On 2/3/07, Marvin Stodolsky <marvin.stodolsky@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There is a more general problem that sometime next year, Proprietary Licensed drivers, whether or not Open Source, will no longer be supported by the kernel . The USB driver could in priniciple be rewritten from scratch so as not to be Proprietary, but that is evidently a Big Job that Sasha can't undertake with his limited volunteer time. For other modems to remain functional, the Proprietary code component will have to be moved to a non-driver helper, as now achieved with the ALSA modem drivers + Propriatery code in slmodemd helper, and for Lucent/Agere DSP modems, Alexei's split into the martian_dev.ko + Proprietary code in the martian_modem.
Marv, during my googling search I accidentally came across this message on vger.kernel mailing list, regarding people seeking kernel driver work .. is this a fit for the need for these modem drivers? From: Greg KH <greg@xxxxxxxxx> To: linux-kernel Jan 29, 2007 Free Linux Driver Development! Yes, that's right, the Linux kernel community is offering all companies free Linux driver development. No longer do you have to suffer through all of the different examples in the Linux Device Driver Kit, or pick through the thousands of example drivers in the Linux kernel source tree trying to determine which one is the closest to what you need to do. All that is needed is some kind of specification that describes how your device works, or the email address of an engineer that is willing to answer questions every once in a while. A few sample devices might be good to have so that debugging doesn't have to be done by email, but if necessary, that can be done. In return, you will receive a complete and working Linux driver that is added to the main Linux kernel source tree. The driver will be written by some of the members of the Linux kernel developer community (over 1500 strong and growing). This driver will then be automatically included in all Linux distributions, including the "enterprise" ones. It will be automatically kept up to date and working through all Linux kernel API changes. This driver will work with all[1] of the different CPU types supported by Linux, the largest number of CPU types supported by any operating system ever before in the history of computing. As for support, the driver will be supported through email by the original developers, when they can help out, and by the "enterprise" Linux distributors as part of their service agreements with their customers. If your company is worried about NDA issues surrounding your device's specifications, we have arranged a program with OSDL/TLF's Tech Board to provide the legal framework where a company can interact with a member of the kernel community in order to properly assure that all needed NDA requirements are fulfilled. Now your developers will have more time to work on drivers for all of the other operating systems out there, and you can add "supported on Linux" to your product's marketing material. This offer is in affect for all different types of devices, from USB toys to PCI video devices to high-speed networking cards. If you build it, we can get Linux drivers working for it. For any questions about this program, please feel free to respond to this email, or contact me directly at greg@xxxxxxxxxx I will also be available at FreedomHEC 2007 <http://freedomhec.pbwiki.com/> held adjacent to WinHEC, if anyone wants to bring devices and work face-to-face. thanks, greg k-h [1] for the CPUs that support the bus types that your device works on. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
