On Thu, 2008-11-27 at 19:12 -0600, Chris Radek wrote: > What is your point exactly?
I think I have found out. While reading Slashdot, one of my favorite ways to waste time, I came upon this: http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/08/11/28/2339242.shtml which points to this article, which is a good summary of the situation: http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/12068_3787736 Our situation is even one step above that described in the article because we are distributing the source and build scripts (as it is possible) for the firmware, with our only non-free dependence being the tools. I suppose we could make the firmware related files a separate package, maybe "emc2-contrib"? Past that point, we are at an impasse. Without firmware, the hardware doesn't work. As far as I know, there are no libre firmware "synthesizers" for the FPGAs the we use. Also I am unaware of any libre FPGAs There was this, but it's long dead: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=161600613 There's also this: http://fpgalibre.sourceforge.net/intro_en.html but, if you scroll down to the "Synthesis" section, you'll find that they have no alternative but to use the "gratis" tools as there are no "libre" ones. I think, for now, if we want FPGAs, then we are stuck with Quartus (Altera) and WebPack (Xilinx). Personally, I've only recently warmed up* to these kinds of devices (I even looked askance at PALs and GALs when they came out for the same reasons). My reluctance to fool with them was directly a result of this non-free tools situation. However, the benefits of this, admittedly very clever, technology are so great that the "no libre tools" argument is unlikely to sway most technology consumers. If a chip maker _did_ offer libre tools, I would be their enthusiastic spokesman! It's possible that a "universal cnc peripheral chip" could be designed and made this way: http://www.mosis.com/ but I expect the cost benefit analysis would still favor FPGAs unless considerable weight were given to libre philosophical requirements. Puzzled but ever hopeful, Matt * - I actually designed some hardware that used Intel's Flex Logic, before it was sold to Altera, but another smarter guy did all the logic inside the device. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ Emc-developers mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers
