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Creative GPLs X-Fi Sound Card Driver Code

Posted by timothy on from the intelligent-move dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In a move that's a win for the free software community, Creative Labs has decided to release their binary Linux driver for the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi and X-Fi Titanium sound cards under the GPL license. This is coming after several failed attempts at delivering a working binary driver and years after these sound cards first hit the market."

14 of 369 comments (clear)

  1. At last! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is great news! With proper sound card driver support maybe 2009 will finally be the year of the Linux desktop!

    1. Re:At last! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The same kind that would require using REGEDIT on windows. Screw that troll, linux is as ready as any other consumer OS on the market. The consumer mass just been too much hammered into that win32 thinking shape.

    2. Re:At last! by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Honestly, being a casual Linux user, sound card support is not the defining factor holding back Linux adoption. While Ubuntu goes a long way to improving the user experience with Linux, even to get it to a 'standard' setup, I needed to use the console no less than 5 times. That's *needed* to, there was no GUI way to do what I was trying to do.

      While I personally have no problem doing that, I shudder at the idea of talking someone like my father through it. The day that I can combine Linux stability with ease of use... that will be the year of the Linux desktop. Driver integration and support goes a long way to doing that, and a flushed out menu system will put it over the top.

      I have come to disbelieve in the mystical power of the GUI. The GUI does not solve all problems. It can not provide radio buttons and check-marks for every situation. And it does not invoke a state of bliss for helping the wayward neophyte in a state of confusion. I accept that some will see this as heresy.

      Granted - I've long been a heretic. The command line is what ultimately turned me from Windows to Unix. But I understand that I am not a "normal user" and so I was willing to accept that GUIs are generally Good Ideas. And I still think they are; I used them in my Linux environment all the time for a lot of tasks. But there are times when it just doesn't work as well as a command line.

      This isn't a Linux concept. Various proprietary Unix environments have long straddled the fence between GUI and command line. And that includes today's most celebrated consumer Unix environment: MacOS X. Even Microsoft has given the command line increasing attention. And that's not even covering such dark arts as registry hacking.

      But wait! Most users never see a registry hack! Yet Linux must always resort to the command line. Right? Not in my experience.

      It's probably due to my particular interests - but I've always found a reason to dig in to the guts of a system. Either I'm doing something unique for my own use, cleaning up after having broken something, or cleaning up after someone else having broken something. And that's always required a registry editor or a command line (and sometimes a command line even when a GUI option was available as I just found it easier). And when I'm not doing something too out-of-the-ordinary, I've found the base Unbuntu install gives me a perfectly suitable environment. The clicky-clicky magic is baked right in. Here. Today.

      And when it doesn't? Its often a cruddy driver involved that trips up Ubuntu's autoconfig magic. That "driver integration" goes further than given credit for.

      That doesn't mean "Linux" can't use improvement. There's plenty of room for it. Cruddy drivers included.

    3. Re:At last! by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I agree with you. What bothers me is that I've seen this conversation about 50,000,000 times on this site:

      A: Linux isn't very good at Foobar.
      B: Windows is just as bad at Foobar!1!!!

      Notice how person B totally and completely changed the subject while simultaneously missing the point. The point isn't how good Windows is at it; in fact, the original poster didn't even *mention* Windows 90% of the time this conversation happens. The point is that Linux isn't very good at Foobar and should be better at Foobar.

      Mac OS X users don't constantly compare themselves to Windows; I could go on "macosxhints.com" and post, "wow, the interface for Spotlight in Finder sucks ass" and I won't get 47 replies that all read, "yeah, well, Windows search is worse!!11!." For some reason, the Linux community does that constantly. It's annoying, it should stop.

      It's logically impossible to build an OS better than Windows if you only work on problems until you're "as good as Windows" at them. If the Linux cared about making a usable, supported, real alternative OS, they wouldn't do this constant penis-measuring about Windows and they'd start working on it.

      End rant, sorry.

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    4. Re:At last! by X0563511 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How would someone afraid of the command line fix this kind of problem in Windows? If the user is the kind to be afraid of a command line, they are probably one of those users that need help when anything substantial goes wrong.

      I bet said user would end up asking for help from someone else.

      So, in light of that, how is it any different between Linux and Windows? Both have problems, and both can be a pain in the ass to fix.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  2. Finally by NuclearError · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I eagerly await any driver that is smaller and faster and takes up less resources than Creative's.

    --
    Nuclear engineers build weapons. Civil engineers build targets.
  3. Fucking awesome by IceCreamGuy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Maybe I'm a tool for having one of these cards (Ok, probably I'm a tool), but the giant amount of bullshit I have to go through to get it working in Ubuntu is really the only remaining things keeping me from booting into it more than a couple times a week. With the free Codeweavers SW and this in the pipeline, I can't imagine a need to boot into Windows too often anymore.

  4. Why is this even closed source in the first place? by badboy_tw2002 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously, what possible financial/business gain is there to have creative hide these things? Are they really worried about other companies stealing their driver ideas for their hardware? I know graphics drivers can potentially (or used to anyways) have a large amount of optimized code that could _maybe_ be beneficial to competitors, but sound cards?

  5. Re:Win? by pushing-robot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The summary is misleading. TFA says that the source is available on their web site.

    FWIW, you can't use the GPL if you don't make the source available.

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    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  6. Sweet! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I can play all those great games that got built on top of the open-source ID engines!

  7. Soundcards? by JustNiz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Perhaps this is a sign that Creative are fearing for their existence. I mean, with high quality onboard audio (7.1, dolby etc) now pretty much standard on even budget motherboards, aren't the days of buying a separate soundcard history now?

    Other than musicians perhaps, I can't think that anyone, even gamers/power users would still consider a separate soundcard as a 'required' upgrade, or even necessary at all.

    1. Re:Soundcards? by MostAwesomeDude · · Score: 5, Informative

      Musicians (like me) will buy better-quality hardware than Creative. :3

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      ~ C.
  8. Re:Why is this even closed source in the first pla by Kamokazi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just a shot in the dark, but maybe they had 3rd party stuff in the drivers and they couldnt legally GPL it...Dolby Digital, etc...and then they removed it now so they can? Just a guess.

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  9. Sound cards are irrelevant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not even gamers buy sound cards anymore. I bet Creative's sound card business is small fries compared to their consumer electronics business.