From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S265625AbUEZPt0 (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 May 2004 11:49:26 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S265626AbUEZPt0 (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 May 2004 11:49:26 -0400 Received: from fw.osdl.org ([65.172.181.6]:60582 "EHLO mail.osdl.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S265625AbUEZPtY (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 May 2004 11:49:24 -0400 Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 08:38:59 -0700 From: "Randy.Dunlap" To: Zenaan Harkness Cc: debian-devel@lists.debian.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: drivers DB and id/ info registration Message-Id: <20040526083859.418e42fa.rddunlap@osdl.org> In-Reply-To: <1085573236.2213.77.camel@zen8100a.freedbms.net> References: <1085542706.2908.25.camel@zen8100a.freedbms.net> <20040526065447.GA32304@dat.etsit.upm.es> <200405260918.51589@fortytwo.ch> <1085566079.2522.54.camel@zen8100a.freedbms.net> <1085571316.906.3.camel@localhost> <1085573236.2213.77.camel@zen8100a.freedbms.net> Organization: OSDL X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 0.9.10 (GTK+ 1.2.10; i686-pc-linux-gnu) X-Face: +5V?h'hZQPB9kW Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Wed, 26 May 2004 22:07:17 +1000 Zenaan Harkness wrote: | On Wed, 2004-05-26 at 21:35, Wouter Verhelst wrote: | > Op wo 26-05-2004, om 12:07 schreef Zenaan Harkness: | > > I develop widget X. | > > | > > I contact microsoft and have X incorporated into windows. I think that most companies do it themselves (or pay to have it done) for Windows drivers, if their devices don't fit into some well-known interface. For Linux drivers, it means finding the right group/project, if it exists... Could be hard to find at times. | > Rotfl. | | OK, bad assumption. | | The only reason I say that is that so many devices work | "seamlessly" with MSW* | | - recently I read a review on the X-Arcade retro joystick | controllers (those heavy "for cabinets and MAME" things). | The reviewer just plugged it in and Windows literally popped | up with a dialog telling the "end user recognizable" name of | the device. | | - a year or so back, my brother bought a "blue eye" USB | external 2.5" HDD (really nice looking thing) and on his | XP box it auto added a new drive (E: or whatever). Seamless. | | So how come devices tend to just plug and play when | used with Windows (USB HDDs, audi cards, logitec gear)? | | Will a "visible"/ centralized location where manufacturers | can submit info on their devices (for free software kernels) | help to get us closer to the "front line" of device support? I hear this way too much, for 2 reasons. (a) You are right, we want to get to that model in Linux. (b) The thing that bugs me (I guess) and that people seem to overlook again and again is that Linux developers are not provided the same access to hardware interface specs that other driver developers have. That leaves reverse engineering or trial-and-error (mostly error). That's an awful way to write a driver IMO. So to me it's just a specs issue, and many companies won't or cannot provide product specs (often because they don't own the IP inside the product, sometimes because they _assume_ that it might aid their competition). -- ~Randy