why open source drivers [was Re: [linux-audio-user] Re: [linux-audio-dev] RME is no more]

Marek Peteraj marpet at naex.sk
Mon Nov 29 01:25:09 UTC 2004


On Sun, 2004-11-28 at 21:31, Mark Knecht wrote:
> On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 15:20:33 -0500, Lee Revell <rlrevell at joe-job.com> wrote:
> > On Sun, 2004-11-28 at 12:06 -0800, Mark Knecht wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > > > Fine with me.  If I shelled out for RME hardware I better be able to
> > > > call RME for support, same as on any other OS.  You get what you pay
> > > > for, right?
> > >
> > > Sure, but when you buy it and the box says 'Requires Mac OS X or
> > > Windows XP' then as a buyer I have to respect that. I cannot expect
> > > them to support Linux when it wasn't advertised that it works on
> > > Linux. RME has given me GREAT support under Windows and I expect that
> > > this will not change. They are a great company. I own two cards and
> > > wouldn't hesitate to buy another if I was going to set up another
> > > Windows box.
> > 
> > Yeah, I was referring to an Nvidia like scenario, where they don't
> > release open drivers, but release closed Linux drivers of comparable
> > quality and the same support as the Windows driver.
> 
> Sure, I get it. However I think you and plug in a close source RME
> card driver and happily use it if it was available. I think Marek,
> Frank and others do not feel this way. I had no second thoughts about
> putting an NVidia controller in my dad's Linux box even though I used
> ATI up until then. My experience using both is no that different, but
> for me it's not political.
> 
> Am I wrong when I think this desire is particularly European in
> nature? I'm so Open Market driven, especially when it comes to
> technology, that I hardly seem to understand this oter POV. However, I
> am interested.

One nice example. Korg 1212 i/o, worked under win98, doesn't under winXP
because korg does not provide support for it. There is an alsa driver
for it now(and specs), so basically the life of that card is extended to
eternity.

There are more such damn good reasons for open source drivers. People
just don't shout too loud. :) 

> 
> > 
> > Of course I would be pretty annoyed if they just drop Linux completely,
> > for the same reasons as others in this thread - they have a relationship
> > with the community at this point.  But I don't think they would be that
> > stupid.  After all pissing off hundreds of potential customers is just
> > as bad an idea as giving valuable IP to the competition.
> > 
> 
> Darn straight. However how did Marek end up being an RME customer when
> there was (as far as I know) never any support for this device under
> Linux, nor anyone even really saying there would be? 

Actually not quite, it seemed as if there would be support, Thomas
wanted to do the driver. I just invested too much trust in RME. My
fault.

> In my case I Was
> told that supporting the HDSP 9652 would be a non-issue based on the
> DigiFace working. It turned out to be true, but then again it took
> about a year to become really useful to me, and even today doesn't
> work as well as it does under Windows. How did he end up with this
> device and in this position?
> 
> I somehow don't think this is RME's fault...

If RME did the drivers for your HDSP 9652 then you could directly
contact them and ask them for support. I'm sure Thomas would help you
aswell if he had the card, and that's the problem. In such case claiming
that they do support alsa is just plain unfair.

Marek




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