On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:24:29 -0700, Rene Herman rene.herman@keyaccess.nl wrote:
On 20-08-08 00:08, John L. Utz III wrote:
Never omitting any opportunity to complain about missing vendor cooperation, but what do they do once people actually do publish ample specs? - yeah, you got that right: NOTHING!!
Congratulations on your patch, but i dont think this comment was particularly helpful.
Oh, come one. He had his tongue quite firmly and definitely in cheek...
Ok Rene, i will take your word for it.
Had the spec been released concurrent with the release of the chip, who knows what would have happened? The ALS4k is not currently manufactured, so there is not a good reason to invest development resources in supporting it. Time is better spent supporting new chips so that new distro releases can support new computers so that computer vendors and end users will feel less put out by having linux as the default OS for their brand new computer!
One of the main reasons for wanting specs over vendor supplied drivers in fact is to be able to support _old_ hardware -- hardware that the manfacturer feels no need to support anymore, but the users still want to use. As such, I believe the above is definitely off the mark.
Yah, i suspected that i might get a poke-back on that comment. :-)
My position has evolved substantially over the years as i have gone from a guy that put together computers from used parts to a guy that buys them new every couple of years.
I am keenly aware that most folks dont have that opportunity.
I also recognize that the chance to resurrect cast-offs to provide computer systems to populations that otherwise wouldnt have them is also a good use for older gear.(i am trying to arrange something like that in the non-profit that i help out with)
But anyways, he was definitely being "joke-ish". You took it way too seriously.
Alrighty then.
Rene.