On Tuesday 07 February 2006 21:45, David Chow wrote:
> Non-technical Users:
> - Want the system to have drivers pre-built, so that they don't have to
> go through a compilation or patching process. Its a waste of time for
> them (waste of time for me too)
> - Why I have to search the drivers? Isn't is suppose to be included in
> the OS? Or if not included in the OS, it should be included in a driver
> disk (CD/DVD/floppy or whatever medium or download) .
> - Why I have to upgrade the complete OS if only one driver is missing? I
> want to stay with Redhat-9 , my PHP runs great.
Then why MS has that auto-update service of theirs?
> - There is no "Linux support" labels on most the hardware out there,
> should I risk my money, buy it and try out? Oh, full refund of item is
> not allowed . Then, don't bother ...
Because hardware verdors act stupid and many of them still do
not write open-source drivers (or at least provide adequate docs).
> Commercial developers:
> - Want a stable API so that drivers can be maintained with ease. Because
> we don't just work with Linux, we want to focus on our driver
> development, not chasing the API changes, versions by versions, vendors
> by vendors. Sometimes there are even vendor specific changes, its a
> waste of time.
> - If I have to make binary drivers, I have to maintain all kernel
> sources and headers, compilers to make sure my drivers will be built
> correctly without problem. Of risk to change symbols in the binaries and
> hope it works!
IOW: "we want to hijack millions of lines of Linux source and won't
contribute back our driver(s). Why do you kernel guys make that hard?"
Because we don't like what you're doing.
> - Where is the latest up-to-date documentation of the kernel API?
> /Documentation only partially describe what I need, its version
> specific, sometimes out-of-date, where the hell is that? Let's google it
> in amazon.com, "Linux driver books", No good again.... Its crap, all not
> up-to-date!
The source is ultimate doc. You never ever will get such a complete doc
for any commercial OS. It even documents all bugs! ;)
> - Lets get on to it, read all docs and sample sources... mmm... My
> driver seems working now.. Lets compile it and distribute it. Users:
Wrong. You should do: "Let's submit it for inclusion in mainline".
If you don't want to, it's your problem, not ours.
> have you got a driver for Redhat 9 2.4.18 kernel? Answer: No, it doesn't
> work, because I write my driver on 2.6.15, you may to DIY. User
> response: I want a refund, because you said your hardware has Linux
> support, but its a false statement.
> - Just leave Linux, who cares, it doens't make sense to us. Because it
> doesn't make sense to go through all these problems to say "Linux
> supported hardware", user will get refund the product if we say this on
> the box on day one.
> - Maybe we have another way to do that, submit the driver to the
> community and hope it to include it in the latest kernel source.
> Wait.... but what about support for Redhat 9 and SuSe 8.2?
You may backport your driver to older kernel(s). Sometimes distro(s)
will backport your driver to older kernels if there is demand.
> - We are happy to maintain our own drivers, because we know better about
> our hardware. We are paid to do so, we also have quality assurance
> process with formal test tools and equipment. Don't think the community
> can do a better core than us.
Maintain them "in-tree", not in your own corner.
> - Wake up! Why would the maintainers bother to maintain the drivers if
> the driver development work is now back to the hardware vendor, like
> drivers for other platform did? I think someone mis-understood the whole
> idea is to "GET RID OF DRIVER MAINTENANCE", belive it or not, it belongs
> to the vendor, not here. If the driver releases as GPL, you can still
> make your own changes, but it doesn't have to be in main source tree.
Yeah, yeah. I just wrestled with 2 so called "GDI" printers for Windows
from 2 different vendors. Both vendors _refused to fix obvious bugs_
in their Windows drivers. Do you want THIS type of driver maintenance
to occur in Linux world too?
--
vda
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