Re: {Spam?} Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-02 Thread Hemmann, Volker Armin
On Mittwoch, 2. Januar 2008, Neil Walker wrote:
 Hemmann, Volker Armin wrote:
  no, 'online petitions' are a worthless waste of time.

 Not true. Here is just one recent example:

 http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page13090.asp

completly different things. The BBC is a state funded operation. Nvidia a 
privatly owned company.

And look at the huge piles of petitions nobody cares about. One out of 
hundreds of thousands worked - maybe.
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Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-02 Thread Hemmann, Volker Armin
On Mittwoch, 2. Januar 2008, Jesús Guerrero wrote:
 On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 19:51:36 +0100

 Hemmann, Volker Armin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  On Montag, 31. Dezember 2007, Enrico Weigelt wrote:
   Hi folks,
  
  
   I'd just want to let you know there's an petition to NV on
   opening their driver code (or at least specs) to the free world:
  
   * http://www.petitiononline.com/nvfoss/
 
  no, 'online petitions' are a worthless waste of time. They are like a
  fart in the wind - just worse. They are like farting and then tell
  everybody that you have farted. You are just angry that your beloved, but
  maybe crappy hardware does not work with a driver that is pretty old by
  now.

 Not true. It is true that a petition by itself will not do anything,
 but it serves another purposes. Any joining effort demonstrates that
 people actually care about a problem. And, by the way, if you fart,
 the less you can do is to be honest, and not blame anyone else while
 you are the only guilty.

believe me, all the guys constantly whining around on nvnews have shown nvidia 
already that there are people who care about this.


 This is not about old or new hardware, this is about getting a free
 driver, and that, as linux users, is something that would benefit
 everyone in this list. You don't seem to understand what this is
 about at all.

it is not about a free driver, it is about a stupid petition. If you want free 
drivers, support nouveau or write a polite letter to nvidia.


   Please sign the petition and spread around this link.
 
  Please don't spam.

 We could argue if this topic is valid for the list or not, that is
 debatable, but everything you wrote above this last sentence is pure
 spam. Far more spammy than the post of the original poster. And, in
 turn, you generated a need for additional responses, like the one from
 Neil Walker and this one that I am writing right now.

this topic and the 'support nouveau' has shown up on this list in the past AND 
every linux site out there SEVERAL times. So yes, it is spam. And asking 
people to spam other lists, makes it worse.


 Thing that could have been avoided if you just posted something in
 the lines of Isn't this offtopic?, and nothing more.

Maybe you should have taken your own medicine? Not reacting at all to reduce 
noise? No?


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Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-02 Thread Jesús Guerrero
On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 15:58:53 +0100
Hemmann, Volker Armin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 
 Maybe you should have taken your own medicine? Not reacting at all to reduce 
 noise? No?
 
 
 -- 
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
 
Maybe you are far more rude than me, but you are right in one thing:
I should have never answered to your initial post.

Bye.

-- 
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RE: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-02 Thread Marzan, Richard non Unisys
 -Original Message-
 From: Hemmann, Volker Armin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 9:59 AM
 To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org
 Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for
 open/free drivers
 
 On Mittwoch, 2. Januar 2008, Jesús Guerrero wrote:
  On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 19:51:36 +0100
 
  Hemmann, Volker Armin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
   On Montag, 31. Dezember 2007, Enrico Weigelt wrote:
Hi folks,
   
   
I'd just want to let you know there's an petition to NV on
opening their driver code (or at least specs) to the free world:
   
* http://www.petitiononline.com/nvfoss/
  
   no, 'online petitions' are a worthless waste of time. They are like a
   fart in the wind - just worse. They are like farting and then tell
   everybody that you have farted. You are just angry that your beloved,
 but
   maybe crappy hardware does not work with a driver that is pretty old
 by
   now.
 
  Not true. It is true that a petition by itself will not do anything,
  but it serves another purposes. Any joining effort demonstrates that
  people actually care about a problem. And, by the way, if you fart,
  the less you can do is to be honest, and not blame anyone else while
  you are the only guilty.
 
 believe me, all the guys constantly whining around on nvnews have shown
 nvidia
 already that there are people who care about this.
 
