On Tue, 24 Jan 2006, Sergei Steshenko wrote:
> > > Comparing the above two I'd say that the difference is IDE bus vs. PCI > > > bus. > > > > > > So, why do we have such a discrimination here. Aren't buses and drivers > > > created > > > equal ? > > > > No, because the firmware runs on the device, while the driver runs > > on the CPU and it's linked to the kernel. > > > Look, "the device" a piece of metal, with electric motor(s) and a piece > of plastic (the device PCB) on which the controller, which is also kind > of CPU for the deive, is installed. > > "The CPU" is also a CPU, which is installed onto a piece of plastic > (the motherboard PCB); typically CPU works with an electric motor - its > cooling fan. Or, by the way, the heatsink, and the computer case as a whole, > are also pieces of metal. > > Should I go down to similarity between screws, voltage regulators, decoupling > caps, resistors, etc. ? However, the kernel runs on one of those things and the firmware on different one. The point is that the firmware is independent on the kernel because it does not share or is linked to any code that belongs to the kernel, neither when it was compiled, nor when it is executed. Since it's a completely distinct and independent peice of software, it is not required to be GPL'd. The only concern is if it's legal to include the binary image of the firmware inside the driver. -- Giuliano. ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Do you grep through log files for problems? Stop! Download the new AJAX search engine that makes searching your log files as easy as surfing the web. DOWNLOAD SPLUNK! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=103432&bid=230486&dat=121642 _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list Alsa-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user
