> > > Save your sanity, try to avoid win-hardware in the future, > > > blame uncle billy for aureal. Look here to find a_real sound > > > card > > > > > > http://www.alsa-project.org/~goemon/ > > > -- > > > Tom Brinkman Corpus Christi, Texas > > > > In defense of Aureal, the hardware itself is excellent. In all > > probability Aureal would be supplying Linux drivers right now if > > Creative Labs had not pulled a MicroShaft on them, taking them out > > in court over a lawsuit that had no basis in reality. As a young > > company, Aureal had not developed sufficient resources for an > > extended court battle. To add insult to injury, Creative Labs > > ended up absorbing Aureal's assets after they forced them out of > > business. Now everybody walks around extolling the pluses of > > Creative Labs cards, and most don't have a clue about what dirty > > tricks they pulled to get there. AKA M$. > > > > The Aureal hardware is high quality hardware, and it's no accident > > that Aureal owners are very passionate about their cards. Aureal > > as a company no longer exists in order to defend itself. Further, > > I hate to see someone hung for what they may or may not have done; > > AKA "Minority Report". Aureal was the kind of company that would > > have responded to user requests, if they had not been so busy > > battling Creative Labs in court. That choice was forcibly taken > > from them. > > > > I myself have an Nvidia card, a Via chipset, an HPT370 Raid > > controller, and an Aureal soundcard combo. According to > > "conventional" wisdom I should be totally dead in the water; > > however in my experience what I have encountered have been merely > > configuration issues, and Linux Mandrake has been more than able to > > handle the hardware as long as I correctly told it what to do. Now > > that the hardware curves have been negotiated, I see them as being > > no different from what everybody else has to go through in getting > > accustomed to their hardware's personalities and ideosyncracies; > > that even includes Winblows users -- they have configuration > > problems too. Even WITH native drivers. > > > > Winmodems deserve a special spot in hell; however that category > > does not apply to the superb hardware setup I've got now, or any of > > it's peripherals. They've all got drivers and they all work more > > than satisfactorily. And yes I think companies should be > > encouraged to support Linux more in regard to their peripherals; > > but not at the expense of a witchhunt against perfectly good > > hardware that works, or the intentional disregard of the "minority > > report". > > > > Best Regards, > > > > LX > > Well, your welcome to your opinions. The link I posted is Deno's > and Civileme's opinions. Mine are that _any_ hardware that requires > closed source proprietary drivers to function is WIN_hardware. It > can't and never will be supported by Linux, the drivers _will_ taint > your kernel, and possibly (probly) introduce unfixable, untraceable > conflicts and security issues. IOW's, reduce a real OS to the same > quality as those that come out of Redmond. That's the main reason > that linux-kernel (and Linus) routinely ignore any bug reports > involving nVidia drivers, or any win-hardare or closed source > proprietary software (eg, StarOffice) for that matter. There's also > the user risk that their hardware will be orphaned and abandoned, as > is the case with Aureal. > > So it's simply a user choice, and not a Linux or Mandrake isssue > to risk using win-hardware and/or introducing closed source binary > programs in any form into their system. Doing so without knowledge > or acceptance of the pitfalls is just plain foolishness. A user > error, and a regression to a Winblows mindset. YMMV
Hmm. I really think "taint" is a problematic word since it suggests that it is mostly an ethical issue whereas I think Linus' objection is really mostly pragmatic. Black box drivers are (as you point out) a pain in the butt for a kernel developer. But when it comes to stuff that really effect his work he unrepentently uses the best tool available for the job (BitKeeper, the non-open source control system he and the other kernel hackers use). If his work involved 3D images I would guess he'd be using NVidia's proprietary drivers since they (and the video cards they're written for) are the best available. (Linux Journal had an interesting piece about Industrial Light and Magic's experience with Linux, NVidia and the drivers they use.) It would be great if NVidia were to release their drivers as open source. If and when Linux becomes a major force on the desktop perhaps they will. Certainly they do good bit of work to make the drivers available on Linux so they clearly have some interest, especially as ISVs port to it. Then again, unlike most companies who make the claim, their drivers *are* a competitive advantage for them. I also think the 'orphaned and abandoned' problem is a problem whether the drivers are open source or proprietary. If there aren't any driver developers interested in working on the devices you've got/need you're mostly out of luck unless you want to write them or hire someone else to do so. I say that as a professional programmer capable of but utterly disinterested in writing or tweaking drivers. If I were interested it would certainly help to have something to start with but to what degree is unclear. And for non-programmers without a fair amount of disposable income... I hope I'm not coming across as a complete curmudgeon here. I've just grown a little weary of the continuous bashing of non-open software's quality (e.g. NVidia's drivers) as if the two were mutually exclusive. There's loads of open-source software that is absolute garbage and, despite its openness, never improves. More recognition that there are pitfalls to both sides of the software divide would, I think, be healthy for the Linux community. ::mark p.s. In case there's any doubt, I _loathe_ Microsoft (and Windows) just not because they sell software without the source.
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