solaris is also an open source project that is being covered in part during the JavaOne convention. Give some reasons why JavaOne shouldn't be covered by Phoronix rather than just being a troll.

[nesnomis]

It would be nice if you could have a separate section for complaining and ati bashing!? ... I come here to eventually get help, ask questions och if i can, help others... :) ... Not to read anwsers like 'buy nvidia' or 'next time i will get intel' etc... I guess it could scare a lot of serious people from getting involved och even dare to ask questions!? (Knowing the given anwsers!?)...

Well it's just a thougt!....

[byteframe]

even though your kind of a dork, thats a cool idea.

[nesnomis]

even though your kind of a dork, thats a cool idea.

Hmmm.... If 'kind of a dork' prefers knowledge and information before whining and bashing.... well what the heck, then i am kind of a dork... :cool:

But i still belive this is a great forum for information and help.... And shure i guess it is nice to get rid of some frustrations!? but i don't believe it will help complaining in every thread here!? Just do something about it, like getting another grapichs card... And or make a forum thread for bashing and whining... :)

/greetings from the 'dork' ... :eek:

[lakritz]

I'd like to see a review of video codecs and graphics drivers. I.e a test of GStreamer, Xine, VLC and MPlayer on different video cards and drivers. What's the performance? Other issues? Does TV-Out work? Xvideo? Etc.

[deanjo]

How about adding a few more mainstream distro's to your comparison tests instead of only fedora and a bunch of flavors of ubuntu, such as openSUSE, Sabayon and PCLinuxOS since they are among the more popular distro's? BSD also seems to get ignored.

[Michael]

How about adding a few more mainstream distro's to your comparison tests instead of only fedora and a bunch of flavors of ubuntu, such as openSUSE, Sabayon and PCLinuxOS since they are among the more popular distro's? BSD also seems to get ignored.


That would be ideal, but at this point it simply isn't feisable with limited resources.

[deanjo]

Resources such as? Or are you just saying you don't have the time?

[Michael]

Resources such as? Or are you just saying you don't have the time?

Yes, it mostly comes down to time (and justifying that extra time whether it makes a positive impact with readers and sponsors) and lack of manpower.

[byteframe]

I say we should still get rid of all the solaris crap, but i've been seeing less of it lately. That's good.

[mirv]

I enjoy seeing a lot of technical & in depth data - e.g with the latest story about the recently release amd docs, it summarises what's actually in the documentation & whatnot. Stories like that, news about what amd/nvidia/intel/sun/whoever are up to, and in detail, appeal to me.
As a thought for something else - maybe a "user impressions" area or something for distros and that sort of thing, though I guess it would take some more moderating time.
Just my 2c.

[tmpdir]

Michael, would it be an idea when phoronix members have the opportunity to bring their own reviews and test to the table? in a special member section for this purpose? I would love to get my hands on more compares and tests.

[yotambien]

Linux How-To Videos - Would you be interested in videos of how to perform different operations within Linux?

I think this is a horrible idea. I know we live in a very visual world and all, but video is just not the right medium to do this. Written information has no match in this area; its clarity, accuracy and precision can't be obtained by other means, alongside the inherent convenience of the format itself. Also, if they were to have any informational value, the scope covered would be very restricted to simple operations performed on a GUI--imagine having to pause and zoom the movie to check what icon to click or command to type--therefore challenging the idea of the need for a tutorial.

Where videos work is where you just want to show something, as opposed to explain it. Many Phoronix stories are related to graphical developments in unix world, and you definitely have room there to make something that works; who knows, show people the Phoronix test suite (which I bet not many have seen in action, myself included), games that are to arrive (or are thought to), new or redesigned applications (last week it was Gimp, for instance), new stuff in the drivers field, whatever.

