Da Rock writes: > I apologise for jumping into this thread mid way, but wouldn't > the problem be simply a case of nil NDA? If an FOSS programmer > signed an NDA with say NVidia, then wouldn't the hardware > supplier be more willing to supply more specific details? > > Anyone with experience in the legalities here?
It's not just the legalities, it's the philosophy. Accepting the N.D.A. would allow the writing of a driver ... which would - based on what I know about siilar N.D.A.s - have to be released as a binary. Now that could happen, and be a working solution; it's worked for other products. (Examples are left as an exercise for the reader.) But it's the (rare) exception and not the rule for a reason. Ignoring philosophical disagreements, it makes it harder to find and fix problems. Case in point: FreeBSD supports Intel non-CPU hardware; in at least one case (the /em/ network driver) Intel not only writes the code (for free) but releases it under an appropriate license. This gains Intel a lot of cred. (The fact that it's superior code on a superior card doesn't hurt, nor does tha fact that the writer is available, responsive, and friendly.) Robert Huff _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"