On September 3, 2003 01:59 pm, Rick [Kitty5] wrote:
> gabriel wrote:
> > 2. sadly, linux also needs corporate support. not the "we back
> > linux" mantra recited by ibm, but actual driver support from hardware
> > manufacturers so that products like video cards, sound cards and
> > various usb webcams etc. "just work" out of the box, rather than
> > requiring a long, painful search for howtos etc.
>
> This point is going to take a long while to resolve, and the ball is
> entirely in Linus's camp. For political reasons, allowing hw manufacturers
> to create binary only drivers has been made difficult, or at least allowed
> to remain difficult.
it's not that they're trying to keep the process "difficult". it's that they
want the drivers to be free (as in freedom AND beer) -- and i support this
thinking.
now i can understand (barely) that a corporation like ati, nvidia etc. might
not want to Free their driver code, but what i can't understand is why they
say that they "are behind linux" and then don't contribute either financially
or technically to any of the projects attempting to develop drivers for their
hardware. if the gatos folks had some paid staff, or at least some technical
help from ati, then maybe my video capture would work and this guy's PVR
wouldn't have been such a nightmare.
or better yet, had they just built an Free version of their video driver, then
it could be incorporated into the kernel code, and i wouldn't have had to
bother with gatos at all. (much pain, much suffering, don't reccomend).
--
when the missionaries came to africa they had the bible and we had the land.
they said "let us pray." we closed our eyes. when we opened them we had the
bible and they had the land.
- bishop Desmond Tutu
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