As a suggestion, I'd propose to create some user editable content with the scope of setting up some documentation (oh, wait, that's called a wiki, I bet it's been already suggested). The idea is based on the fact that Phoronix forums are full of geeks that won't hesitate to install the latest code from git or wherever and start trying to overcome any problems encountered. A forum is not the right tool to store information in the long term, since bits are scattered all across the board and they are not organized in any meaningful way. There's definitely a lot of good information in this forum that deserve a better place than some threads here and there. As a side effect, and since new users would be potentially better informed about how to do something, the noise level in the forums could be lower, leaving more space for what they're best suited for: open discussion.

[thacrazze]

I wish a performance comparision between OpenSolaris 2008.11 and Linux!

[thacrazze]

Oh sorry I miss this: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=os_threeway_2008&num=1

my request is now solved

[Checker]

Hi, there.

It would be great to see different virtual machines comparison running on different platforms (OSes) (features/performance).
// vmware, virtual pc, virtual box, parallels and so on

Thanx.

[RealNC]

I would like to see a selectable theme on this forum. White text is not sub-pixel-rendering friendly.

[Hephasteus]

This site has such excellent reviews and industry news I don't know what to ask for.

.03 second faster page loads?

.03 second faster page loads are always good. :D

[bugmenot]

I (and many other people, as you can see from the comments) would really like to be able to watch the videos (fosdem for example) without installing the proprietary flash player. Please simply link to the source file, use the video tag of html5, use a flash player that is supported by gnash or set up a torrent for the files if your traffic is too high. Or even link to a .flv file as you did in the past! We simply don't like to be forced to use something we don't want.
Thanks for reading and your understanding.

[Sewje]

Any chance of a full comparision of quadros vs geforce and Ati if possible.

[Max Spain]

Any chance of a full comparision of quadros vs geforce and Ati if possible.

Don't I wish :rolleyes: Unfortunately I don't see anything like that happening any time soon unless it is done by users of PTS and even then the HW won't be identical. Such a comparison would require some generous sponsors and lots of man hours ;)

[homerhomer]

Hmmm

I like the way it is but I guess more hardware reviews would be cool. I like that this website reviews hardware for Linux. There are way to many sites reviewing every freaking distro out there.
\:cool:
maybe a small gaming section might be cool.

[Sewje]

Well I don't mean review every single card, but the ones that have already been reviewed, I mean put in the equivant geforce card for a comparision if its a quadro review and vice versa.
Or a standard chart of performance graphs for all the gfx cards reviewed, adding to it with every new review.

[Wyatt]

I saw the Gallium update post and got to thinking...would it be possible to have a monthly "Phoronix Open Graphics Digest" or some such? A news article that basically gives the big picture: recent developments that affect drivers now; current issues, challenges, and needs in master branches; maybe mild projections for where things will be in the next month or three; a timeline that shows when things are expected to happen or a dependency graph that shows what various projects are waiting on for their advancement in various directions. Stuff like that.

These are momentous times in Linux graphics, and keeping track of it all has taught me a great deal about how the various graphics subsystems come together and interact. But I still don't feel like I have my finger to the pulse of where things are and are going; There's no real "big picture" view. What's more, I feel like such an article would help others get a better sense of the progress that is happening around the clock.

Cheers,
Wyatt

[nelson01]

Those are great ideas.
I personally would like a game video review, but that idea would not have very long legs.
Maybe it would be possible to have web blogs available for forum users.

[birdie]

this (http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18017).

[balderdash]

Linux How-To Videos - Would you be interested in videos of how to perform different operations within Linux? While anything could be covered here, some of the possibilities could include videos of how to install proprietary drivers on different distributions with how to optimize the driver, etc... Another possibility could be how to setup Apache, PHP, and MySQL. Videos would likely range from beginner to advanced in skill.

Linux Technology Podcasts - A weekly audio/video podcast covering Linux news, hardware, and much more.

Phoronix is of great help to a Linux newbie such as myself and these proposed videos would certainly be helpful. However, would those videos be visible by all? In my own case it was some time before my video card ran properly and I'm still having problems with video plug-ins on my web browser. Perhaps those problems should first be addressed in text?

Probably my biggest difficulty in adapting to Linux is the obligatory use of text codes in a terminal window. This process might prove easier if I could find somewhere where these codes were explained and their usage taught.

