Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Open firewire audio interface: A back-of-an-envelope prototype plan
From: Marcus Andersson (marcus.t.andersson_AT_spray.se)
Date: Sat Nov 27 2004 - 13:06:29 EET
Hi,
what you need to figure out is how hardware can be developed by people
living in different countries, the same way email/sourceforge/CVS pretty
much solved the distribution problem for software. Here is just a couple
of ideas.
All interested developers buy a prototype card each. You manufacture it
and then mail the cards to the developers.
You set up a PC with remote login and give each developer an account.
Then hook up the prototype to the PC with firewire, JTAG, software
controllable power supply (GPIO?), webcam and other things that makes it
possible to test the card remotely.
It will not be as easy as pure software though. With software, you can
just pop in and actually contribute something with a very small
investment. In this case all developers have to be dedicated enough to
actually buy the hardware.
Even if the hardware design is open doesn't prevent a company to make
money selling it. Why not design everything the open source way, then
let one or more companies make the investment required to prototype and
test the card. These companies can then make money by selling the
hardware, either completely assembled or in parts. To get someone to do
an initial investment is probably required to get the price down. It is
often necessary to buy components in the thousands to get a reasonable
price.
Maybe you should first investigate if there already is a firewire
prototype card on the market, which can be hooked up to audio converters.
Expect it to take much longer to develop compared when doing it in
house. Maybe three to four times longer. The time actually spent on the
development will probably be shorter though.
Marcus
Simon Jenkins wrote:
...
> But like I said, I'm more interested in doing it over firewire.
>
> Cheers
>
> Simon
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