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Date:      Tue, 16 Oct 2001 11:54:08 -0500 (EST)
From:      Doug Hass <dhass@imagestream.com>
To:        Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com>
Cc:        Leo Bicknell <bicknell@ufp.org>, Jim Bryant <kc5vdj@yahoo.com>, MurrayTaylor <taylorm@bytecraft.au.com>, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   RE: FYI
Message-ID:  <Pine.LNX.3.96.1011016113849.861B-100000@ims1.imagestream.com>
In-Reply-To: <000001c1565d$987a8c80$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>

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> As someone else pointed out in this forum, the Hitachi chipset is an
> older design.  I'm sure that it's probably possible today to design a
> sync controller chip that sells for a lot less than the Hitachi part,
> perhaps even under the $30 level.  Certainly, async chips sell at that
> level in volume.  It's too bad that IBM didn't decide to put a sync
> serial port on the original XT. :-) 

The conjecture and wishful thinking is nice.  Unfortunately, the available
chipsets today aren't running at or anywhere near the $30 range, which is
why you don't see $75 T1 cards with CSUs (you see $750-$1200 ones). 

Let's dispense with all the talk about $75 T1 cards that don't exist (and
won't for some time), whose licensing scheme is better, what driver
architecture was developed for what reason and let's get back to the
original issues: 

1) Availability of the 400 series cards.

If the FreeBSD market has the 400 series cards in such demand, then
someone should be calling me with an order.  I'll cut 20% off list for you
if you tell me its for FreeBSD, and I'll still pledge 15% of your purchase
price on top of that toward driver development.  I'll give up my volume
margin as a clear indication of my willingness to work with the community.

The drivers BSDI developed and gave to the community for the 400 series
are seriously out of date, by the way.  Last I knew, they still referred
to the cards as the "n2pci" and used some outdated code that has since
been much improved.  I'd be interested in working with a developer or
developers to get some updated drivers out there for FreeBSD.  This brings
me to... 

2) Driver development for FreeBSD

We'll pledge 15% of the purchase of the aforementioned 400 series cards
toward supporting a developer or developers to bring drivers to the
FreeBSD market.  The 400 series drivers need to be updated.  There are a
full line of cards available now that also need drivers.  Even if no one
in the community is willing to pledge money (through a card purchase or
directly to a developer), I'm assuming that someone out there would be
interested in developing the drivers.

Again, if the FreeBSD market has WAN cards in such a high demand, we need
to get developers on the driver development immediately.  Now that you
know we are interested, the code is available, and that we've pledged
money toward it, I'd like to see someone in the community start working
toward a solution, instead of complaining about how there isn't one.

Regards,

Doug

-----

Doug Hass
ImageStream Internet Solutions
dhass@imagestream.com
http://www.imagestream.com
Office: 1-219-935-8484
Fax: 1-219-935-8488


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