Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 20:01:49 -0300 (ADT) From: "Marc G. Fournier" <scrappy@freebsd.org> To: Pedro Martelletto <pedro@ambientworks.net> Cc: misc@openbsd.org, Harpalus a Como <harpalus.como@gmail.com>, "Constantine A. Murenin" <mureninc@gmail.com>, "Marc G. Fournier" <scrappy@freebsd.org>, Thorsten Glaser <tg@mirbsd.de>, netbsd-users@netbsd.org, miros-discuss@mirbsd.org, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: The future of NetBSD Message-ID: <20060831195609.P82634@hub.org> In-Reply-To: <20060831223543.GC15085@jp.animata.net> References: <20060830232723.GU10101@multics.mit.edu> <98f5a8830608301731s2b0663e3g94b0bd32f8a06a78@mail.gmail.com> <c6d37fe0608310259k12fe629eve59e59042fcfdb4c@mail.gmail.com> <Pine.BSM.4.64L.0608311312190.8977@odem.66h.42h.de> <950621ad0608310654h78ae0023g346abd108815ae72@mail.gmail.com> <20060831110112.J82634@hub.org> <f34ca13c0608310843p4e28b57eoec2f60737c034ddb@mail.gmail.com> <20060831184715.B82634@hub.org> <20060831223543.GC15085@jp.animata.net>
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On Thu, 31 Aug 2006, Pedro Martelletto wrote: > On Thu, Aug 31, 2006 at 06:50:00PM -0300, Marc G. Fournier wrote: >> Even at the kernel level? Look at device drivers and vendors as one >> example ... companies like adaptec have to write *one* device driver, for, >> what, 50+ distributions of linux ... for us, they need to write one for >> FreeBSD, one for NetBSD, one for OpenBSD, and *now* one for DragonflyBSD >> ... if we had *at least* a common API for that sort of stuff, it might be >> asier to get support at the vendor level, no? > > Vendors should release documentation, not write drivers. In a perfect world, they all would ... this is not a perfect world, it is one dominated by Linux or Microsoft ... I use Adaptec drivers on 3 of my servers, because, in 4.x, they were rock solid ... in 6.x, they have a problem ... I'd like to be able to go out and upgrade those servers to a vendor that provides "documentation", but its a cost I can't afford at this time ... so, should I then switch to Linux because they do welcome 'vendor written drivers'? Rhetorical question, since I do not consider switching to Linux an option ... instead, I'm trying to do something to help *BSD advocates promote *BSD to those vendors (see http://www.bsdstats.org) by showing them that we aren't just a 'hobbiest operating system' ... what my point is, though, is if we aren't willing to accept 'vendor written drivers', then it is *we* that are limiting our growth but limiting what hardware we can run stably on ...
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