What will happen to me, and to the source code, if I were to slyly release the source code for the driver under the GPL license?:)
You couldn't release "stolen" code under any licencse, it's not your's to licencse. I also expect your employers would notice, and you'd loose your job. Is it worth it? Not IMHO.
Many distributions have strict policies against including binary only programs/drivers. Making it binary only means it won't be included in (at least) the standard kernel, Red Hat, Debian and Mandrake.
That hardly matters. If you have the hardware, you'll have the drivers. If you don't have the hardware, you don't need the drivers. The drivers don't need to be on a distro.
If they're kernel modules (which a lot of drivers are), they'll need to be updated every time you want to use a different kernel. It'll be a lot of work for the company to keep track of all new kernels, even if they support only the kernels released by the major distributions.
Granted. This is just being discussed a little further above this post.
Linux is not the only OS around. Open-sourced drivers can be ported to *BSD
True, but then you can't have it all. In theory, Windows drivers would contain enough information to write a functioning Linux driver, but you can't because the drivers and Open Source. I have yet to see anyone complain about Windows drivers not comming with source so they can port them to $OS.
A kernel driver can crash the entire system. If it's binary only, it can't be fixed by the community.
True. But then if a company is releasing the driver as an "offical" driver for it's hardware, it should already be stable and functional. If it isn't, then they have to fix it. This has been the case on Windows and other OS's for quiet some time. If the driver stinks, don't buy the hardware; you wouldn't use a peice of software that doesn't work, so why hardware?
In the end, theirs very little reason why a company can't just release binary drivers for a product, apart from the screaming zealots. Oh well.
Ahhh, don't you just love the Closed-Mind Collectiveness of it all? Why not just provide a standard, external, API for binary drivers? Noone is forcing them to use it, they can still carry on using the current "internal" ("Compiled in"?) method for Open Source/Kernel drivers.
I don't see what the motivation is behind their refusal...But as you say, it's their ball.
Then this is a problem that needs to be addressed by the Kernal devlopers. If a standard API existed with a fixed specification, there shouldn't be any trouble using a binary driver across diferent versions of the Kernal. A lot of other OS's manage this, so why not Linux?
in the UK we have 0800 and 0500, if I remember correctly
Thats changed now (As another poster pointed out.) We now have 0800 and 0808 for Freephone numbers. The 08xx numbers also cover Local and National rate numbers under the new system.
Noticed he slipped "post-Columbine" in there as well...
Yeah, i thought that was quiet sneaky of him. I cringed when i came across it though:)
I also thought it was a sneaky way of getting some Jon Katz text past the people who have Katz stories hidden...will they never learn that Katz is everywhere?;)
Easiest way to browse at -2 is to goto the URL for the article (In your brosser), find the bit that says &threshold=-1 and change it &threshold=-2, then hit enter (Or reload), and you may find some -2 posts in the thread. Chances are, you won't though:)
Bah, forget all that fancy-smancy hi-tech stuff. Why not just crack your disk open and apply a nice, hot, blowtorch flame to the entire surface for a good half an hour? Or even better, if you have access to a furnace, stick your disk platters in there. I'd like to see someone read my old data when all the have is a molten blob of slag:)
Nope, still won't work quiet right. The Rawhide RPM's you're trying just won't install on anything but Rawhide, as far as i can tell.
You've got as far as the RPM version error message. I got as far as actually trying the Rawhide rpm binary with the Xfree4.0.1 RPM's...and there are a load of failed depencies that not even --nodeps will fix.
I've also tried the straight XFree4.0.1 binary tarballs with their installer, and it will, sortof, work. The biggest problem i had was that xdm didn't work with the new version of X, which meant i lost my graphical login. Which sucked.
But provided you don't use xdm (The graphical login), you should be able to uninstall the XFree3.3.x RPM's and then install the XFree4.0.1 binaries from a tarball.
Or, do as i plan to do, and change to a decent distro;)
You know, theres another OS out there right now that was designed for this very job. It's small, it's stable, it's designed for an embedded system. It has all the applications you list. It's called PalmOS (Or even WinCE if you so wish)
What?!? You mean you don't want to run a fully fledged, POSIX compliant, Unix-a-like Operating System on your mobile phone? Just think of the benefits: You can Telnet to your mobile! install GCC and code (Slogan: "It's smaller than a laptop!") Or you can go all fancy, install X, and use Netscape to browse fully graphical web pages!
