Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!inferno.mpx.com.au!news.mel.aone.net.au!imci4!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!news.mathworks.com!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!leasion!leasion!not-for-mail From: mark@leasion.demon.co.uk (Mark Evans) 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: 30 Mar 1996 11:32:02 GMT Organization: Electronic Services Lines: 13 Message-ID: <4jj63i$79@leasion.demon.co.uk> References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <4j6msk$ho@darkstar.my.lan> <827851310.2@cs.york.ac.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: leasion.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: leasion.demon.co.uk X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950515BETA PL0] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.apps:13752 comp.os.linux.development.system:20145 comp.os.linux.x:27797 comp.os.linux.hardware:34576 comp.os.linux.setup:47557 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:322 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:2821 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:2601 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:16141 Charles Forsyth (forsyth@plan9.cs.york.ac.uk) wrote: : i have heard the argument many times that releasing hardware-level/register-level : programming information for a device will allow `their technology to be stolen by competitors'. : : presumably any serious potentital competitor will not be stopped by this: : if they are intending to clone it, they will take the card apart, : apply logic analysers, disassemble the ROMs, and generally reverse-engineer : the hardware, since that's the thing that normally gives the device its : speed, not the programming interface. More likely they just pop the tops off the chips and copy the design, with eproms they can be copied easily.