Voluntary Hardware Donation Receivers?

[Bagder]

(This idea isn't mine, I'm just repeating it.)

I think it would be useful if we got a handful of volunteers that could be the default receivers for hardware/players that people are willing to donate to "the project" for whatever reason. Handful because it could be a good idea to have at least one in Europe and one in the US (and possibly one in Asia and one in Australia...).

These receivers could then keep a list of what hardware they have (and who donated them), and when devs need/want hardware for Rockbox work we could use these "junk yards".

The benefit of this method compared to the current way, is that right now we basically never accept the donations since there's no person who steps forward and if someone later decides he could use such a target the moment is gone and no donation is made.

Good or bad idea? Can it be made better or more specific?

[LambdaCalculus]

I'll gladly volunteer to collect donated players and pass them along.

In terms of US volunteers, I believe we should have at least three: one on the East coast, one on the West coast, and one in the Midwest area. That way, the volume is easily spread out between us, and we can also send to various parts of the world easier.

[Llorean]

I think it's a good idea.

Having somewhat local people will make it easier on those who wish to donate. And having a list of "receivers" can also make people less nervous that they'll send their player in the right direction.

It also means we can accept donations of broken players, and other such things, that might have parts useful to developers finding their older player has broken down right when they want to test something.

It helps solve the "right part, wrong time" aspect of donation.

And of course, always willing to help out.

[AlexP]

Yep, a good plan.  As with many I suspect, I'd be happy to act as a "fence"

[scorche]

Of course I am willing to apply Scorche's Super Shipping Service to the task if needed.  Also, be aware that while the US does have zones and shipping costs can vary between these, the USPS also has a service called "Priority Mail Flat-Rate"  which usually ends up being cheaper with heavy items, does not vary between the zones, and the box is paid for which you can then fill it with anything that one can and not worry about weight costs.

[soap]

Soap's Slick Shipping Stomps Scorche's Super Shipping Service, Seriously.


On a more sane note, was this my idea, or is my memory as faulty as Scorche's Shipping Service?

[Bagder]

On a more sane note, was this my idea, or is my memory as faulty as Scorche's Shipping Service?

I believe you were the one you spoke about this on IRC the other day, yes. And I just shamelessly repeated it here to reach fame and glory! :-P

(Or perhaps the Nano 3rd gen donation question reminded me about this.)

[pixelma]

I also like the idea and have another suggestion that goes along with it: create a wiki page called DonatedPlayers, DonatedHardware or similar which

• explains the "rules" (don't expect or demand a port etc.)
• contains a list of the recipients of the players, so that a donor knows where to send it/who to ask
• contains a list of players/donated hardware and where it is, so that an interested dev can look up who to talk to

There already is a page DonatedMoney and I think that would be a good addition if we set up a thing like this.

[LambdaCalculus]

Yes, agreed. I'll create the basic page, and we can take it from there.

(EDIT) The basic page is up.

[Bagder]

Great start!

I think the phrase "You may never see your player again" implies that the donors might get them back. Do we really want that?

[LambdaCalculus]

Fixed. If someone else can think of better wording, feel free to do some writing.

[Llorean]

If it's a donation, it shouldn't even be implied it might be returned. Tracking who donated what, and the conditions under which they'd like the player returned, isn't something I think we should deal with.

[thenrik]

Hi:

  If you haven't already found a West Coast US person, I could do it.

Tom

[JdGordon]

I'm not really sure this is needed... the only times I've seen hardware donations are for targets which just about everyone (that wants one) has already. I wonder if this will just end up leaving people with lots of extra "junk".

[gevaerts]

I'm not really sure this is needed... the only times I've seen hardware donations are for targets which just about everyone (that wants one) has already. I wonder if this will just end up leaving people with lots of extra "junk".

I got my AJB as a donation, and I didn't have one before. Also, we currently have committers who don't own a single supported target (usually people working on new ports), so I think even very common players are welcome