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Xref: sserve comp.unix.sysv386:23753 comp.windows.x:45186 comp.os.linux:10054 comp.unix.bsd:5082 comp.os.mach:2148 comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:21563 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:31215 Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386,comp.windows.x,comp.os.linux,comp.unix.bsd,comp.os.mach,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!menudo.uh.edu!nuchat!steve From: steve@nuchat.sccsi.com (Steve Nuchia) Subject: Re: Free software and the future of support for Diamond products Message-ID: <1992Sep14.230555.25686@nuchat.sccsi.com> Keywords: Diamond, free-software Organization: South Coast Computing Services, Inc. Houston References: <1992Sep12.035549.4743@zeos.com> <1992Sep13.142036.26842@nuchat.sccsi.com> <c3xn+a=.kwan@netcom.com> Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 23:05:55 GMT Lines: 44 In article <c3xn+a=.kwan@netcom.com> kwan@netcom.com (Kwan-Seng Low) writes: >In article <1992Sep13.142036.26842@nuchat.sccsi.com> steve@nuchat.sccsi.com (Steve Nuchia) writes: >>not buy undocumented hardware. Vote with your wallet. >I'm not sure what you really mean here, undocumented hardware. Any documented >hardware would expose most of the vendor's proprietary design, at least the Hogwash. My beard has hardly any grey in it, and I have worked on systems where every board and every peripheral came with a reasonably thick manual. These manuals used to have chapter titles like "theory of operation" and "programming model". Sometimes they had complete schematics, more often just very good block diagrams. Sample code too. In the PC market you get a little bifold pamplet that tells you how to take the lid off your computer without sticking any appendages in the fan. Grrrr. > If none of the vendor willing to reveal how to set clock on their s3 >based card, maybe us the users might consider design our own. .... >in any large electronics shop (e.g. Fry's in Bay Area). Complete schematics, >parts list, how to obtain it, complete doc. on how to build it, everything >available on public domain. > People has been selling hardware kit for some time, come to think about >it, it's something that can be done. In this case, we just have a very narrow >focus; we want to build a public domain hardware design that's specifically I've done that once for a serial board (though I do hold copyright on the design files) and it works OK. My serial board comes with schematics and PAL equations, and is available as a kit or assembled. The netlist and Orcad files are available if somebody wants to customize it. I think it would be very difficult to compete with the mass-produced VGA cards. If I was going to build a video card I would either shoot for radical simplicty or build something that you could run the whole X server on. > any response is welcome, just want to test this idea is making sense. >It would eliminate the dependence on vendors when it come to writing display >driver. The idea makes sense technically, but not economically in my opinion. -- Steve Nuchia South Coast Computing Services, Inc. (713) 661-3301