[PD] Piksel'05

[shift8]

a la ndiswrapper?  the precedent would seem to be set for kernel modules
that wrap windows drivers... 

On Thu, 2005-08-18 at 02:27 +0200, Malte Steiner wrote:
> Just to add some aspects:
> 
> >> Software can be modified, hardware can't. 
> > 
> > hardware can be modified before compilation (before you build it).
> > there is no deference with software.
> > (you can modify a sofware only if you have the source code, you can 
> > modify a hardware if you have the shematic)
> 
> you can modify compiled software if you dare. Patching is an artform in 
> itself and might include disassembling code to read the 'real stuff'. 
> Most interesting is of course software which modifies itself...
> 
> And yes, digital electronics as a subcategory of analogue electronics is 
> easier to understand and work with. You stay usually at the same voltage 
> and skip so many things you normally need to take care. Maybe its my 
> programmer view, I saw electronic engineers who actually got trouble to 
> get into programming and one of the electronic books in my homelibrary, 
> which is really heavy to read for me, trys to calm down the audience 
> during the introduction of microcontrollers, saying programming is not 
> so difficult as it looks :).
> 
> > when you design a product, the hardware  dependent on the software, the 
> > software dependent on the hardware.
> > i don't think they are wrong to think drivers is part of the hardware :
> > if nvidia provid free driver, then ATI will exactly know how does the 
> > nvidia hardware is made, and they will be able to copy nvidia idea.
> 
> I wonder why they are so picky and if it is not possible to create 
> wrappers around their stuff so the competitors can't get to deep into 
> it. To archive this more code must reside in the graphics card which get 
> controlled by an opensource driver, but it should be possible. Of course 
> it still locks in some code but free the driver so you can continue to 
> use the card when they are out of business and the OS of your choice 
> made a major versionjump so all drivers has to be rewritten or at least 
> recompiled.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Malte
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