| 16:43:21 | prpplague | morning folks |
| 16:43:25 | prpplague | erikm: hows it going? |
| 16:43:32 | erikm | hello prpplague |
| 16:43:36 | prpplague | erikm: keeping blob evolving? |
| 16:43:47 | erikm | yeah, I'm just playing with pcmcia |
| 16:43:57 | erikm | it even looks like the hardware works |
| 16:44:15 | prpplague | erikm: in a fe wmillion year blob might have a spine and a centralized neverous system, lol |
| 16:45:33 | prpplague | erikm: you know when i first was looking at bootloaders i thought blob was not as nice as other bootloaders, ohh how i was wrong |
| 16:45:48 | erikm | heh :) |
| 16:46:23 | erikm | I just found out that my commandlist stuff is pretty neat |
| 16:46:57 | erikm | I just added 12 lines of code to add a command that detects PCMCIA cards on LART |
| 16:50:48 | erikm | now needs a 5V power supply for the card |
| 16:52:44 | erikm | need to solder some stuff on the board, brb |
| 17:22:47 | prpplague_ | erikm: so the pcmcia is working pretty well? |
| 17:25:33 | prpplague_ | erikm: got a question for ya |
| 17:26:24 | prpplague_ | erikm: if a company called you and asked you to get linux running on their board for free what would you say? |
| 17:27:20 | prpplague_ | so long lxrbot |
| 17:27:30 | prpplague_ | wb lxrbot |
| 17:53:14 | erikm | prpplague: depends if they allow me to keep the board |
| 18:30:39 | erikm | right, the hardware seems to be working, I can detect a PCMCIA card in the socket |
| 19:30:00 | prpplague_ | erikm: thats the kicker, not only are they wanting you to do it for free, they want you to pay $3k for the board? |
| 19:30:21 | prpplague_ | erikm: is that crazy or what? |
| 19:31:13 | erikm | if the board is worth $3k, it'll cost them about $1.5k. I don't know what an engineer costs per hour in the US, but I'd say that's almost for free for them |
| 19:31:42 | prpplague_ | erikm: the guy said "i guess this open source community really just doesn't work...." |
| 19:32:18 | erikm | prpplague_: did you explain that giving a board to you would mean they get linux support for free? |
| 19:32:47 | prpplague_ | erikm: ya, and they thought that was crazy, "why should we give a free board?" |
| 19:33:46 | erikm | prpplague_: what did you ask? "why should I work for free?" |
| 19:34:43 | prpplague_ | erikm: yep |
| 19:35:18 | prpplague_ | erikm: and they said "we thought you guys were all into the this free software stuff..." |
| 19:35:45 | prpplague_ | erikm: actual quote afterwards - "Regarding Linux, we're debating here whether or not the "open" system model really works - and struggling to decide how to best support Linux on our hardware." |
| 19:36:18 | prpplague_ | erikm: another quote "We're trying to decide if pooling this diverse group of people will really result in a usable product - or if the idea of GPL development really doesn't work. |
| 19:36:18 | prpplague_ | " |
| 19:36:33 | erikm | prpplague_: point them on the huge success of the ipaq. that's only because compaq gave away some odd 20 ipaqs to key developers |
| 19:36:39 | erikm | prpplague_: or the intel assabet |
| 19:37:09 | prpplague_ | erikm: exactly, one of their biggest contracts has been moved to the ipaq since they don't support linux currently |
| 19:37:35 | prpplague_ | erikm: anyway, i was just feel a little frustrated and wanted to make sure i wasn't out of line |
| 19:38:04 | erikm | no, it's pretty normal that they either give or loan you the hardware |
| 19:38:58 | erikm | even ARM Ltd gives/loans hardware to rmk |