 
  This is not about old or new hardware, this is about getting a free
  driver, and that, as linux users, is something that would benefit
  everyone in this list. You don't seem to understand what this is
  about at all.
 
 it is not about a free driver, it is about a stupid petition. If you want
 free
 drivers, support nouveau or write a polite letter to nvidia.
 
 
Please sign the petition and spread around this link.
  
   Please don't spam.
 
  We could argue if this topic is valid for the list or not, that is
  debatable, but everything you wrote above this last sentence is pure
  spam. Far more spammy than the post of the original poster. And, in
  turn, you generated a need for additional responses, like the one from
  Neil Walker and this one that I am writing right now.
 
 this topic and the 'support nouveau' has shown up on this list in the past
 AND
 every linux site out there SEVERAL times. So yes, it is spam. And asking
 people to spam other lists, makes it worse.
 
 
  Thing that could have been avoided if you just posted something in
  the lines of Isn't this offtopic?, and nothing more.
 
 Maybe you should have taken your own medicine? Not reacting at all to
 reduce
 noise? No?
 
 
 --
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list


Keeping in mind that this petition probably might not work, I think it's a good 
idea to let Nvidia know how many people are interested in having free drivers. 
This might lead them to release information on how to write drivers for their 
hardware. I'm sick of sending polite letters to Nvidia. They are not going to 
give much thought to individuals sending polite letters. Not many people like 
to duke it out with corporations on their own -- It is better to do it as a 
group. Maybe all the spam they receive will get them to change their minds 
about freeing their software or at least specific information of how to write 
the free drivers. It is they after all that probably have to spend less money 
on coders if the software goes free.   
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Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-02 Thread Neil Bothwick
On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 11:33:36 -0600, Marzan, Richard non Unisys wrote:

 Keeping in mind that this petition probably might not work, I think
 it's a good idea to let Nvidia know how many people are interested in
 having free drivers. This might lead them to release information on how
 to write drivers for their hardware.

The problem with this is that Nvidia license non-free code for use in
their drivers. They are not allowed to distribute the source, or other
information about the code, so they have two choices for Linux drivers:
release binary drivers or release open drivers with the code removed and
have everyone complain how the Linux drivers are slower or less capable
than the Windows ones.

Damned if they do and damned if they don't :(


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Wrappers are futile. Chocolate will be assimilated.


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Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-02 Thread Graham Murray
Neil Bothwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 The problem with this is that Nvidia license non-free code for use in
 their drivers. They are not allowed to distribute the source, or other
 information about the code, so they have two choices for Linux drivers:
 release binary drivers or release open drivers with the code removed and
 have everyone complain how the Linux drivers are slower or less capable
 than the Windows ones.

Choice 3: Release the hardware interface specification so that the Linux
community can write a free 'xorg' driver.
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Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-02 Thread Enrico Weigelt
* Neil Bothwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 11:33:36 -0600, Marzan, Richard non Unisys wrote:
 
  Keeping in mind that this petition probably might not work, I think
  it's a good idea to let Nvidia know how many people are interested in
  having free drivers. This might lead them to release information on how
  to write drivers for their hardware.
 
 The problem with this is that Nvidia license non-free code for use in
 their drivers. They are not allowed to distribute the source, or other
 information about the code, so they have two choices for Linux drivers:

They could rewrite it step by step and release the rewritten parts 
to the community. At least the kernel module, it doesn't seem to be 
that complex (compared with the open code around it). 

cu
-- 
-
 Enrico Weigelt==   metux IT service - http://www.metux.de/
-
 Please visit the OpenSource QM Taskforce:
http://wiki.metux.de/public/OpenSource_QM_Taskforce
 Patches / Fixes for a lot dozens of packages in dozens of versions:
http://patches.metux.de/
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RE: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-02 Thread Marzan, Richard non Unisys
 -Original Message-
 From: Enrico Weigelt [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 4:00 PM
 To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org
 Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for
 open/free drivers
 
 * Neil Bothwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 11:33:36 -0600, Marzan, Richard non Unisys wrote:
 
   Keeping in mind that this petition probably might not work, I
think
   it's a good idea to let Nvidia know how many people are interested
in
   having free drivers. This might lead them to release information
on
 how
   to write drivers for their hardware.
 