[netsurf]

netsurf demands a indepth review of all the commercial software for backup and free alternatives:p. Especially since its heading back to university time for most people.

Wiki here shows a quick list of programs which support linux, windows and mac.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_backup_services

please make sure to mention things like:
-:cost for 100gb for a years worth of storage
-:limits on T/C such as only one pc or you have to buy the software then pay for storage.
-:security policies ie how willing would they be to hand over your details to a seize warrant/general data storage and privacy
-:headless/cronjob support and GUI support
-:generally how good is the software

hope you get round to doing this as backup solutions which do incremental are a royal pain in the ass especially the encryption and signing side of things. loosing the key when trying to perform bare metal restore or just recover a single file without having to practically be the developer of it.

kind regards,
netsurf

[AdrenalineJunky]

you could always do software reviews - i think comercial linux game reviews would be really cool.

[deanjo]

netsurf demands a indepth review of all the commercial software for backup and free alternatives:p. Especially since its heading back to university time for most people.

Wiki here shows a quick list of programs which support linux, windows and mac.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_backup_services

please make sure to mention things like:
-:cost for 100gb for a years worth of storage
-:limits on T/C such as only one pc or you have to buy the software then pay for storage.
-:security policies ie how willing would they be to hand over your details to a seize warrant/general data storage and privacy
-:headless/cronjob support and GUI support
-:generally how good is the software

hope you get round to doing this as backup solutions which do incremental are a royal pain in the ass especially the encryption and signing side of things. loosing the key when trying to perform bare metal restore or just recover a single file without having to practically be the developer of it.

kind regards,
netsurf

"Only wimps use tape backup: _real_ men just upload their important stuff on ftp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTP), and let the rest of the world mirror it - Linus Torvalds";)

[L33F3R]

Comercial software reviews might actually be a good idea, certainly something I would read regularly. unfortunatly we dont have wealth of that, at least that I know of.

[AdrenalineJunky]

there are definately enough to keep micheal busy for a little while at least

and (wishfull thinking mode) maybe it would bring some more awareness to the titles there are, increase sales, and make linux look like a more viable gameing market (end wishfull thinking)

[netsurf]

Comercial software reviews might actually be a good idea, certainly something I would read regularly. unfortunatly we dont have wealth of that, at least that I know of.


The site reviews alot of hardware themselves though from what i can guestimate not that much of it is bought. If companies want their product to be known then it'd be a good idea to send time limited demos or something or a full sample.

One of the problems with linux is lack of proper backing of commercial software. Some might argue that it is a good thing but opensource tends to be hit and miss with alot of things.
Gimp for example has what most people would need if you didnt mind completely relearning everything from photoshop. For actual professionals photoshop seems to be the way to go.
Last check the closest thing to that is pixel. I dont know if any of you have heard of its infamousity but the one guy from solvakia has been writing this commercial application since around 2005 offering discount to early purchasers. Went "final" on april 2009 but was never released. So possibly snake oil. (clicky clicky) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_image_editor

This from the beta alone feels alot more comftable to use than the gimp but has the stability of an active volcano.

More commercial software should allow the increase in momentum of uptake and released programs. After all if there is hard evidence of demand and company success then many others will want to get in on the action. Hell, maybe Amd will stop releasing their "hurt me plenty" edition of drivers and open up some top notch 3d performance on the way ;)

[nanonyme]

Hell, maybe Amd will stop releasing their "hurt me plenty" edition of drivers and open up some top notch 3d performance on the way ;)I'm sure they'd give better if they had any. ;) It's not as if they weren't doing active development...

[netsurf]

I'm sure they'd give better if they had any. ;) It's not as if they weren't doing active development...

that being true AMD could do with some loyal fanbase at the moment. Used to be a AMD fan back in the days of the socket A's but lately they seem to be the asda smartprice of the graphics and cpu world. The linux community tend to be quite supportive to an extent providing it comes across as a genuine effort to provide decent support and or good reasonable support with opensourcing the drivers. I havent owned a ATI chipset for a while but from what i can tell skimming the forums the actual visible effort on the drivers is enough of a team to put a check in the box for linux drivers rather than the infamous coming soon (tm) that we tend to find for absolutely everything.

