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2011-02-14
, 04:06
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Posts: 427 |
Thanked: 160 times |
Joined on Nov 2009
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#2
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what are their odds of success with reverse engineering? is it basically brute force and time until it works?
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2011-02-14
, 04:09
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Posts: 2,802 |
Thanked: 4,491 times |
Joined on Nov 2007
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#4
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Look at the other items on the FSF's priority list and realise you're in for quite a long wait before something usable emerges, by which time the hardware you wanted to use it on will be obsolete.
ARM's Mali looks like a better long-term bet.
ARM's Mali looks like a better long-term bet.
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2011-02-14
, 04:53
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Posts: 842 |
Thanked: 1,197 times |
Joined on May 2010
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#5
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Ima, I would argue that it all comes down to a simple question: "Who cares about it?"
If the answer is "A few OSS advocates", nothing will happen. If it's "A bunch of users", not much will happen. But if the answer is "One or more kernel devs"(say, because they happen to have a N900 and want a driver to play some game)... It will probably happen in a matter of a month or two.
Thing is, of all the things on that list I don't see anything that would actually get some programmer to go work on it, unless he happens to really want it done - I mean, who -really- cares about a Google Earth replacement? Google's got a good API and it -works-, even on Linux!
On the other hand, if some dev wants to install Debian on his phone and decides he needs an open GPU driver... Amazing things can easily happen.
If the answer is "A few OSS advocates", nothing will happen. If it's "A bunch of users", not much will happen. But if the answer is "One or more kernel devs"(say, because they happen to have a N900 and want a driver to play some game)... It will probably happen in a matter of a month or two.
Thing is, of all the things on that list I don't see anything that would actually get some programmer to go work on it, unless he happens to really want it done - I mean, who -really- cares about a Google Earth replacement? Google's got a good API and it -works-, even on Linux!
On the other hand, if some dev wants to install Debian on his phone and decides he needs an open GPU driver... Amazing things can easily happen.
__________________
My projects: BackupMenu - OS Backup & restore | Video: Flashing your n900(LiveCD)
My devices: N770 + 8GB SD card soldered internally, N900 with 8GB SD card + Custom OC(125-950 typically).
OC freqs: 0:22,90 125:22,90 250:28,180 500:30,360 550:32,400 600:34,430 700:39,430 750:41,430 805:45,430 850:47,500 900:50,500 950:54,500 1000:58,500 1100:67,520 1150:71,520
My projects: BackupMenu - OS Backup & restore | Video: Flashing your n900(LiveCD)
My devices: N770 + 8GB SD card soldered internally, N900 with 8GB SD card + Custom OC(125-950 typically).
OC freqs: 0:22,90 125:22,90 250:28,180 500:30,360 550:32,400 600:34,430 700:39,430 750:41,430 805:45,430 850:47,500 900:50,500 950:54,500 1000:58,500 1100:67,520 1150:71,520
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2011-02-14
, 05:02
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Posts: 1,746 |
Thanked: 2,100 times |
Joined on Sep 2009
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#6
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Which is to say, sticking with the status quo:
And it's precisely that which is already available from Qualcomm, PowerVR, and Nvidia. Unsurprisingly, none of it has been accepted into the Linux kernel, and none of it gets you anything more than a software framebuffer unless you have a license to the driver source from the IP vendor.
The FSF is looking at the userspace, which is where all the valuable, useful bits like OpenGL ES 2 support is, and is no more likely to be opened by ARM than it is anyone else.
For the r2p0 release we've opened up all the Linux kernel side components of the Mali drivers under the GPLv2.
The FSF is looking at the userspace, which is where all the valuable, useful bits like OpenGL ES 2 support is, and is no more likely to be opened by ARM than it is anyone else.
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2011-02-15
, 08:02
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Posts: 76 |
Thanked: 87 times |
Joined on Mar 2010
@ Scotland
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#7
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Originally Posted by jerryfreak
It's usually done by having people run opengl tests and seeing what the graphics chip does. It's not as difficult as you may think.
what are their odds of success with reverse engineering? is it basically brute force and time until it works?
There is already quite a lot of groundwork in place for this driver. We might start seeing something usable in the next few months.
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2011-02-15
, 08:08
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Posts: 1,680 |
Thanked: 3,685 times |
Joined on Jan 2011
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#8
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Remember abrahams dictum:
It is cheaper to reverse engineer than re-engineer.
It is cheaper to reverse engineer than re-engineer.
__________________
N900: One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.
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2011-02-15
, 08:53
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Posts: 992 |
Thanked: 738 times |
Joined on Jun 2010
@ Low Earth Orbit
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#9
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Originally Posted by ktchiu
That is Microsoft's idea of "innovation". I hope the FOSS community would never stoop that low.
Perhaps someone with access to the actual drivers can "leak" it and pretend that it was reverse-engineered
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2011-02-15
, 09:32
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Posts: 2,102 |
Thanked: 1,309 times |
Joined on Sep 2006
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#10
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I guess it should be doable to sit in between the small and simple kernel module (which is not really the problem) and the rather large and complex user-space libraries, which are, and intercept the communications, mapping them to specific OpenGL calls. Would take time though.
FSF intend to rapidly develop an open/free PowerVR driver. This means all kinds of good stuff for maemo, it brings us much closer to a fully open phone and who knows, maybe we could start using newer kernels and other niceness in the future..