On Tuesday 09 January 2007 20:01, Hamie wrote: > On Tuesday 09 January 2007 11:10, Lourens Veen wrote: > > On Tuesday 09 January 2007 11:38, Hamie wrote: > > > The way I see Open Hardware is > > > > > > * The freedom to use the hardware, for any purpose (freedom 0). > > > * The freedom to study how the hardware works, and adapt it to > > > your needs (freedom 1). Access to the register level > > > documentation and interface timing information is a precondition > > > for this. > > > > How would you adapt the hardware having only register level > > documentation? You would need more than only the outside interface; > > you'd need board schematics for example to be able to replace > > broken parts. > > If you have the interface timing you have pretty much all you need. > Perhaps I should have said pin descriptions as well. But I was > thinking at the chip level. Not board level as a whole.
Then you can't adapt the hardware at all. Well I suppose you could cut off an unused pin, but I don't think we should be worrying about that. > > > * The freedom to redistribute copies of documentation so you can > > > help your neighbor (freedom 2). > > > > Help your neighbour doing what? Use his own hardware maybe, but > > that's covered under freedom 0 already. > > I've seen/heard of agreements that would stop you talking to anyone > who hadn't made the pledge as well... Hmm... Info on games consoles > used to be like that didn't it? (It seems to be more open now, but > still fairly tight & you still can't do with it what you like & then > help someone else to do the same thing). Yeah, NDAs. They're quite common. But the point of freedom 2 for software is that you can copy the hardware. > > > * The freedom to improve the hardware, and release your > > > improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits > > > (freedom 3). Access to the register level documentation and > > > interface timing information is a precondition for this. > > > > And again, you need more than that. > > Maybe we differ in what I mean by register & interface... For > instance the phillips TDA7033 (FM Decoder)... That would pretty much > qualify, because you can buy it (In theory, I'm not sure I've found a > source for quantity of 1 anywhere though), and the doc savailable > describe the registers & pinout with timing interface. Sufficient to > build a board with it. > > That pretty much describes what we'd like to see for hardware in the > computer world... No? Yes, and that is what the FSF would like as well. But I think that this is all the same single freedom. The freedom to use the hardware, for any purpose (freedom 0). Freely available documentation is a precondition for this. > > > Looks fairly similiar to what was in the previous messages about > > > free software really. But it's the Interface (Register and > > > timings) that are important. Not the arrangement of transistors > > > in the package. (This may be an important point for some > > > people... I think it enables proprietary hardware that simply has > > > a Free & Open interface.. > > > > But these (documented and use-for-any-purpose, and Free design) are > > two separate things, and you are conflating them. > > No, I know they're two separate & very different things... However, I > don't think free design is mandatory... But documented & > use-for-any-purpose is very important. (Not to say free design isn't > nice, but unless you're talking something able to be implemented on > an ASIC [assuming you're talking chip or chipset], it's pretty much > useless to the average person because who's got the money to build a > custom chip, or even ASIC... That's fine, so you're supporting Open Standards Compliant/Free Documentation/Free Software Compatible or whatever we'll call it hardware. That's fine. But it has nothing to do with modifying the hardware, only with use Lourens
pgpuZPShoxiAL.pgp
Description: PGP signature
_______________________________________________ Open-graphics mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)
