Comments | pecosdave: I've been toying with an idea.

pecosdave

I've been toying with an idea.

Oct 25, 2005 12:22

I've bought some hardware recently and I'm having all kinds of hell getting it to work on Linux, my lack of broadband is one of the factors in this instance, as 3rd party drivers do exsist, but I am inspired ( Read more... )

soapbox, legal, linux, ramble

Comments 13

nolawitch October 25 2005, 17:32:08 UTC

What a charmingly evil project. I like it. I wish I could be of some assistance with it, but I have no expertise in writing drivers. Pursue it with gusto, but don't bet on it being completed in time for Xmas 2005. Set your sights for 2006.

pecosdave October 25 2005, 17:40:49 UTC

Yeah, kind of my idea.

I was thinking something Yu Gi Oh like, card battles would work. Maybe a programable robot, like Abio, only the toy would have to be cheap enough to have enough people buy it, class action is a must.

Ellison won't do this anymore than Gates would slamlander October 25 2005, 17:41:15 UTC

what makes you think otherwise?

Re: Ellison won't do this anymore than Gates would pecosdave October 25 2005, 17:58:30 UTC

I was hoping maybe he would want to spite Microsoft who has tormented him so.

We might not need so much money. iptv_tech October 25 2005, 17:46:16 UTC

What kind of toy would you like?

Keep in mind with kids toys, they can be very entertaining while remaining very simple :) Simple means cheap to produce.

Re: We might not need so much money. pecosdave October 25 2005, 18:03:29 UTC

Legal fees aren't cheap, we would need a lot of cash to pay for the huge team of lawyers.

Re: We might not need so much money. lab_rattus October 25 2005, 18:21:00 UTC

I am not a lawyer, but I have a recurring nightmare where I am.
*shudder*

You do realize real_skeptic October 25 2005, 18:13:43 UTC

some hardware manufacturers do create Linux drivers for their stuff. Like nvidia, for example. But the free distros can't re-distribute these drivers because they have commercial licenses. Hence you need to download. Or buy a commercial Linux distro (I'm in the Mandriva club, I get the commercial stuff).

So the issue is not just writing drivers for Linux, but also writing them free. Personally I'd rather they'd release the specs than write the drivers. The Linux developers are doing great work developing free drivers for anything they can. And they are peer-reviewed and cleaned way before the lesser Linuxers (such as myself) have to use them. Vendor-written drivers usually suck big time.

Re: You do realize pecosdave October 25 2005, 18:44:11 UTC

Oh I agree with you 100%. I know some vendors like nVidia do commercial drivers. I also know some manufactures write suck drivers like ATI, but they write sucky drivers for Windows to, so thats just an extension ( ... )

Re: You do realize real_skeptic October 25 2005, 21:19:50 UTC

Oh, yah, UMAX. I used to like them - way back then they made great scanners. But when I switched to MacOS X I found that they don't make drivers for it. At all. They gave up the whole Macintosh market.

So I bought an HP scanner.

And I do the same for video cards. I don't buy an ATI if they offer it for me free.

To me it sounds a bit silly of them. Nobody with Linux should buy ATI cards. FPS or not. And nobody at all should buy UMAX products. I wonder at these people. I'm not the only one who won't buy their products. Do they enjoy losing customers or what? Why aren't they thinking like Apple? Apple thinks "Hey, we are a hardware company. We want to sell as many Macs as possible, so let's create an excellent, attractive operating system and people will buy our hardware. We want to sell ipods, so why not make an iTunes software and iTunes store that will make people use our products easily"? In short - make the software to drive the hardware sales.

Hey, if you want to bring cards into this, jpaganel October 25 2005, 19:36:34 UTC

maybe you could do a card game with a barcode on the cards and the device would be a reader. Make sure some info is only accessible through the reader. Readers are cheaper than dirt, how many of those "cats " did Radio Shack just give away?

Re: Hey, if you want to bring cards into this, pecosdave October 25 2005, 19:52:50 UTC

NOW you're thinking! We could have the card databases updated via a USB cable to the PC, but the cards are scanned with a hacked CueCat! I love it.

Re: Hey, if you want to bring cards into this, jpaganel October 26 2005, 00:31:24 UTC

Well, not really a CueCat, but a totally different device called a KueKat. Gotta watch out for copyright....