User:Muudahweed/Linux Driver Project
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Linux Driver Project
This project began in 2007,[1] as an invitation to all hardware manufacturers to have drivers written for free, in answer to some complaints that various hardware were not working with Linux. There was an unexpected response however, as less than expected device makers responded while a large number of developers volunteerd to work on drivers.
As of this writing, the Linux Driver Project homepage indicates more than 400 people take part in the project, making it a substantial development team, which is still essentially working for free.
Participation
[edit]The Linux kernel community allows virtually anyone to submit code changes and work on new features, and the driver project is run the same way. This opens a unique opportunity for less experienced programmers to participate in ongoing projects, even offering small contributions at first. The simplest steps can take a lot of less challenging work out of the way, so that a veteran programmer may concentrate on the more difficult functionality and design.
Growth
[edit]Within two years, what began as an invitation to manufacturers and suprising chance for community development became a successful, goal driven project. From 2009, the founder was appointed as the full time director, funded by Novell. Having accomplished the main focus, creating many drivers, two other acheivements were highlighted: educating people and companies about the development process and working in the open, allowing access to the source code very easily. A "staging" location was added to the Linux kernel source in order to permit easy access and development where any level developer can work on existing projects.