Submitted 19-Aug-00 by Tim:
>>> So are you still dead set against using binary drivers? The Diamond MX300
>>> sound card (one of the more popular models) uses an Aureal Chipset that
>>> requires the drivers from http://linux.a3d.com. Also, I believe NVidia's
>>> drivers are still binary, but will the newer cards be supported in the
>>> upcoming release?
< snip snailtalk's response >
> I agree with you Geoff as far as ideals are concerned. The source for these
> drivers *should* be available. However, as far as ease of use goes, more and
> more users are going to have current hardware, like the GeForce2, etc. For
I wouldn't consider the Diamond MX300 a "popular" or "new" card. Aureal
has been in bankrupcy since April, and Diamond switched production to
the MX400 to get away from the (no longer available) Aureal chip.
Furthermore Diamond Multimedia is soon to be a non-entity as well as its
parent company das decided to shut it down instead of selling it.
Current hardware and open source drivers are not, by nature, mutually
exclusive. As an example, we (the linux cummunity) had support for
ATA-100 before Windows. This was because the information required to
write the drivers was freely available.
As recently as 10 years ago, the hardware you could put into a pc that
required a "driver" was one of: mouse, SCSI adapter, and CD-ROM. The
games all had built-in support for two standards for sound.
The problem here (IMHO) isn't ideology, but rather one of paranoia. The
manufacturers seem to think that they will some how lose something if
somebody else knows how their hardware works.
Remember also, complaining to the manufacturers can eventually pay off.
Witness the recent availability of open source drivers for Yamaha PCI
sound cards.
Were I a hardware manufacturer, I wouldn't care what operating system
was installed on the machine it was going into as long as the hardware
was compatible (can't put an ISA card into a Mac, for example). And
that is how the manufacturers _used_ to view things. No matter what you
choose to blame the change on, it is still the manufacturers who are
making it difficult.
--
Anton Graham GPG ID: 0x18F78541
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> RSA key available upon request
There is nothing wrong with writing ... as long as it is done in private and
you wash your hands afterward.
