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New Cye Support for Linux!

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the must-buy-a-cye-robot-to-vacuum-my-floors dept.

Brian Chemel wrote in to let us know that all the Cye Robot Map-n-Zap software, the interface, everything, is now being released under the GPL. This is fantastic news for anyone interested in robotics and Linux. Update: 01/24 05:30 by E : Hey, there's cool Java Open Source Cye stuff available at http://www.teambots.org. Rock on, guys.

2 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. IBM was waiting also by 348 · · Score: 3
    IBM was also waiting on this and are very much in favor of it on this and several other fronts. In an interview last week John Tompson was asked how this and other Linux centric and open source efforts play into IBM's strategic direction. He responded:

    "We've chosen to move all of our middleware to a Linux base. Notes, Domino, Websphere, MQ [Series] -- our entire line of middleware software has not only been ported to Linux, but exploits Linux. You'll see us continuing to invest in it."
     - IBM senior vice president John M. Thompson, who oversees IBM's $12.7 billion software business.

    I think this is a very positive step. Having big development houses like IBM and others brings a lot of money to the table for R&D along with co-branding, co-marketing and all the while Linux gets to ride along. Great stuff!

    Never knock on Death's door:

    --

    More race stuff in one place,
    than any one place on the net.

  2. Why we released our source code by ParagPA · · Score: 3

    Hello,
    A few comments on why we released our source code. First, it wasn't so we could lay off programmers. We only really have one full time software person, and there's no way we could afford to lose him. Second, it wasn't because the code was too big - we're handling it just fine right now, even with 1.2 people doing software. Part of that statement is true, though. We currently do not have the resources to do linux/Mac development. There are two options then, we can either ignore these communities, as we have been doing, or we can TRY to jump start something by giving away what we have developed, in the hopes that others will take an interest, and develop the software for other platforms, either based on our code, or something completely new, using our code as an example of what CAN be done.

    If this happens, do we profit from this? Of course we do. The best part of our job is that we get to build really cool devices, and promote their use. The second part is that we have to sell robots to survive. If our robot works on more platforms, we can sell more robots. So, this isn't a COMPLETELY altruistic decision, but in large part, we WANT others to be able to do cool things with our robots, because we love what we do, and we hope others will have fun with the fruits of our efforts.

    Comments/questions can be directed to:

    parag@personalrobots.com

    Parag