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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!news.vbc.net!alpha.sky.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-chi-13.sprintlink.net!news-res.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!news.imag.fr!knaff From: knaff@choiseul.inrialpes.fr (Alain Knaff) 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,misc.consumers Subject: Re: Why to not buy Matrox Millennium Date: 6 Aug 1996 15:42:10 GMT Organization: None Lines: 57 Message-ID: <slrn50epup.vrk.knaff@choiseul.inrialpes.fr> References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <4j36ev$prl@news.Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE> <32023A5E.7623@alaska.net> <stephenkDvp30A.366@netcom.com> <4u7hv4$jcd@agate.nbnet.nb.ca> Reply-To: Alain.Knaff@inrialpes.fr NNTP-Posting-Host: isis.imag.fr Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-No-Archive: yes X-Newsreader: slrn (0.8.8.4 (BETA) UNIX) Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.apps:19898 comp.os.linux.development.system:29263 comp.os.linux.x:37420 comp.os.linux.hardware:46706 comp.os.linux.setup:67466 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:980 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:4497 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:4267 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:25029 misc.consumers:93776 In <4u7hv4$jcd@agate.nbnet.nb.ca>, Lance Cavener <cavenerl@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote: :On stardate Tue, 6 Aug 1996 02:31:22 GMT, stephenk@netcom.com (Stephen :Knilans) sent holographic email and wrote: : :>In article <32023A5E.7623@alaska.net> hmmm <hmmm@alaska.net> writes: :>>> >information, I suggest no one interested in running a free Unix system :>>> >buy their products. :>>> :>>> I perfectly understand Matrox's decision not to give away details on :>>> their cards and programming interface. They are afraid of reverse :>>> engineering - as are many of the pc card vendors - did you ever care to : :>I have reverse engineered software AND hardware! BELIEVE me, you DON'T :>need software to reverse engineer hardware! Look at wozniak! HE decided :>to get an IBM controller so he COULD cheat, but he DIDN'T! He had problems :>with HIS, and found that his did MORE than the IBM one! SO, using info from :>both, he designed what came to be known as "the woz machine"! He just looked :>at the board! : : Well good for you. You know how to remove chips. I buy products for :the QUALITY not to see if I can reverse engeneer it or screw it all :up. The point is that Matrox users _have_ to reverse engineer cards if they want to use them, because no proper documentation is available. : And Matrox makes the best/fastest cards, and they last long: thats They may be the best, but they are pretty useless until they are properly documented. :all that counts. Who gives a shit if you don't have full schematics of :their cards? Nice strawman. Nobody is asking for schematics. : Its THEIR choice weither or not to give out details - its And its OUR choice not to buy their products, and to warn fellow consumers about their cards. :the same issue as source code, if you buy Mortal Combat 10, should you :be entitled to the source too? No. There you go. But playing instructions would be nice (and are usually included). : I don't know about :you people, but up here in Canada, not giving out schematics is :perfectly legal. That's not the point. -- Linux - Why use Windows, since there is a door? Alain