On Tue, 2006-01-24 at 05:12 +0200, Sergei Steshenko wrote: > > > 1) we have an IDE drive separated from the CPU by IDE bus. The IDE drive > > > runs closed-source firmware, which is in terms of the controller inside > > > the > > > drive still software. There is no fuss about it; > > > > > > 2) we have a WiFi card or an audio card - both sitting on PCI bus, i.e. > > > they > > > are separated from the CPU by PCI bus. If the cards are running closed > > > source > > > software (their respective drivers) there is a fuss about it. > > > > > > Comparing the above two I'd say that the difference is IDE bus vs. PCI > > > bus. > > >
The PCI/IDE issue is irrelevant - both devices may require a driver and firmware. The difference is that the driver code is executed by the host CPU, while the firmware code is executed by the device. Therefore the firmware is allowed to be closed source but not the driver. Lee ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Do you grep through log files for problems? Stop! Download the new AJAX search engine that makes searching your log files as easy as surfing the web. DOWNLOAD SPLUNK! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=103432&bid=230486&dat=121642 _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list Alsa-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user
