Free device driver development for Linux - courtesy of Linux kernel community

February 13, 2007
Here is an interesting news fresh out of the oven ... The Linux kernel community is offering all companies free Linux driver development. The modus operandi is perceived to be as follows :

Suppose company A has a device which it needs to work in Linux...

The company sends the specification of the device to the kernel development team. If they do not have the specifications, they may also send the contact mail of their engineer who knows about the device and is willing to answer an occasional question about the device.

Once the device driver has been developed, it is incorporated into the main Linux kernel source tree so that all Linux users who own the device will benefit from it. This driver will work with all of the different CPU types supported by Linux.

This is what the article has to say about non disclosure agreements (NDAs) and I quote :
If your company is worried about NDA issues surrounding your device's specifications, we have arranged a program with OSDL/TLF's Tech Board to provide the legal framework where a company can interact with a member of the kernel community in order to properly assure that all needed NDA requirements are fulfilled.
Apart from the original article, you can also read an FAQ about the declaration here.

1 comments:

  • This are great news! In my opinion this is what is needed for linux to succeed. If linux supported all hardware, I wouldnt be using windows at all. Lets face it: one of the most important part of a OS is hardware support -everything else goes useless without it.