Dieter wrote:
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Nicolas Capens" writes:
In fact, one of the fundamental questions raised a year ago still exists: Do
we really need open-source hardware to solve the actual problem? As you have
indicated as well, it is very much a software problem. Hardware can solve
ONLY the performance aspect of the problem but that's just a fraction of the
work (not underestimating the complexity of hardware design).
What we have today is a documentation problem. We probably don't need to
know the gory details of every single transistor in a graphics/video chip,
but we do need to know how to write software for the chip.
We *NEED* "open hardware": i.e. hardware for which documentation
is readily available to make software drivers for it.
But I *WANT* that to be "free hardware": i.e. hardware for which the
design is published under a free-license. This is future-proofing: if
the original manufacturer stops making the card, someone else can
fill the need. In practice, this tends not to need to be used because
the buyer confidence in a future-proof product is such that it increases
the perceived value of the product, making it very successful, so that
the company doesn't need to discontinue it (or not until something
much better comes along, at least).
Also, you have to realize that free hardware is always a matter of
*degree*:
1) Do you need to know the entire engineering process behind each
capacitor or resistor on your circuitboard? NO: because capacitors
and resistors are replaceable commodity components; you only need
to know their ratings (3 or 4 numbers); there are loads of suppliers;
and there is no danger of them becoming unavailable.
2) Do you need to know the design of chips? Well, maybe. It depends
on how commoditized they are. 74xNN chips are ubiquitous; there
are free-licensed designs for them; and loads of substitutable
components -- so who cares? Use whichever brand is cheaper. But a
proprietary ASIC or CPU is something that can render a free-licensed
adapter design useless if that chip should be withdrawn from the
market.
So ... 'free hardware' is a selling point. But I also acknowledge that
a company needs to protect it's proprietary edge if it is investing in
card or chip production. There are a number of well-defined strategies
for implementing that balance though: license-delay schemes, proprietary
enhancements (but with a solid free-licensed reference design), etc.
Cheers,
Terry
--
Terry Hancock ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Anansi Spaceworks http://www.AnansiSpaceworks.com
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