  The problem with this is that Nvidia license non-free code for use
in
  their drivers. They are not allowed to distribute the source, or
other
  information about the code, so they have two choices for Linux
drivers:
 
 They could rewrite it step by step and release the rewritten parts
 to the community. At least the kernel module, it doesn't seem to be
 that complex (compared with the open code around it).
 
 cu
 --
 -
  Enrico Weigelt==   metux IT service - http://www.metux.de/
 -
  Please visit the OpenSource QM Taskforce:
   http://wiki.metux.de/public/OpenSource_QM_Taskforce
  Patches / Fixes for a lot dozens of packages in dozens of versions:
   http://patches.metux.de/
 -
 --
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list


It's ridiculous. I don't see how they will lose by providing documents
on how to write drivers for their hardware. This is a simple solution
that would not even involve them if they just gave us the specs. They
have nothing to gain but disgruntled customers by locking people out of
things they own.
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Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-02 Thread Neil Bothwick
On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 22:00:07 +0100, Enrico Weigelt wrote:

  The problem with this is that Nvidia license non-free code for use in
  their drivers. They are not allowed to distribute the source, or other
  information about the code, so they have two choices for Linux
  drivers:  
 
 They could rewrite it step by step and release the rewritten parts 
 to the community.

No they couldn't, at least not without ensuring that no one working on
the new code has seen any of the licensed code. So they need to pay a
separate team of developers to develop an alternative to something
they've already paid for. Can you see them going for that?

Such a task is better undertaken by people outside of Nvidia, but if it
was that simple it would have been done already.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Windows: just another pane in the glass
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Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-02 Thread Hemmann, Volker Armin
On Mittwoch, 2. Januar 2008, Marzan, Richard non Unisys wrote:
  -Original Message-
  From: Enrico Weigelt [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 4:00 PM
  To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org
  Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for
  open/free drivers
 
  * Neil Bothwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
   On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 11:33:36 -0600, Marzan, Richard non Unisys wrote:
Keeping in mind that this petition probably might not work, I

 think

it's a good idea to let Nvidia know how many people are interested

 in

having free drivers. This might lead them to release information

 on

  how
 
to write drivers for their hardware.
  
   The problem with this is that Nvidia license non-free code for use

 in

   their drivers. They are not allowed to distribute the source, or

 other

   information about the code, so they have two choices for Linux

 drivers:
  They could rewrite it step by step and release the rewritten parts
  to the community. At least the kernel module, it doesn't seem to be
  that complex (compared with the open code around it).
 
  cu
  --
  -
   Enrico Weigelt==   metux IT service - http://www.metux.de/
  -
   Please visit the OpenSource QM Taskforce:
  http://wiki.metux.de/public/OpenSource_QM_Taskforce
   Patches / Fixes for a lot dozens of packages in dozens of versions:
  http://patches.metux.de/
  -
  --
  [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list

 It's ridiculous. I don't see how they will lose by providing documents
 on how to write drivers for their hardware. This is a simple solution
 that would not even involve them if they just gave us the specs. They
 have nothing to gain but disgruntled customers by locking people out of
 things they own.

not the hardware specs are important, the errata are important. Just ask the 
guys who wrote the open radeon drivers back then. They fighted with a lot of 
bugs, hardware bugs, that were never mentioned in 'the specs'.

And if you have enough foreign IP in your hardware you can not just open the 
documentation. You might want to ask a lawyer about it. Since you have an 
unisys adress it should be easy for you to find one who might want to explain 
to you the finer details of 'licence agreements' and all the traps and 
problems around them.
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RE: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-02 Thread bjlockie
 -Original Message-
 From: Enrico Weigelt [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 4:00 PM
 To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org
 Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for
 open/free drivers

 * Neil Bothwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 11:33:36 -0600, Marzan, Richard non Unisys wrote:
 
   Keeping in mind that this petition probably might not work, I
 think
   it's a good idea to let Nvidia know how many people are interested
 in
   having free drivers. This might lead them to release information
 on
 how
   to write drivers for their hardware.
 