[dust]

i want to see the option to view the forum with dark letters and bright background!

GIVE US BACK THIS OPTION!

http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15234

[HaaTa]

Mobile phone page formatting.

I would subscribe to Phoronix Premium if this was a feature (full article view, defaulting images off, but the ability to turn them back on).

Or Phoronix premium rss feeds so I can read the whole article in my feeds reader.

[panda84]

I would like to see more interviews to "the big ones"!

I think, in exchange for a little reward, some developers would be much willing to get interviewed!

Think of interviewing one month Rusin, the other Airlie, then Packard, then Høegsberg, then Carmack and then ...

I know there are some interviews of these guy, just I would like to see more. And more frequently (things change rapidly in Linux graphics these days).

[bugmenot]

As you probably know already I would *love* to be able to watch your videos. Ogg Theora ftw.

Thanks.

[foliady]

it is are good ideas

[sabriah]

I would like to see what a Nokia N900 can do!

I don't expect miracles, but it would be nice to have a comparison with old PCs, to be able to say,

Hey, it runs like an old 486, Pentium2 333 MHz, P4 1.6 GHz, or a i7 2.67 GHz or whatever.

I have no idea what to expect, except that it runs Linux and manages both OpenGL and Qt 4.6 http://labs.trolltech.com/blogs/2009/10/09/qt-on-the-n900/

[Yalla-One]

Mobile phone page formatting.

I would subscribe to Phoronix Premium if this was a feature (full article view, defaulting images off, but the ability to turn them back on).

Or Phoronix premium rss feeds so I can read the whole article in my feeds reader.

I second this - either a full-content RSS feed or phoronix.com formatted for mobile devices/smart phones would make a huge difference.

I normally keep up with Linux/OSS news on the bus to work, and loading the full page on my smartphone both takes forever and costs a fortune in data traffic.

Full-content RSS would be the preferred way, preferably in addition to a mobile-browser-detection on phoronix.com for mobile visitors.

Would this be feasable Michael?

[Michael]

Would this be feasable Michael?

It's a possibility that may come to Premium subscribers.

[alazyworkaholic]

I like the idea of some howto videos or articles. Phoronix tends to report on what's happening & what's new but some more attention devoted to why something matters & how I might be able to use a feature (e.g. xr&r, multipoint x...) would make phoronix more interesting. I keep reading that TTM, gallium, etc. are getting updates but I still don't really understand what they do & how they do it better than something else. Veteran readers could just skim past the paragraph that explains the significance of the news while making reading phoronix more approachable for noobs like me.
One member shot down videos as a horrible idea. I think any howto video ought to have short&sweet written instructions to go along with it, but being able to verify that you're getting the same results as shown in a howto video provides more of a sense of security to the less experienced that it worked correctly.
Giving linux games more publicity would be good for everyone.
I'd like to be able to easily compare hardware performance, to see for example on a graph how much better off I'd be with a PhenomII X4 vs my 4850e or other stuff.

[DanL]

I like the idea of some howto videos or articles. Phoronix tends to report on what's happening & what's new but some more attention devoted to why something matters & how I might be able to use a feature (e.g. xr&r, multipoint x...) would make phoronix more interesting. I keep reading that TTM, gallium, etc. are getting updates but I still don't really understand what they do & how they do it better than something else. Veteran readers could just skim past the paragraph that explains the significance of the news while making reading phoronix more approachable for noobs like me.
One member shot down videos as a horrible idea. I think any howto video ought to have short&sweet written instructions to go along with it, but being able to verify that you're getting the same results as shown in a howto video provides more of a sense of security to the less experienced that it worked correctly.
Giving linux games more publicity would be good for everyone.
I'd like to be able to easily compare hardware performance, to see for example on a graph how much better off I'd be with a PhenomII X4 vs my 4850e or other stuff.
Did not read/ terrible format