Features/SpecialisedHelp

= Feature Name =

SpecialisedHelp

Summary
This feature customises help based on your particular hardware/software profile by filtering countless fedora [Solved] articles and attempting to match issues based on your profile.

Owner

 * Name: Mike Jones


 * Email: monz187@yahoo.com.au

Current status

 * Targeted release: F15
 * Last updated: 08/11/2010
 * Percentage of completion: 0%

Detailed Description
Fedora would integrate machine specific hardware, detected on installation, and compile a help centre based on fedora [Solved] articles found on fedora support pages which match the hardware of the particular user. Also based on installed software / hardware combinations, the help centre would identify possible issues relating to certain combinations, ie. Alsa with hda-intel based cards, nVidia based GPU and overscan etc. based on Fedora user experiences.

These links would be populated on installation and provide a guide for the end user of where to start looking for possible troubleshooting or enhanced hardware functionality. They can be presented to the user either on demand or when obvious issues are identified by the OS. for example, user has an nVidia 8400GT however, 2 days after install and nouvaue driver is still being used - specialised help centre would pop up an article about how to use yum to download nvidia drivers etc.

The end goal would be to begin formatting fedora tech support pages to specify exact hardware details (this can be done via desktop integration for example) thereby providing more relevant links to the specialised help centre.

Benefit to Fedora
Current information available on the web for linux based hardware/software issues are sketchy at best. Multiple distributions of linux with multiple sources (some unreliable) cause frustration to new users of linux/fedora when embarking on a migration away from Microsoft based operating systems.

Major benefit for fedora would be;

1. higher rate of user retention 2. higher satisfaction rate with the product 3. increased contribution to solved articles 4. more functional hardware/software combinations.

Scope
Current machine detection exists on installation with the hardware report being generated by installation and user is requested to send it to the developers. The next steps would be:

1. Index [Solved] repository pages 2. Build database of hardware components matched on above index 3. Provide links to end user based on hardware profile by way of GUI app which links to web browser.

How To Test
1. No specific hardware is required to test this feature, in fact, the more diverse the range of hardware the better.

2. Machines at different stages of life would be desirable for instance, freshly installed fedora machines as well as long established fedora installations with various hardware/software combinations.

3. Rank the relevance of an article presented about a particular piece of hardware to see if the articles being provided are of any benefit.

4. The expected result would be a targeted help centre specific to your hardware/software profile which can give an accurate starting point to a novice and or experienced fedora/linux user.

User Experience
Users should expect to see a graphical representation of their hardware profile, known issues with certain hardware should be highlighted and number of links visible for the user to click on.

Possible hardware enhancements should also be made visible where articles about getting more functionality out of working hardware can be identified.

Users will then be able to troubleshoot more effectively and be able to get more out of their fedora installations making it not only more user friendly but hopefully increase its standing as the linux distribution of choice.

Dependencies
Unknown

Contingency Plan
None necessary

Documentation
N/A

Release Notes
Hardware/Software specific help centre - based on countless user experiences with multiple combinations of hardware and software. Fedora now sorts through thousands of user submitted articles based on thousands of different hardware components and issues and identifies issues it believes is relevant to your particular hardware/installation profile making troubleshooting easier and providing a trust point of reference should you have issues with any particular hardware in your system.

Comments and Discussion

 * See Talk:Features/SpecialisedHelp