  The problem with this is that Nvidia license non-free code for use
 in
  their drivers. They are not allowed to distribute the source, or
 other
  information about the code, so they have two choices for Linux
 drivers:

 They could rewrite it step by step and release the rewritten parts
 to the community. At least the kernel module, it doesn't seem to be
 that complex (compared with the open code around it).

 cu
 --
 -
  Enrico Weigelt==   metux IT service - http://www.metux.de/
 -
  Please visit the OpenSource QM Taskforce:
  http://wiki.metux.de/public/OpenSource_QM_Taskforce
  Patches / Fixes for a lot dozens of packages in dozens of versions:
  http://patches.metux.de/
 -
 --
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list

They want to protect their intellectual property.
They paid for RD and they don't want to give that investment away.


-- 
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Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-01 Thread Hemmann, Volker Armin
On Montag, 31. Dezember 2007, Enrico Weigelt wrote:
 Hi folks,


 I'd just want to let you know there's an petition to NV on
 opening their driver code (or at least specs) to the free world:

 * http://www.petitiononline.com/nvfoss/

no, 'online petitions' are a worthless waste of time. They are like a fart in 
the wind - just worse. They are like farting and then tell everybody that you 
have farted. You are just angry that your beloved, but maybe crappy hardware 
does not work with a driver that is pretty old by now.


 Please sign the petition and spread around this link.

Please don't spam.
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{Spam?} Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-01 Thread Neil Walker

Hemmann, Volker Armin wrote:

no, 'online petitions' are a worthless waste of time.


Not true. Here is just one recent example:

http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page13090.asp



Be lucky,

Neil



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dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
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Re: [gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2008-01-01 Thread Jesús Guerrero
On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 19:51:36 +0100
Hemmann, Volker Armin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 On Montag, 31. Dezember 2007, Enrico Weigelt wrote:
  Hi folks,
 
 
  I'd just want to let you know there's an petition to NV on
  opening their driver code (or at least specs) to the free world:
 
  * http://www.petitiononline.com/nvfoss/
 
 no, 'online petitions' are a worthless waste of time. They are like a fart in 
 the wind - just worse. They are like farting and then tell everybody that you 
 have farted. You are just angry that your beloved, but maybe crappy hardware 
 does not work with a driver that is pretty old by now.

Not true. It is true that a petition by itself will not do anything,
but it serves another purposes. Any joining effort demonstrates that
people actually care about a problem. And, by the way, if you fart,
the less you can do is to be honest, and not blame anyone else while
you are the only guilty.

This is not about old or new hardware, this is about getting a free
driver, and that, as linux users, is something that would benefit
everyone in this list. You don't seem to understand what this is
about at all.

 
  Please sign the petition and spread around this link.
 
 Please don't spam.

We could argue if this topic is valid for the list or not, that is
debatable, but everything you wrote above this last sentence is pure
spam. Far more spammy than the post of the original poster. And, in
turn, you generated a need for additional responses, like the one from
Neil Walker and this one that I am writing right now.

Thing that could have been avoided if you just posted something in
the lines of Isn't this offtopic?, and nothing more.

Regards.
-- 
Jesús Guerrero [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
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[gentoo-user] Nvidia users: please sign petition for open/free drivers

2007-12-31 Thread Enrico Weigelt

Hi folks,


I'd just want to let you know there's an petition to NV on 
opening their driver code (or at least specs) to the free world:

* http://www.petitiononline.com/nvfoss/

Please sign the petition and spread around this link.

cu 
-- 
-
 Enrico Weigelt==   metux IT service - http://www.metux.de/
-
 Please visit the OpenSource QM Taskforce:
http://wiki.metux.de/public/OpenSource_QM_Taskforce
 Patches / Fixes for a lot dozens of packages in dozens of versions:
http://patches.metux.de/
-
-- 
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