IRC log for #arm-netbook on 20120219

00:06.33GumbootI guess I haven't seen anything with eSATA, so a tablet would still never be the computer I need.
00:06.51penguin42well it depends what you want to do with it doesn't it
00:08.36Gumbootwants dual gigabit ethernet and SATA.
00:09.48GumbootPretty much just that, actually.  That with enough compute to operate those components efficiently.
00:09.54penguin42I think some of the Marvell chips can do that - e.g. the Sheeva plug stuff - or their newer chips
00:10.42GumbootThe other thing I wanted was a portable ssh client.  An ARM netbook.
00:10.58penguin42ASUS Transformer
00:11.24GumbootThat's been recommended to me before, actually.
00:12.14penguin42not cheap though
00:12.23GumbootI nearly did, but then I saw it was only Tegra 2.  No NEON.  At the time that kind of offended me.
00:13.23penguin42nod; the Transformer Primes have the newer Tegra - I assume they have Neon?
00:14.05GumbootI believe they do, yes.
00:19.44GumbootI spent a long time looking for netbooks.  At the time there were a lot being announced, but they all fell through.  Then I started to wonder about a tablet and a chorded keyboard.
00:22.55penguin42I've seen one add chording onto mobiles
02:29.01xvilkahi! anyone know cheap avr or pic tiny pcb with gpio pins - i need upgrade some locomotive toy?
02:37.52A2Shedshow small does the board need to be?
02:39.54A2Shedsxvilka: the stm32 dev boards are only $10 and up
02:40.49A2Shedshttp://pjrc.com/teensy/index.html  or these for $16
02:42.44A2Shedshttp://www.futurlec.com/ET-AVR_Stamp.shtml
02:43.16A2Shedshttp://www.futurlec.com/ET-PIC_Stamp.shtml
02:45.08A2Shedshttp://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/STMicroelectronics/STM32VLDISCOVERY/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuqBwn8WqcFUl6U5N3WXcwphmvSj8wh2%252bI%3d
02:45.19A2Sheds$9.88
02:52.51A2ShedsSlow smartphone? It's not the network, it's NAND flash  http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9224352/Slow_smartphone_It_s_not_the_network_it_s_NAND_flash
02:53.53A2Shedshttp://static.usenix.org/events/fast12/tech/full_papers/Kim.pdf  Revisiting Storage for Smartphones
03:17.28xvilkathx
11:11.46*** join/#arm-netbook gordan (~gordan@78-86-195-86.zone2.bethere.co.uk)
12:53.55*** join/#arm-netbook penguin42 (~dg@tu006.demon.co.uk)
14:42.07*** join/#arm-netbook mikey_w (~mike@pool-74-110-218-2.rcmdva.fios.verizon.net)
17:19.45lkclhttp://www.telechips.com/eng/Product/mobile_pro09.asp
17:20.03lkclanyone got any contact with telechips?
17:25.44lkclthe TCC8901 looks extremely good
17:25.53lkclsorry
17:25.54lkcl8801
17:25.56lkclTCC 8801
17:36.34mnemocwants one a10 eoma68 module...
17:44.18mnemoclkcl: what gpu does the ttc8801 have? kernel and library sources?
17:58.22penguin42lkcl: Ooh that does look nice
17:58.46penguin42It's got PCI-e
18:00.40penguin42lkcl: https://www.telechips.com/technical_support/kor/opensource/opensource_list.asp
18:05.23penguin42looks like it's connected to the internet via a 9k6 line
18:13.06A2ShedsI tried to contact them last year, they are another co that is picky about who they trade parts for money with
18:13.32A2Shedsthere are some SDK's floating around out there as well
18:14.03A2Shedsand weren't they another co on the list of GPL violators?
18:15.58A2Shedshttp://wenku.baidu.com/view/e7bd54f79e314332396893c8.html
18:16.57A2Shedspassword protected android and linux git server
18:18.41A2Shedswasn' the top speed something like 700mhz for cortex a8?
18:19.49A2Shedssorry, 1.2GHz for the 8801
18:20.23A2Shedshttp://hi.baidu.com/liulin61914517/blog/item/8cca5bd594c95b0962279855.html
18:25.08A2Shedshttp://www.xh-hope.com/at002.html
18:40.00penguin42that tar has a TCC88xx in
18:44.02penguin42and a bunch of other tcc stuff - tcc92xx, 892x, 88xx, 93xx
18:46.43penguin42careful, it has a gpu/mali
18:47.47penguin42hmm mind you - some of the (c) in that mali directory is (c) 2011 ARM and has a GPLv2 header
18:52.46penguin42some files are (c) all rights reserved telechips in other parts of the tree
19:49.15*** join/#arm-netbook penguin42 (~dg@tu006.demon.co.uk)
20:25.40lkclA2Sheds: yes strictly speaking they have completely lost all rights under the GPL to even operate as a SoC company, and are now classified as a Criminal Organisation under Copyright Law.