Seriously, i gotta agree. Linux would hardly be my choice for an embeded device, let alone a consumer embeded device like a mobile phone. When will people learn, "The right tool for the job"?
Sadly, the Ruling Monarch has a lot of very severe powers which she can inact against Parliment. You give one example above. This even happened in the 70's when Parliment was hung.
The Queen also has the power to disolve Parliment, almost at any time as they see fit. The Queen also has the last say on all new laws, and can in theory reject a law for an reason (Perhaps she's had a bad day at the races, for example.)
You thought you lived in a Democracy? Nah mate, we're all Royal subjects!
Re:I know exactly what it means
on
The CPO Cometh
·
· Score: 1
Exactly, the CPO works for the company who owns the data. Why should he attempt to protect the data if it's in the companies best interests not to protect it? Whats to stop a company drawing up a long list of "exceptions"?
In short, how well will self regulation work in this instance?
Redhat are using XFree V4.0.1 in the unstable "Rawhide" tree at the moment, but nothing for 6.x trees. Which is a pain, becauase i still havn't found a way to get xdm working properly under Redhat 6.1 with Xfree V4.0.1. Oh well.
Have you never watched the Simpsons? Tapping this sort of Can & String communications protocol is far too easy, it's how Millhouse was found when he ran away from filming the Radioactive Man film.:)
Re:Could someone explain the benefits of WAP?!?
on
WAP Under Fire
·
· Score: 1
Well, some people might not like it when I burst into their house at 3 AM to check my email;-)
Really? I wondered why i keep hearing sirens just after i've finished checking my email.
Re:Of course! It's the acronym.
on
WAP Under Fire
·
· Score: 1
How about:
Generates Nothing Useful Generally Never Usable Got No Understanding
Just a bit OT, but you may be interested to know that the latest release of Wine added calls and entry points for some Windows 1.1 & 2.0 functions! Now that's some backward compatibility!
Slashdot Mirror
What will happen to me, and to the source code, if I were to slyly release the source code for the driver under the GPL license? :)
You couldn't release "stolen" code under any licencse, it's not your's to licencse. I also expect your employers would notice, and you'd loose your job. Is it worth it? Not IMHO.
Many distributions have strict policies against including binary only programs/drivers. Making it binary only means it won't be included in (at least) the standard kernel, Red Hat, Debian and Mandrake.
That hardly matters. If you have the hardware, you'll have the drivers. If you don't have the hardware, you don't need the drivers. The drivers don't need to be on a distro.
If they're kernel modules (which a lot of drivers are), they'll need to be updated every time you want to use a different kernel. It'll be a lot of work for the company to keep track of all new kernels, even if they support only the kernels released by the major distributions.
Granted. This is just being discussed a little further above this post.
Linux is not the only OS around. Open-sourced drivers can be ported to *BSD
True, but then you can't have it all. In theory, Windows drivers would contain enough information to write a functioning Linux driver, but you can't because the drivers and Open Source. I have yet to see anyone complain about Windows drivers not comming with source so they can port them to $OS.
A kernel driver can crash the entire system. If it's binary only, it can't be fixed by the community.
True. But then if a company is releasing the driver as an "offical" driver for it's hardware, it should already be stable and functional. If it isn't, then they have to fix it. This has been the case on Windows and other OS's for quiet some time. If the driver stinks, don't buy the hardware; you wouldn't use a peice of software that doesn't work, so why hardware?
In the end, theirs very little reason why a company can't just release binary drivers for a product, apart from the screaming zealots. Oh well.
Ahhh, don't you just love the Closed-Mind Collectiveness of it all? Why not just provide a standard, external, API for binary drivers? Noone is forcing them to use it, they can still carry on using the current "internal" ("Compiled in"?) method for Open Source/Kernel drivers.
I don't see what the motivation is behind their refusal...But as you say, it's their ball.
The perils of Monolithic Kernels: Or how i stopped worrying and learned to love the C compiler.
:)
Bad joke? Yes. But also has a ring of truth to it
Then this is a problem that needs to be addressed by the Kernal devlopers. If a standard API existed with a fixed specification, there shouldn't be any trouble using a binary driver across diferent versions of the Kernal. A lot of other OS's manage this, so why not Linux?
in the UK we have 0800 and 0500, if I remember correctly
;)
Thats changed now (As another poster pointed out.) We now have 0800 and 0808 for Freephone numbers. The 08xx numbers also cover Local and National rate numbers under the new system.
Disclaimer: I work for BT. Sorry
Noticed he slipped "post-Columbine" in there as well...
