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View Full Version : Linux Kernel hackers offering hardware companies free driver development!



earobinson
January 30th, 2007, 04:27 PM
That's right, the Linux kernel community is offering all companies free Linux driver development. No longer do you have to suffer through all of the different examples in the Linux Device Driver Kit, or pick through the thousands of example drivers in the Linux kernel source tree trying to determine which one is the closest to what you need to do.
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Linux_Kernel_hackers_offering_hardware_companies_f ree_driver_development/who

Can it be true is this really happening? I assume there is some kind of sorting order?

mips
January 30th, 2007, 04:40 PM
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Linux_Kernel_hackers_offering_hardware_companies_f ree_driver_development/who

Can it be true is this really happening? I assume there is some kind of sorting order?

Yes. I actually saw the CD earlier today somewhere on the net.

Edit: Found it,
http://www.kroah.com/log/2006/05/24/#ddk
http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/gregkh/ddk/

tageiru
January 30th, 2007, 04:41 PM
That is what they always have been doing. Not much of the drivers in linux are written by hardware manufacturers.

earobinson
January 30th, 2007, 04:44 PM
That is what they always have been doing. Not much of the drivers in linux are written by hardware manufacturers.
I understand that, but I dont think that it has ever been that a manufacturer could contact the devs and ask them to write a driver, I mean sure they might, But it seems like they are making a promise that if given the support they will write drivers for free.

celsofaf
January 31st, 2007, 07:15 PM
Finaly some light on this obscure path! Now, let's hope for the hardware makers to cooperate.

:)

earobinson
January 31st, 2007, 07:20 PM
Thats what I want to see!

smoker
January 31st, 2007, 07:25 PM
this seems like a 'win, win' situation, hope it progresses to everyone's advantage :-)

mykalreborn
February 4th, 2007, 08:25 PM
http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/55521.html

very interesting.
it's kind of weird not to give the drivers open source. i mean, no one else is going to use them except for the one who BOUGHT the hardware. i mean... no one's going to crack the hardware or anything like that. download it from torretnz.com ;) i supose it's all about firm competitivity.
your thoughts?

sicofante
February 4th, 2007, 09:01 PM
This is a very good idea. However, I'm sure many manufacturers won't be able to submit specs and get their driver in return because too often they have legal binds with their own providers that prevent them from doing so. Hopefully, a significant number doesn't have that restrictions and make Linux driver downloads from the manufacturer's website a common practice in the near future.

John.Michael.Kane
February 4th, 2007, 09:11 PM
Threads merged..

sicofante
February 5th, 2007, 12:12 AM
this seems like a 'win, win' situation, hope it progresses to everyone's advantage :-)
In fact it's a "lin lin" situation. ;)