From alsa-devel-owner@alsa.jcu.cz  Tue Mar  2 22:30:42 1999
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Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 21:10:08 GMT
From: Steve Ratcliffe <steve@parabola.demon.co.uk>
Message-Id: <199903022110.VAA28357@ariel.sr.home>
To: alsa-devel@alsa.jcu.cz
Subject: Re: updated call.html
Reply-To: alsa-devel@alsa.jcu.cz
Sender: alsa-devel-owner@alsa.jcu.cz
Precedence: list

I don't think that this part is appropriate if the audience
is the card manufacturers:

> The only good reason to release binary-only drivers is to keep the
> sound-card register interface secret. Despite our rantings, we do
> understand this. But it makes us think, if other sound card manufacturers
> are willing to release their specifications, it is probably because their
> card is overall a better design. Cards that hide the their implementation
> behind a well thought out register interface are probably doing more work
> themselves, and relying less on the host CPU to do the work. This makes
> me think that cards whose specifications are not publicly available,
> may not worth buying in the first place for technical. I do suppose
> for your average home user it doesn't really matter. For the serious
> audiophile or musician, it makes all the difference in the world.

By saying this we are just insulting these cards, which is unlikely
to be successful in changing anyones mind.  The paper by
Frank LaMonica, referenced from the call page, warns against this
very thing.

We just need to stick to explaining the benifits, which I think is
well done in the rest of the document.

..Steve