:)
;)
Yeah, i thought that was quiet sneaky of him. I cringed when i came across it though
I also thought it was a sneaky way of getting some Jon Katz text past the people who have Katz stories hidden...will they never learn that Katz is everywhere?
Easiest way to browse at -2 is to goto the URL for the article (In your brosser), find the bit that says &threshold=-1 and change it &threshold=-2, then hit enter (Or reload), and you may find some -2 posts in the thread. Chances are, you won't though :)
Apart from being seriously paranoid, thats probably also a good way of removing your entire arm (If not killing yourself) while you're at it. :)
Thanks for the info. I didn't even consider source RPMs as a possibility. I shall be trying your solution tonight, i'll let you know how i get on :)
Bah, forget all that fancy-smancy hi-tech stuff. Why not just crack your disk open and apply a nice, hot, blowtorch flame to the entire surface for a good half an hour? Or even better, if you have access to a furnace, stick your disk platters in there. I'd like to see someone read my old data when all the have is a molten blob of slag :)
What? The RIP doesn't apply to Sealand, it's not part of Britian. This is the whole point of Sealand/Haven Co. Sheesh.
Nope, still won't work quiet right. The Rawhide RPM's you're trying just won't install on anything but Rawhide, as far as i can tell.
;)
You've got as far as the RPM version error message. I got as far as actually trying the Rawhide rpm binary with the Xfree4.0.1 RPM's...and there are a load of failed depencies that not even --nodeps will fix.
I've also tried the straight XFree4.0.1 binary tarballs with their installer, and it will, sortof, work. The biggest problem i had was that xdm didn't work with the new version of X, which meant i lost my graphical login. Which sucked.
But provided you don't use xdm (The graphical login), you should be able to uninstall the XFree3.3.x RPM's and then install the XFree4.0.1 binaries from a tarball.
Or, do as i plan to do, and change to a decent distro
O.K, point taken (Although we're not talking just mobile phones here)
But the point still stands that there are better solutions for embeded devices than Linux.
You know, theres another OS out there right now that was designed for this very job. It's small, it's stable, it's designed for an embedded system. It has all the applications you list. It's called PalmOS (Or even WinCE if you so wish)
Right tool for the job, and all that.
What?!? You mean you don't want to run a fully fledged, POSIX compliant, Unix-a-like Operating System on your mobile phone? Just think of the benefits: You can Telnet to your mobile! install GCC and code (Slogan: "It's smaller than a laptop!") Or you can go all fancy, install X, and use Netscape to browse fully graphical web pages!
Seriously, i gotta agree. Linux would hardly be my choice for an embeded device, let alone a consumer embeded device like a mobile phone. When will people learn, "The right tool for the job"?
Sadly, the Ruling Monarch has a lot of very severe powers which she can inact against Parliment. You give one example above. This even happened in the 70's when Parliment was hung.
The Queen also has the power to disolve Parliment, almost at any time as they see fit. The Queen also has the last say on all new laws, and can in theory reject a law for an reason (Perhaps she's had a bad day at the races, for example.)
You thought you lived in a Democracy? Nah mate, we're all Royal subjects!
Well if we have CPO, i'm waiting for RD2...
Exactly, the CPO works for the company who owns the data. Why should he attempt to protect the data if it's in the companies best interests not to protect it? Whats to stop a company drawing up a long list of "exceptions"?
In short, how well will self regulation work in this instance?
Redhat are using XFree V4.0.1 in the unstable "Rawhide" tree at the moment, but nothing for 6.x trees. Which is a pain, becauase i still havn't found a way to get xdm working properly under Redhat 6.1 with Xfree V4.0.1. Oh well.
Have you never watched the Simpsons? Tapping this sort of Can & String communications protocol is far too easy, it's how Millhouse was found when he ran away from filming the Radioactive Man film. :)
Well, some people might not like it when I burst into their house at 3 AM to check my email ;-)
Really? I wondered why i keep hearing sirens just after i've finished checking my email.
How about:
;)
Generates Nothing Useful
Generally Never Usable
Got No Understanding
You just need to try
The MiB have been and gone and wiped it! Quick, roll out the conspiricy theories!
Personally, i'm glad i live in the UK, where i can be sure my online privacy is secure. Oh...wait...
Just a bit OT, but you may be interested to know that the latest release of Wine added calls and entry points for some Windows 1.1 & 2.0 functions! Now that's some backward compatibility!