On Thu, 2004-06-03 at 10:52 -0500, Scott Sloan wrote:
> "Give me a list of what the Linux community is seeking as far as
> hardware support and I'll see if I can get some bodies working on it.
> With a convincing email or two and we should be able to get it done"
>
> I know nothing is for certain (besides: death and taxes :) but I would
> like to write the email just to get the issue out there. so I'm asking
> What do we want from manufactures? Just great stable drivers? GPL
> drivers? And How can we convince them that writing drivers for Linux is
> worth their time?
Hi,
"Just great stable drivers" is not a real option.
It is the "easy" way out for some hardware vendors, but brings loads of
problems for users (loosing support on Linux itself in change of a
driver, having to way un uncertain time before the vendor supports Linux
updates, etc... etc...).
So what you need are
1) Free Software drivers
in a license that is both compatible with freedesktop.org's X11 AND
the GNU GPL
OR
2) at the very least specifications that have enough detail that a
skilled set of programmers can create the drivers in 1).
Personally, choice 1) is much better for both the hardware manufacturer
and users alike, and I would advise to use the GNU Lesser GPL.
This way, changes to the software released in the world would have a
quid-pro-quod relation with the official version -- which benefits the
manufacturer by reducing (sometimes a lot) development, support and
maintanbility costs -- and would benefit the users by having Free
Software drivers since that way distributions can support hardware
straight out of the box, without giving any hassle.
This later part is also an important benefit to the manufacturer:
If users know that the hardware will JUST WORK[tm] with any recent
enough distribution or simply by downloading an update, there is a
large incentive for users to buy that hardware.
I personally discarded a GEForce 2MX for an ATI 7500, which is quite
well supported by the Free Software drivers.
I'm glad to know you're in a position that might help turn more hardware
manufacturers to our side. Some already do provide the GPL'ed code
themselves (for instance, Digi, some stuff from Intel).
Regards, Rui
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