on the other hand the question could just as easily be, do you want the
driver for the Wil-e-Coyote network card to work for linux as soon as it
comes out (as it is a UDI driver) or do you want to wait six months until
Donald Becker get time and money to purchase one of these cards and write
a driver for it?
David Lang
On Sat, 19 Sep 1998, Keith Owens wrote:
> Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 14:46:51 +1000
> From: Keith Owens <kaos@ocs.com.au>
> To: Slyglif Cain <slyglif@magerealm.com>
> Cc: linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
> Subject: Re: UDI issues
>
> On Fri, 18 Sep 1998 18:59:53 -0700,
> "Slyglif Cain" <slyglif@magerealm.com> wrote:
> >Could someone please explain to me why there would be an issue with
> >UDI and Linux? It is my understanding that UDI would be a public spec
> >(which anyone could code to). If it is a public spec, Then Linux
> >would just have to implement the interface to this spec (as would
> >everyone else), and then any drivers coded to it could be loaded into
> >the kernel.
>
> Leaving aside the licence question (everyone's a lawyer), UDI makes it
> easier for hardware people to release binary only drivers.
>
> Do you feel comfortable using a binary only UDI driver for your ACME
> Wil-e-Coyote network card? What happens when there is a bug in the
> driver? Can you get support in a reasonable time at a reasonable
> price? What happens when ACME go out of business? Or would you rather
> have Donald Becker's driver for the same card complete with source
> code? UDI will make it harder to get specs on hardware, not easier.
> UDI will leave us hostage to hardware suppliers.
>
> The sensible suppliers have already released their specs. For them and
> us, UDI is a winner. For suppliers who want to keep their interfaces
> secret, they win, we lose.
>
>
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