RE: [linux-audio-dev] Fwd: Creative's IP concerns

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Subject: RE: [linux-audio-dev] Fwd: Creative's IP concerns
From: Pieter (pieter.palmers_AT_student.kuleuven.ac.be)
Date: Thu Jan 24 2002 - 17:43:23 EET


>
> I'd still like to know if there are any other companies out there giving
> out specs for their dsp chips.. can anyone canonically tell me yay or
> nay?
>

I can tell you that Atmel is as secret about it's DREAM range of chips...

Soundcards like the Guillemot Home studio 2/pro and the TERRATEC EWS are
based on the DREAM SAM9407 CHIP. It took the author of the OSS driver a
couple of years to get the nessecairy information... after NDA. The specs
for the SAM9707 chip, on which the Guillemot Maxisound ISIS is based, are
not released, and won't be (FAIK).

On top of that, Guillemot refuses to develop a WinXP driver, so don't even
think about a Linux driver... not possible they say. 'They don't make money
on
them anymore' is the first thing that enters my mind.

For the record: I own an ISIS, the card itself isn't the best, but what can
you expect for $220-$240... The real problem is the Guillemot crappy
support.
Not only do they refuse to help 3d parties, their own drivers also suck.
I regret buying the ISIS, especially because I already owned a
Home Studio 2, so I had knowledge of the bad support... won't happen again.
Well, not with Guillemot...

Conclusion,
For the budget-hobby people on this list, who might consider a guillemot
product,
don't buy... only accept them if they are free.

The only well documented DSP's seem to be the general purpose DSP's,
i.e. those that don't contain any 'proprietary' high level algorithms and
techniques...
The world is weird:
We have this discussion about the 'patented cache-read' in the EVO sampler,
and
we have to prove the patent isn't valid before EVO can be released. So I
think:
'Patents seem to offer quite some IP protection...'. And yet there is this
fear
on behalf of HW manufacturers, of releasing anything about their technology.
I don't
know what their fear is based upon. We don't need their algorithms... we
need the
information to USE their cards, not to (re)-DESIGN them.
In a way they are already giving away the information, because anyone that
has the
time & experience can disassemble the windows drivers, and learn all there
is to know.

Maybe it's worth trying to use another approach: don't ask for the system
specs, but
ask very specific questions, so they don't have the feeling that they are
giving out
'sensitive' information.

But then again, that would be a lot of trouble for a manufacturer that
doesn't deserve
it.

nice to write off the frustrations,

Thanx,

Pieter

PS: I'm not really certain of this, but I think
The help for developping the SAM9407 driver came from Terratec. They seem to
be much more open to Linux users than Guillemot. But I think the main
problem is
Dream, because everyone I contacted about info started nagging about 'having
a
NDA'... when are HW manufacturers going to learn...


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