It's not just sound cards that lag behind in drivers, I convinced my company to open the specs and Windows source for our networking chip and the "if you release it they will come" theory is definitely not true.
I can attest that a hardware manufacturer's first three attempts to get Linux drivers written for any product look something like this (aka How Open Source Drivers Don't Happen:
1. Sales guy makes mistake of letting engineer talk to users. Engineer listens to users and drinks the Linux kool-aid.
2. Engineer spends the next six months telling management why they need to go open source.
3. Engineer's argument is simplified by management to "if you build it, they will come." (in best Field of Dreams voice).
4. Engineer releases package on sf and corporate web site.
5. Release is ignored for six months. Slashdot post is rejected. The only activity from the project is near-hatemail that the filenames have spaces, things are zipped instead of tarred, and the mother-****ing code reads like it is "totally corporate."
6. Engineer gives up and pays a contractor for clean-room code to support his customer.
7. Management says "****, now that we've PAID for it, there's no way we're going to give it away."
8. There is a knee in the kernel and the closed-source code breaks. Calling the contractor back was not in the budget. Return to step 2.
1. The anchient art of measuring EMI is not exactly lost. Italy is covered with individuals from test labs to HAM radio operators who can take a few spectrum analyzers with antennas and powerline couplers and measure EMI an conducted emissions and look for these surges.
2. America is one of the few nations in the world where the power going out or setting firest makes the news, in most of the world it happens daily.
3. About a decade ago Italy ruled their version of the FCC incompetent and disbanded them. Though there are EU rules to deal with, it is a wild west of wireless where you can send photon-torpedo strength EMI around with no-one to slap you until the mobs find you.
The HomePlug devices by the Linksys, NETGEARs, Belkins, and D-Links of the world are for home networking and use *much* lower power levels than BPL. HomePlug also has deep notches for the HAM bands; amateur radio operators actually like the stuff.
-Off Topic Reply ghideon-
What stops HomePlug signals cold is the step-down transformer. In the US there is an average of 4 homes per transformer where you are potentially sharing a connection. Better than wireless, and the software utility lets you count how many nodes can see you.
Regarding HomePlug intentional security, there is 56-bit DES built into every HomePlug chip. This is used to create logical networks with a Network Password that works sort of like a workgroup or an SSID. (HomePlug members are not releasing "sniffers" so if you can crack DES-56, you won't get a channce.)
There are two different PowerLine Communications (PLC) technologies in the press right now and I would like to make sure we are not confusing them.
Broadband PowerLine (BPL) is an access technology. It is somewhat experimental and is being used to connect a service provider, like a Telco CO that is several miles from your home or business, to your home to provide broadband access. This technology needs a good deal of power to send signals over the Medium Voltage (~16 kV - think "finger of God") lines over great distances. This is the technology that the HAMers are upset about. This is also the technology that the FCC is looking at.
HomePlug Powerline technology is a home networking technology used to distribute the signal from your home gateway or music server to other devices or PC's in your home. HomePlug uses OFDM, a technology that puts a comb of carriers across the spectrum. With a comb we can then turn off and notch out the HAM frequencies. HomePlug goes from 4-21 MHz and has deep notches to prevent interference with the HAM bands in that space. A large number of FCC and CE approved HomePlug devices are available in the market (look for the NETGEAR Wall Bridges at Circuit City or the Devolo devices in Europe).
Just wanted to speak up because there's been a lot of confusion here. Intellon or HomePlug can put a whitepaper on this on their to-do list.
thanks,
James Mentz
Senior Applications Engineer, Intellon Corporation
One of the big reasons we're hearing more of this is that since the fossil bacteria mars meteor find there has been a lot more focus on Astrobiology. NASA Ames has a
Astrobiology Academy that is sort of a Space Camp for the 18 to 25 year old crowd that grew up wanting to go to Space Camp (that's us).
There are also a lot of Collegiate program's like Penn State's and some new peer reviewed astrobiology journals.
Sort of a case of we find what we look for. Makes you wonder what the SETI people could do with more funding.
Slashdot Mirror
Can we start using ethernet? We've done more lowercasing to laser and radar.
It's not just sound cards that lag behind in drivers, I convinced my company to open the specs and Windows source for our networking chip and the "if you release it they will come" theory is definitely not true.
I can attest that a hardware manufacturer's first three attempts to get Linux drivers written for any product look something like this (aka How Open Source Drivers Don't Happen:
1. Sales guy makes mistake of letting engineer talk to users. Engineer listens to users and drinks the Linux kool-aid.
2. Engineer spends the next six months telling management why they need to go open source.
3. Engineer's argument is simplified by management to "if you build it, they will come." (in best Field of Dreams voice).
4. Engineer releases package on sf and corporate web site.
5. Release is ignored for six months. Slashdot post is rejected. The only activity from the project is near-hatemail that the filenames have spaces, things are zipped instead of tarred, and the mother-****ing code reads like it is "totally corporate."
6. Engineer gives up and pays a contractor for clean-room code to support his customer.
7. Management says "****, now that we've PAID for it, there's no way we're going to give it away."
8. There is a knee in the kernel and the closed-source code breaks. Calling the contractor back was not in the budget. Return to step 2.
2. America is one of the few nations in the world where the power going out or setting firest makes the news, in most of the world it happens daily.
3. About a decade ago Italy ruled their version of the FCC incompetent and disbanded them. Though there are EU rules to deal with, it is a wild west of wireless where you can send photon-torpedo strength EMI around with no-one to slap you until the mobs find you.
-Off Topic Reply ghideon-
What stops HomePlug signals cold is the step-down transformer. In the US there is an average of 4 homes per transformer where you are potentially sharing a connection. Better than wireless, and the software utility lets you count how many nodes can see you. Regarding HomePlug intentional security, there is 56-bit DES built into every HomePlug chip. This is used to create logical networks with a Network Password that works sort of like a workgroup or an SSID. (HomePlug members are not releasing "sniffers" so if you can crack DES-56, you won't get a channce.)
Broadband PowerLine (BPL) is an access technology. It is somewhat experimental and is being used to connect a service provider, like a Telco CO that is several miles from your home or business, to your home to provide broadband access. This technology needs a good deal of power to send signals over the Medium Voltage (~16 kV - think "finger of God") lines over great distances. This is the technology that the HAMers are upset about. This is also the technology that the FCC is looking at.
HomePlug Powerline technology is a home networking technology used to distribute the signal from your home gateway or music server to other devices or PC's in your home. HomePlug uses OFDM, a technology that puts a comb of carriers across the spectrum. With a comb we can then turn off and notch out the HAM frequencies. HomePlug goes from 4-21 MHz and has deep notches to prevent interference with the HAM bands in that space. A large number of FCC and CE approved HomePlug devices are available in the market (look for the NETGEAR Wall Bridges at Circuit City or the Devolo devices in Europe).
Just wanted to speak up because there's been a lot of confusion here. Intellon or HomePlug can put a whitepaper on this on their to-do list.
thanks,
James Mentz
Senior Applications Engineer, Intellon Corporation
One of the big reasons we're hearing more of this is that since the fossil bacteria mars meteor find there has been a lot more focus on Astrobiology. NASA Ames has a Astrobiology Academy that is sort of a Space Camp for the 18 to 25 year old crowd that grew up wanting to go to Space Camp (that's us).
There are also a lot of Collegiate program's like Penn State's and some new peer reviewed astrobiology journals.
Sort of a case of we find what we look for. Makes you wonder what the SETI people could do with more funding.