[linux-audio-dev] Re: Akai's MPC4000 Sampler/Workstation Open Source Project

[Gene Heskett]

On Thursday 27 July 2006 19:34, Renich Bon Ćirić wrote:
[...]
>>
>> From my viewpoint, Akai's legal dept., who is obviously controlling
>> what Renich can say, will see to it that the product fails.  Its up to
>> Akai to make a liar out of me.  If they would join the open source camp
>> by supporting the coders with all the info, publicly available to any
>> and all, that they will need to write the drivers this device will
>> need, distribute this OS under the GPL with a server that lets *anyone*
>> download it for free, or on a mailable cd for a couple of bucks
>> american, while selling the hardware for $1000 to $1500, and watch the
>> hardware sales blossum like our wild flowers along the interstate. 
>> Thats because the unshackled coders will write stuff that stretches the
>> limits of what the hardware can do, just to see if they can.  Its
>> rather like climbing Mt. Everest, because its there. :)
>
>Well, I think we are getting a bit... carried away. I am not from akai,
>in fact, my purpose is to ask akai to help us help them because there OS
>sucks. It has too many bugs... that's the purpose of all this. If they
>refuse, then I am willing to start an OS myself. That's all.

First one has to open an effective channel of communications in order to 
get close enough to somebody who would know what an NDA is, something I've 
tried several times over the decades with only one success, usually you 
find somebody co-operative who makes you think you might have a chance at 
getting some assistance, but 3 days later you call back to confirm a 
detail and that person has been fired or transferred out of that dept., 
primarily one suspects for the simple act of getting too close to the 
customer.

However, Renish, if you are not representing Akai in this, then why the 
secrecy?

Akai is going to want to know why you want to know all this stuff, and just 
to play cma, I wouldn't even try to put a coat of varnish on it.  Tell 
them straight up that the hardware is great but the OS sucks and you want 
to fix it, writing it from scratch in a clean room scenario, meaning you 
will never see a copy of their src, just the specs that writing to such 
and such an address writes to what register, and what every bit or byte 
written makes it do what.  AIUI, then you can GPL it, or if no GPL'd 
libraries or anything like that is used, you could make it proprietary.  
But we both know you'll get a lot more help if its open and GPL'd.

And, just to get some stability, for every register you write to using 
their specs for whats written vs whats supposed to happen, I'd take the 
time to verify that the results you get and their specs agree.  I've found 
more than one bug, a couple of them fairly serious, in the hardware using 
that exersize it all technique.

I expect you will do whatever and however you want in any event, so I'll go 
away and see if my rocking chair still rocks, or something. :)

-- 
Cheers, Gene
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