RE: [Alsa-devel] Lynx AES16 driver
On 19-Jan-2004 Michal Kostrzewa wrote: Hello, Please help me in that license related case: I want to write a Lynx AES16 (http://www.lynxstudio.com/aes16.html) ALSA driver (I'm from Warsaw University of Technology and we want to use this card in our investigations). I wrote to Lynxstudio, and I received an answer that driver related specs are accessible under terms of Non-Disclosure Agreement which doesn't allow distribution of source code or any derived materials thus preventing development of ALSA driver as ALSA drivers are open source. Yes, I got the same answer when I asked about the LynxTwo. My question is: has an ALSA driver to be an open source? Yes, otherwise you have to release binary drivers for each ALSA version, kernel version, compiler, architecture. It's impossible. On www.alsa-project.org there is a sentence: ALSA is released under the GPL (GNU General Public license) and the LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License). (please note the LGPL). I understand, that there can be a driver distributed in binary form (e.g in fact firmware needed to run hdsp are distributed in binary form), GPL means that you cannot close the ALSA core framework. If you split your driver in two parts: one (GPL) that interfaces with ALSA and the real driver (non-GPL). There are many examples. eg. The ToucamPro webcam driver, Nvidia drivers and my driver for Echoaudio soundcards. Is this whole situation hopeless? Have I any arguments to use in the discussion with Lynxstudio? Yep :( They don't like the invasive GPL. I can't understand those people. We are speaking about a *driver*. The card is the product they sell. Customers don't buy the card because they need to use the driver. -- Giuliano. --- The SF.Net email is sponsored by EclipseCon 2004 Premiere Conference on Open Tools Development and Integration See the breadth of Eclipse activity. February 3-5 in Anaheim, CA. http://www.eclipsecon.org/osdn ___ Alsa-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-devel
Re: [Alsa-devel] Lynx AES16 driver
On Tue, Jan 20, 2004 at 09:40:36AM +0100, Giuliano Pochini wrote: Yep :( They don't like the invasive GPL. I can't understand those people. We are speaking about a *driver*. The card is the product they sell. Customers don't buy the card because they need to use the driver. Huh? I don't know about you, but certainly won't buy a card if I can't get drivers for it. -- Glenn Maynard --- The SF.Net email is sponsored by EclipseCon 2004 Premiere Conference on Open Tools Development and Integration See the breadth of Eclipse activity. February 3-5 in Anaheim, CA. http://www.eclipsecon.org/osdn ___ Alsa-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-devel
Re: [Alsa-devel] Lynx AES16 driver
Have I any arguments to use in the discussion with Lynxstudio? Tell them you will use some other vendor instead, and that if they believe there is anything about their card which needs hiding in software, they are likely mistaken. If they want to protect IP, use patents for that -- not hiding in drivers. I wish I could! But no other PCI card I've found so far has 192kHz AES/EBU IO I need for linking it to dCS converters we have in studio on our University. Perhaps you know any alternatives with linux support? (I posted this question on Linux Audio User list but found no satisfactionary answers). Or even without linux support but with more linux-friendly manufacturer? best regards, Michal Kostrzewa --- The SF.Net email is sponsored by EclipseCon 2004 Premiere Conference on Open Tools Development and Integration See the breadth of Eclipse activity. February 3-5 in Anaheim, CA. http://www.eclipsecon.org/osdn ___ Alsa-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-devel
[Alsa-devel] Lynx AES16 driver
Hello, Please help me in that license related case: I want to write a Lynx AES16 (http://www.lynxstudio.com/aes16.html) ALSA driver (I'm from Warsaw University of Technology and we want to use this card in our investigations). I wrote to Lynxstudio, and I received an answer that driver related specs are accessible under terms of Non-Disclosure Agreement which doesn't allow distribution of source code or any derived materials thus preventing development of ALSA driver as ALSA drivers are open source. My question is: has an ALSA driver to be an open source? On www.alsa-project.org there is a sentence: ALSA is released under the GPL (GNU General Public license) and the LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License). (please note the LGPL). I understand, that there can be a driver distributed in binary form (e.g in fact firmware needed to run hdsp are distributed in binary form), GPL means that you cannot close the ALSA core framework. Is this whole situation hopeless? Have I any arguments to use in the discussion with Lynxstudio? Thank you in advance and best regards, Michal Kostrzewa --- The SF.Net email is sponsored by EclipseCon 2004 Premiere Conference on Open Tools Development and Integration See the breadth of Eclipse activity. February 3-5 in Anaheim, CA. http://www.eclipsecon.org/osdn ___ Alsa-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-devel
Re: [Alsa-devel] Lynx AES16 driver
On Mon, 19 Jan 2004, Michal Kostrzewa wrote: Is this whole situation hopeless? Yes. Have I any arguments to use in the discussion with Lynxstudio? Tell them you will use some other vendor instead, and that if they believe there is anything about their card which needs hiding in software, they are likely mistaken. If they want to protect IP, use patents for that -- not hiding in drivers. -Dan --- The SF.Net email is sponsored by EclipseCon 2004 Premiere Conference on Open Tools Development and Integration See the breadth of Eclipse activity. February 3-5 in Anaheim, CA. http://www.eclipsecon.org/osdn ___ Alsa-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-devel
