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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!solace!nntp.uio.no!news.cais.net!news.ac.net!imci4!newsfeed.internetmci.com!solaris.cc.vt.edu!not-for-mail From: erik@fenris.campus.vt.edu () Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Why to not buy Matrox Millennium Followup-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Date: 25 Mar 1996 12:48:21 GMT Organization: A random machine somewhere Lines: 28 Message-ID: <4j64ml$76u@solaris.cc.vt.edu> References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <4j36ev$prl@news.Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE> NNTP-Posting-Host: fenris.campus.vt.edu NNTP-Posting-User: erik X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.apps:13569 comp.os.linux.development.system:19886 comp.os.linux.x:27418 comp.os.linux.hardware:34119 comp.os.linux.setup:46828 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:273 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:2742 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:2526 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:15882 Vladimir Vukicevic (vladimir@Burner.dsg.stanford.edu) wrote: : In article <lVfVxIiCZXEF083yn@cpcug.org> zetan@cpcug.org (David Lerner) writes: : : > I am not a lawyer, but I do try to keep up to date on this issue. I have : > seen conflicting legal rulings about disassembly. One ruling is that it : > involved copying in violation of copyright, and the other that congress, : > in not allowing protection of the underlying algorithm, did not intend : > to prevent the only available means of inspecting the published algorithm. : : However, I don't think people are suggesting disassembly of the drivers -- : but instead allowing the driver to execute, and monitoring registers : and accesses to the card. Would this be illegal? : More is involved than this: Hypothetical code: ( such as in a matrox driver ) outb( 0x3D4, 0x7F ); c = inb( 0x3D5 ); c = ( c * 0x29A ) & 0xFF; outb( 0x3D4, 0xFF ); outb( 0x3D5, c ); Figuring this out by only monitoring the registers is very difficult. Dissassembly lets you know everything...