20:26.10lkclA2Sheds: TI has Cortex A8 running at 1.5ghz
20:28.56lkcltelechips referring people to dhkip.com patent lawyer in korea??
20:32.10GumbootWhat did they do?
20:33.00lkclcaused people to sign NDAs before allowing them access to GPL linux kernel source code
20:33.39lkclfor GPLv2 software, the penalties are automatic and severe: you *absolutely* have no rights - you lose rights under the terms of the GPL.
20:33.50lkclthus you end up falling back to "default copyright law"
20:33.57penguin42lkcl: I've seen one person say that you can immediately get those back just by receiving a new copy of it
20:34.00A2ShedsI tried to work with them last year
20:34.00lkcland that means you have to ask permission of the copyright holders
20:34.05lkclno, you can't
20:34.19A2Shedsall we could find was some leaked kernel and android sdk's
20:34.27lkcland that means you have to ask 1,000+ people for permission
20:34.47penguin42some of whom are dead
20:34.53lkclpenguin42: precisely.
20:34.56penguin42lkcl: Still, the telechips code seems to be on their site now
20:35.06lkclor no longer work for the company ... etc. etc.
20:35.09GumbootThere's piles of binary-only stuff in the Linux kernel.  How does everyone else get away with it?
20:35.31penguin42Gumboot: It's normally firmware to run on the non-main cpu
20:35.39lkclyes, because they got told off by the SFLC
20:35.52GumbootAnd the rest?
20:36.03lkclGumboot: if people create .o files (ok .ko) - they *don't* "get away" with it.
20:36.12lkclthat's what the "Taints kernel" thing is about
20:36.15penguin42Gumboot: I don't think there is any binary in the main kernel tree that runs on the main cpu
20:36.56lkclbut, actually, because nobody (linux kernel copyright holders) has *actually* taken any company to task on this
20:37.19lkclthey're running the risk of *never* being able to tackle this ("estoppel defense")
20:37.30penguin42does have a slightly odd view on this - if I bought a card which had it's own flash storage on and had it's firmware in there noone would ever complain; but if the same firmware was loaded from the host we do - why? It just implies that a board people are happy to use has to spend an extra $5 on flash
20:38.23GumbootPresumably the bad thing is to release binaries at a more public level than source.
20:38.33lkclpenguin42: this is why debian has the "nonfree" repository.
20:38.53GumbootOtherwise, every tweak I do to a kernel to make it work right would make me a violator, because I simply can't be bothered to make all my tweaks in a place where they're automatically publicly accessible.
20:40.15GumbootFlash is still hazardous, of course.  Technically even masked rom is hazardous, but that's normally well controlled.
20:40.20penguin42Gumboot: it's hard fo rcompanies to organise it right; because in practice they don't want to expose an internal git tree, since they want sign off before releasing things and may have stuff that's on a timed-NDA which the source will get released (hopefully at the same time as the binary)
20:41.41GumbootAnd fumbling that gets you shitlisted?
20:42.13A2Shedsthere's a bit of a difference between somebody tweaking kernel and an ASIC vendor making people sign NDA's to get a Linux SDK and kernel source
20:42.41penguin42Gumboot: can do -  while I think some of the companies are being shit, others just haven't sorted out how to wrangle their source at the same time as their binary
20:47.45GumbootThis is why I only ever ended up contributing to BSD projects.
21:04.25lkclGumboot: and look how well that's working out.  apple's proprietary kernel is BSD-based.  android is apache2-based.  microsoft's proprietary TCP stack is BSD-based.  microsoft's successful domination of computing is all thanks to DCE/RPC
21:05.22lkclok.  i'm too damn cold to sit down here (fire's out).  waaargh! :)
21:05.24lkclnight folks
21:07.24penguin42and that's the problem with low power CPUs
21:58.32GumbootI thought Microsoft eventually rewrote their TCP/IP stack.
21:58.46GumbootIn any case, do we actually need to see its source code?  Is it worth seeing?
21:59.25GumbootSame for OSX.  Is there anything really important in its source code?
23:46.01*** join/#arm-netbook gordan (~gordan@78-86-195-86.zone2.bethere.co.uk)

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