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

[Marek Peteraj]

On Mon, 2004-11-29 at 00:58, Mark Knecht wrote:
> On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 02:25:09 +0100, Marek Peteraj <marpet at naex.sk> wrote:
> > On Sun, 2004-11-28 at 21:31, Mark Knecht wrote:
> 
> > 
> > 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. :)
> 
> Fair enough. There are companies here in Silicon Valley that take over
> 'end of life' chip designs and manufacturer them for a while to help
> customers, but there isn't much money in it most of the time, just as
> there is probably no financial reason for Korg to support that card. I
> didn't like it when DigiDesign said they weren't going to continue to
> support the 001 forever and I was forced into buying an 002 or going
> away from Windows. Unortunately there was no other platform that
> maintained my music investment as well so I stuck with Digi.
> 
> That's the nature of technology. It gets outdated. Not too many
> companies making buggy whips anymore either...
> 
> >> 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.
> 
> And I am very sorry about that. 

You don't have to be. 

> It is a disappointment I'm sure.
> You're a long ways away. If it was more practical I'd probably buy the
> unit from you. I have uses. I'm sure others will too. You'll sell it
> and get good money. Chalk the loss up to learning and
> remember..."Trust, but verify".

Agreed. It was a lesson to learn. Thanks for your 'heads up' :)

> 
> > 
> > > 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.
> 
> ???? RME never 'supported' the card under Linux. The 'supported' the
> developers by providing technical info. I did not purchase the card
> because of RME telling me it would be OK to use the card under Linux.
> They never stated such things.

Unfortunately they did. To quote a part of their response:
"> [linux-audio-dev] RME is no more

Complete BS. We have and will support Linux/Alsa as before. The only
excluded product is the Fireface."

Marek