Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 17:28:48 -0500 (EST) From: "Brandon D. Valentine" <bandix@looksharp.net> To: Mike Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.ORG> Cc: John Reynolds~ <jreynold@sedona.ch.intel.com>, stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: What does "Voxware still supported in 4.0" mean exactly? Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0003231648210.12114-100000@turtle.looksharp.net> In-Reply-To: <200003231801.KAA01088@mass.cdrom.com>
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On Thu, 23 Mar 2000, Mike Smith wrote: >What makes you think that we haven't? The problem is simply that it's >very hard to _buy_ a lot of these cards, and if someone already has one, >asking them to send it to Cameron is a lot more effective than wasting a >day of my or Bill Swingle's time trying to find the one yak repair shop >and soundcard dealer in Outer Mongolia that still has one in stock, >finding some way of paying them in goat's cheese and then having Ghengis >Khan's last living relative stick the card into his yakskin bag and storm >all the way across Europe to deliver it. > >At last count, I think we've bought, borrowed and cajoled about twenty or >so cards and sent them off to Cameron. I don't know what makes you think >that we're _entirely_ stupid or greedy, especially since it's not like >it's a secret or anything that we do this regularly. I'd have to concur. I'd also have to add that purchasing cards "automatically" is a rather stupid idea. Unless you've got documentation in hand from the manufacturer it's often a futile effort to write a driver regardless of how many cards you've got. There is only so much reverse engineering can do for you. Not to mention the amount of time it takes to write a driver that way. If this guy really thinks this is such an issue(which I don't, I think the current methods work just dandy) he needs to develop an answer. One possible idea is an http accessible database that lists "want ads" from developers stating specifically what they have documentation for and would like to start hacking on. In this way people who have that extra hardware available could step up and enter it into the database. A developer could be free to choose whichever of the volunteered entries he would like and get the stuff mailed his way. If the owner would like his hardware back when the development process is over then the database would keep track of his identity(privately of course) for the developer to ship it back. ------------------------------------------------------------- | -Brandon D. Valentine bandix at looksharp.net | bandix on EFnet IRC BVRiker on AIM ------------------------------------------------------------- | "...and as for hackers, we note that all of those known to | The Register are so strapped financially that seizing their | property would be tantamount to squeezing blood from a | stone." -- The Register, 02/17/2000 ------------------------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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