From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jul 26 19:49:38 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ED1D016A4DF for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:49:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@hub.org) Received: from hub.org (hub.org [200.46.204.220]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1DFF143D7B for ; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:49:29 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from freebsd@hub.org) Received: from localhost (mx1.hub.org [200.46.208.251]) by hub.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DEB1B291B06; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:49:26 -0300 (ADT) Received: from hub.org ([200.46.204.220]) by localhost (mx1.hub.org [200.46.208.251]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 48309-10; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:49:28 -0300 (ADT) Received: from ganymede.hub.org (blk-224-179-167.eastlink.ca [24.224.179.167]) by hub.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4BB16291B02; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:48:55 -0300 (ADT) Received: by ganymede.hub.org (Postfix, from userid 1027) id D98BA49632; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:48:52 -0300 (ADT) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ganymede.hub.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CD4A839EFD; Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:48:52 -0300 (ADT) Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:48:52 -0300 (ADT) From: User Freebsd To: Darrin Chandler In-Reply-To: <20060726190108.GE5284@jeeves.stilyagin.local> Message-ID: <20060726164622.Q17979@ganymede.hub.org> References: <20060726032544.4CA2643D70@mx1.FreeBSD.org> <20060726123204.C17979@ganymede.hub.org> <20060726153515.I17979@ganymede.hub.org> <20060726190108.GE5284@jeeves.stilyagin.local> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Cc: Nikolas Britton , FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: Are hardware vendors starting to bail on FreeBSD ... ? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:49:39 -0000 On Wed, 26 Jul 2006, Darrin Chandler wrote: > On Wed, Jul 26, 2006 at 03:36:51PM -0300, User Freebsd wrote: >> On Wed, 26 Jul 2006, Nikolas Britton wrote: >> >>> * No binary blob drivers. >> >> This is one that I don't necessarily agree with ... if Adaptec came out >> with a *supported* iir driver, but it was binary only, I'd be happy with >> that ... I just want to know that if I *have* a problem with a piece of >> hardware, that I can get support for it ... > > A lot of people agree with you, but I'm not one of them. It's not about > you being inconvenienced in this particular case. It's about choice, and > vendors supporting the customers by providing *specs*. > > What if they provide a blob for FreeBSD but you decide you want to run > NetBSD on a particular machine and there's no blob? Or much more likely: > what if they provide a blob for Linux, but not for FreeBSD? Should they > also provide a blob for Plan 9? > > If the specs are not open, then your choices are limited to what the > vendor wants to develop and support. And that's likely to be Windows, > and maybe Linux, and maybe maybe FreeBSD. > > OTOH, if the vendor opens the specs then good, solid drivers can be > written for whatever platform. And ported. And if there's a problem it > can be fixed. This even turns out to benefit people who don't give a > hoot about whether something is "free" or "open" or not. My point isn't that I *liked* binary-only drivers ... my point is that I'd rather a company like Adaptec to *at least* supply a binary driver if they require their specs to be closed, then provide *no means* for me to use Adaptec products ... Right now, I personally am being hurt more by having *nothing* from Adaptec, binary or open, then I would be if they'd provide something binary, since under 4.x, the Adaptec driver *was* rock solid, so I felt pretty safe upgrading to 6.x, which turns out was not so smart a move ... How many out there are *still* running 4.x on their servers and desktops, for similar fears? ---- Marc G. Fournier Hub.Org Networking Services (http://www.hub.org) Email . scrappy@hub.org MSN . scrappy@hub.org Yahoo . yscrappy Skype: hub.org ICQ . 7615664