Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (3605 mails)

[Kevanf1 <kevanf1@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 02/06/06, Fergus Wilde <fwilde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Thursday 01 June 2006 14:24, Bruce Marshall wrote:
> > On Thursday 01 June 2006 09:07, Kevanf1 wrote:
> > > Does it have to be a reverse engineered Nvidia driver? It's a genuine
> > > question, I'm not trying to be arsy here. I really don't know enough
> > > on this subject so please forgive me if I ask (what to others would
> > > be) a blatantly obvious question. We have plenty of other drivers
> > > doing the same job as proprietary software that has not been reverse
> > > engineered...or do we?
> >
> > Well, a graphics card or any other piece of hardware can be a pretty
> > complex thing....    registers to load, instruction sets, etc.   How does
> > one find out all that information without doing some reverse
> > engineering....?  If the vendor doesn't want to part with that
> > information....  a graphics card is just a piece of junk.
>
>
> Don't buy from that vendor then. Buy from someone a bit more co-operative,
> write to the original company telling them you're not buying their kit and
> why.

This is exactly what I do :-)  I made the mistake of purchasing a
Canon LiDE 50 scanner a couple of years ago.  At that time I was 100%
Microsoft (I had dallied with Linux for years but never had a fully
productive system).  Had I been using Linux properly at the time I
would not have purchased this particular scanner and I have written
and told Canon this.  I have repeatedly badgered them into providing
Linux drivers for all their products.  However, it needs everyone to
do this.

Nowadays I always do my research into hardware.  If it does not run
under Linux I don't buy it and I let the manufacturer know that they
have lost a sale.  Again, I hope I am not a lone voice shouting into
the wind.

Now, do I have this straight?  We can have drivers that load into
Linux (userspace) but are quite separate from the kernel?  If this is
the case then I'm all for it.  For one thing not related to the legal
aspects it keeps the kernel smaller surely?
--
==============================================
I am only human, please forgive me if I make a mistake it is not deliberate.
==============================================
PLEASE DON'T drink and drive it's not clever, it's just stupid.

Kevan Farmer

Linux user #373362

Cheslyn Hay
Staffordshire
WS6 7HR

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