Linux device driver project needs more unsupported devices to work on?

[Dazed_75]

On 10/28/07, Darrin Chandler <dwchandler at stilyagin.com> wrote:
> If you don't care about free as in speech, but only about free as in
> beer, delete this now.
>
But other people do.  Especially those who own hardware with parts
they cannot use.

> On Sun, Oct 28, 2007 at 10:56:54AM -0700, Dazed_75 wrote:
> > I don't know about the rest of you, but this came as a surprise to me:
> >
> > http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS6669895837.html
> >
> > except for the part about hardware vendors not wanting to open up.
> > But then isn't that a big part of the reason for the existence of the
> > project?  Surely we all hope the hardware vendors would go fully open
> > source but do not expect them all to do it.  I believe the project was
> > created not just to create new code from specs provided by
> > manufacturers but to also sometimes have to reverse engineer them as
> > has been done in the past.
> >
> > Thats why I don't quite understand the "lack of work to give them"
> > statement.  OTOH, existing driver support is hugely better than it was
> > a few years ago so I can easily see that as part of the reason.  Sure
> > is good to see the project thriving though.
>
> That project is not good for open source / free software. Every time a
> developer signs an NDA to get specs they hurt the cause. It's not just
> that they don't help freedom, they actively hurt it by telling vendors
> that it's fine to keep specs locked up. The resulting drivers are not
> truly free and open, because by NDA they must keep some things secret.
> The source may be open, but it's essentially obfuscated and therefore
> difficult or impossible to maintain by anyone who hasn't also signed an
> NDA.

Again, I think we can agree this is not ideal.  However when you dig
into it, the project goal is not to sign NDAs or build proprietary
blobs, but it is to ensure that Linux drivers exist for hardware.  The
fact that they are willing to go as far as to sign NDAs and develop
code for the hardware manufacturers who won't do it themselves is not
a bad thing.  Especially if by doing so those hardware manufacturers
see the potential.  Maybe it works as a step toward FOSS, maybe not.
That is more dependent on the individual companies than on anything
else. In the end, if it makes more people ABLE to use Linux, is that
not a good thing?

>
> The less this project has going on, the more likely I will have quality
> support for my hardware.
>
> --
> Darrin Chandler            |  Phoenix BSD User Group  |  MetaBUG
> dwchandler at stilyagin.com   |  http://phxbug.org/      |  http://metabug.org/
> http://www.stilyagin.com/  |  Daemons in the Desert   |  Global BUG Federation
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