[Gllug] webcams on linux

[David Pashley]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dylan" <dylan at dylan.me.uk>
To: <gllug at linux.co.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 10:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Gllug] webcams on linux


> On Tuesday 18 February 2003 19:48, Mike Brodbelt wrote:
> > but I'm not supporting
> > companies that want to produce binary only drivers.
>
> What, exactly, is the problem here? If we support companies who provide
> drivers, GPL or otherwise, then the companies who don't provide any
> drivers at all are more likely to get the message.
>
> I'd much rather have a functional piece of hardware with binary only
> modules, than non-functional hardware!
>
There are at least 3 problems with binary modules.

1. Any bugs you have to wait for the manufacturer to fix.

2. You have to wait for the manufacturer to update the driver to work with
new versions of the kernel/program (eg sane or gphoto2). Many modules come
out for only one (or a selection of) kernel versions. This means you can
only run those kernels. This is esp bad when they target kernels shipped
with redhat or SuSE. These will probably not work on Debian for example.
 You also get manufacturers (like nVidia) who ship binary objects and a
small source code wrapper. When you try to move to a 2.[56] kernel, these
drivers will not work.

3. You will recieve no help from the open source community. Thin about the
taint flag in the kernel. If your kernel is tainted, and you have an
unrelated problem, you will most likely be ignored or told to go away.



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