On Thursday 23 November 2006 17:35, Timothy Miller wrote: > On 11/23/06, Dieter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > The FreeVGA project mirrors are dead. the origional page is still > > > active (but for how long?), and no feedback form left working. He > > > states regarding copyright: > > > # The documentation may not be <snip>[mirrored]<snip> unless specific > > > permission is granted by the author. > > > > Does this seem strange to anyone? > > > > Is this yet another version of "free"? > > The OHF will set minimum standards for what it means to be "open > hardware" or whatever we decide to call it. Those who want to be > something different will remain in obscurity. Those who abuse our > terminology will get publically ridiculed.
Moving on from that... I know what I think OpenHardware means. But wheather that means the same to other people is a big question... And I do find myself with second & third thoughts regarding the matter. If no-one objects to the slightly OT question, I'd like to solicit opinions from people as to what THEY consider open hardware means... Some points I'd like to think about include... 1. Does an open (e.g. fully documented) register interface and instructions (mnemomnics and assembly) constitute as at least partially open hardware? This would include most microprocessors... And possibly be a contenscious issue with many people... 2. Or does open hardware to people mean you have to include the rights to copy at the HDL level? 3. Somewhere between... Where does closed firmware come into it? If the HDL is available, and the driver is available, what if most of the value add are in closed source firmware? Should a vendor be able to take open source hardware, add closed source firmware & use open source software for the driver? 4. Should the OHF define multiple levels of open? Or just one? TIA Hamish. _______________________________________________ Open-graphics mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)
