On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 13:55:55 -0600, Ryan Gallagher
wrote:
> > Ryan,
It is true tha the two technologies approach the same problems quite
differently..
>
Probably not, but if so I hope they speak up...
>
Well, I think there is another HUGE problem that's hardly addressed in
the Linux world. We all know it'd true. Many Linux developers do not
have access to the hardware they are developing drivers for. I don't
know if this applies to your hardware, but in my case Thomas
Charbonnel never had the HDSP 9652 to do his development work with.
It's no wonder that my driver problems were never explicitly solved. I
think that in the case of an Open Source hardware project there is a
good chance to put 5-10 of these in the hands of developers and to
break that cycle.
>
Yep, it's a big problem. Huge. I appreciate folks like you and Ron
Parker who will speak up and say what you think. It's important.
>
Current base - yes. Potential base - I think they are essentially
identical. There's littel cost difference between the hardware cast of
1394 and USB. Most laptops come with 1394 today. USB has it's
downsides also, which we are not discussing here, but they exist.
>
No - even 1394 hard drive performance is notably lacking compared to
Windows. I've been on the 1394 development lists since 1999 when the
project started. That team still says, after 5 years, that there is no
work going on to improve performace measured by hdparm, etc. They are
focused on just making it work reliably. When 2.6 came along the new
team decided to rework almost the whole stack. They are still trying
to make it work correctly. Folks on the 1394-users list still
routinely tell people to stick with 2.4 kernels. We're now at
Linux-2.6.9. Linux said he didn't expect 2.6 to take as long to get
stable as 2.4 did, but stability is not only the kernel but all the
pieces that attacha nd make the hardware work. Linux-1394 is probably
8-10 kernel releases away from stablity and real device support,
unfortunately. (The are jsut my opinions and do not reporesent what
that team might say of feel.)
Well, that would be a problem, and if you are right then I would not
undertake the program at all.
>
:-) ;-) :-) ;-) Yes, for many years...
>
I like that analogy. I don't totally share the gloomy
picture, but I completely admit you might be right!