domenica, 03 ottobre 2004 alle 22:26:57, Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas ha scritto: > On Sunday 03 October 2004, Emiliano Grilli wrote: > > domenica, 03 ottobre 2004 alle 08:47:38, R Parker ha scritto: > > > > There is also the "midisport" line from m-audio, but > > > > if I recall correctly > > > > they need a firmware upload to work, so I'd avoid > > > > them: > > > > > > I use a USB Midisport 8x8 that requires firmware but > > > it works great. My purchase would be based on price > > > and not whether firmware is required. > > > > I have no direct experience of devices that require firmware, but I > > recall a thread earlier this year on the agnula-user mailing list > > discussing the > > opportunity of distributing the firmwares, and if those firmwares were > > "proprietary software" or not... > > Can you please give me a pointer to that thread? http://lists.agnula.org/pipermail/users/2004-June/002045.html http://lists.agnula.org/pipermail/users/2004-July/002335.html > > > As far as I can tell, agnula/demudi still doesn't distribute those > > firmwares. > > Please let me tell you a tale about these firmware issues, and a little > bit of history. > > A long, long time ago (January 2002), I bought a Midisport2x2 USB > interface. Here is a picture of this technological terror, side by side > with an Edirol friend: > http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/using-rosegarden/en/chapter-2.html#2_1_2_2_2 > > The Midisport2x2 needs to load firmware on it. Luckily, by that time > there was a project conducted by Lars D?lle and aimed to build GPL > firmware for this device. This project supports several devices using the > EZ-USB chip: Midisport2x2, Midisport1x1, Midisport UNO and Steinberg > USB-2-MIDI. The sources are on SourceForge: > http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/linux-hotplug/firmware/ezusb/midi/ > http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/linux-hotplug/firmwarehotplug-0.1.tar.gz?download > > This baby is distributed as a RPM package (with the name ezusbmidi) by > CCRMA for RegHat/Fedora, and by Thac for Mandrake. Using this package is > very easy to set up the devices. And you are using only GPL software to > play your music. I don't use AGNULA, so don't ask me what happens with > it. I remember that there was a browseable CVS repository long time ago > with the ezusbmidi sources on it, but I can't find it now. > > The problem is that there are a lot of devices out there that need a > firmware upload. MAudio has the 4x4, 8x8 and others. Tascam has the > 122/224/428, and Steinberg has the Midex3 and Midex8. Nobody is working > on a GPL firmware for them. But there is another project in SourceForge > aimed to build a ripper^H^H^H^H extractor of the firmware juice from the > windoze drivers that can be used on Linux: > http://usb-midi-fw.sourceforge.net > > Using this program is very easy. You only need to copy some files from > your windows driver into the directory where you unpacked the sources, > and run make install on it. The firmware extracted from the windows > drivers can't be > redistributed without the permission of their owners. It is proprietary > software. There are no sources. I wash my hands. But if you don't mind to > burn your soul in the hell, it is the only way to use some USB MIDI > devices on Linux. That's why I would avoid them and buy the models that "just work" out of the box, if I have the possibility to choose. > Just my 2 euro cents. > > Regards, > Pedro Best regards, -- Emiliano Grilli Linux user #209089 http://www.emillo.net
