Re: [GnomeMeeting-list] PWC driver story continues.

[George Bell <gbell5 cox net>]

Speaking of PWC again...
I recently found this comparison between FreeBSD, Linux, and Windows Operating 
Systems regarding drivers(among other factors) that I think is relevant to 
the discussion that was on this list awhile ago concerning the PWC driver.  
While I'm not a programmer either,  frankly I was not all that terribly 
impressed with all the highly technical reasons for excluding the binary 
component of the PWC driver from the kernel.  FreeBSD's attitude in this 
regard appears to me much more balanced :

From:   http://people.freebsd.org/~murray/bsd_flier.html

FreeBSD:
The FreeBSD bootloader can load binary drivers at boot-time. This allows 
third-party driver manufacturers to distribute binary-only driver modules 
that can be loaded into any FreeBSD system. Due to the open-source nature of 
FreeBSD, it is very easy to develop device drivers for new hardware. 
Unfortunately, most device-manufacturers will only release binaries for 
Microsoft operating systems. This means that it can take several months after 
a hardware device has hit the market until a device driver is available. 
Linux:
The Linux community intentionally makes it difficult for hardware 
manufacturers to release binary-only drivers. This is meant to encourage 
hardware manufactureres to develop open-source device drivers. Unfortunately 
most vendors have been unwilling to release the source for their drivers so 
it is very difficult for Linux users to use vendor supplied drivers at all.
 Windows:
 Microsoft has excellent relationships with hardware vendors. There are often 
conflicts when using a device driver on different versions of Microsoft 
Windows, but overall Windows users have excellent access to third party 
device drivers
 
Sorry for being a bit off-topic and I don't mean to start any flames, but I 
thought this brings some perspective to the issues that were discussed 
earlier in this forum.  

George

On Tuesday 14 September 2004 12:18, Johnny Strom wrote:
> Hello all
>
> Well things are starting to get to normal I hope with the PWC driver,
> there is a first patch for PWC driver without binary interface avalible
> here:
>
> http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0409.1/2135.html
>
>
> Cheers Johnny
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