-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Le Vendredi 14 Février 2003 10:56, vous avez écrit : > > Just a few words. I'm not involved in the driver development at all, > > but I think that it would be important to insist on the "overall reason" > > first thing, stating that there are many *nix users, and since _they_ > > (thomson) claim that *nix is supported but don't provide a driver, it > > would be well to provide some information. And as the speedtouch.sf.net > > project has been very successfull, they can trust this information will > > be used wisely, etc... I think the first people who will read your email > > will _not_ be technical people, so insisting on the technical details may > > be a mistake. (even if the technical details have to be there too) > > OK, let me just point out that Alcatel did/does provide a driver, written > by Johan Verrept when he was at Alcatel. It is usually referred to as the > kernel mode driver since it uses a kernel module, see > http://www.linux-usb.org/SpeedTouch/ This kernel module was always open > source, but the program used to upload the firmware (called speedmgmt, > equivalent to modem_run) and the firmware itself is closed source. You > have to download the closed source stuff from Alcatel/Thomson. The kernel > module was slowly bit-rotting since Johan didn't do any work on it in the > last few years. Also it crashed a lot, didn't work with SMP machines, or > with preempt, and didn't work with the speedtouch 330. For me, the need to > use run the closed source speedmgmt program was a big turn off as well. > Interestingly, when you ask Thomson about linux drivers they no longer > point you to the web page for the kernel mode driver, they point you to the > web page for Benoit's user mode driver, the one this mailing list > discusses. > > All that to say that they do/did provide a driver, but they no longer > recommend it themselves! > > Now for an interesting developement: late last year, the kernel mode driver > went into the 2.5 kernel (Richard Purdie submitted it, and Greg > Kroah-Hartman, the USB king, accepted it). In Decembre, Johan Verrept > announced that he no longer wished to be the maintainer of the driver, and > that he was happy for some else to take over the job. I am now the > maintainer of the kernel mode driver. Almost all bugs have been fixed in > the CVS version, so it should now: crash little, work with SMP machines and > preempt (though the kernel's ATM layer has some SMP problems), and work > with the speedtouch 330. Also, there is no longer any need to use the > closed source speedmgmt, since modem_run with the new -k switch does the > job fine. The driver will go into one of the upcoming 2.4 kernels (Greg KH > already suggested this). > > So this means that now even Alcatel's own driver is being entirely > maintained by the open source community with no input from Alcatel's > people. So the least they can do is provide us with some documentation to > smooth off the rough spots! After all, the drivers are being provided at > zero cost to themselves. The speedtouch USB is also at the end of it's > life-cycle (being replaced by the speedtouch 330), so releasing specs for > it should not help their competitors. > > I can see three possibilities: > (1) they refuse to release the specs > (2) they release the specs to a limited group of developers > (3) they release the specs publically. > > Is (2) acceptable? > > All the best, > > Duncan.
interesting post. Why do you want the specs ? drivers now works fine and i can't see how specs will help you to improve the existing stuff. The only thing i see is to have full opensource drivers including the microcode. It seems that Ian Molton is working on it. > > > Liste de diffusion modem ALCATEL SpeedTouch USB > Pour se d�inscrire : > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=unsubscribe - -- Matthieu Foillard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> tel : 0146090496 - gsm : 0686574170 pgp : 0x1609654F -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE+TN9mk3guvBYJZU8RAgI8AKC6Py0IYG6cr4XYkdJ5AMy/peLCbgCfRI7l yBQW6YMD1SkZ1MRFZia/9qs= =On49 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Liste de diffusion modem ALCATEL SpeedTouch USB Pour se d�sinscrire : mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=unsubscribe
