Message-ID: <20001218100429.8407.qmail@pc7.prs.nunet.net>
From: "Rico Tudor" <rico@patrec.com>
Subject: Re: ServerWorks docs?
To: jeff@aslab.com (Jeff Nguyen)
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 100 04:04:29 -0600 (CST)
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
In-Reply-To: <04e401c067d1$1e6a90a0$7818b7c0@aslab.com> from "Jeff Nguyen" at Dec 16, 0 06:29:00 pm
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Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org

Thanks for the offer, but the basic problem remains: no docs.
As jamagallon@able.es noted, http://www.netroedge.com/~lm78/ shows some
cause for hope, but a medium-sized LART is still called for.

My interest in ServerWorks documentation is two-fold: first, to
expand chipset support in my ECC utility and second, to better support
ServerWorks-based machines in my workplace.

On behalf of the Linux community, I would sign NDA if it was civilized
and if my source remained, obviously, public-domain.  I could visit
ServerWorks on my next foray to the Bay Area.

More important to me is ready access to technical documentation to support
machines at work.  I come from the era when PDP-11's were shipped with
schematics, the OS, and the source to the OS.  Things have been going
downhill ever since.  I'm not catching the next plane to the Bay Area
for "eyes only" examination of a document every time a problem arises.
In this regard, companies like IBM Storage and Intel win my kudos,
and my dollars.  ServerWorks may get some of those dollars because they
have an affordable chipset that supports 4 GB, but that advantage can
change overnight.  It's not like IP has a long half-life these days,
unless you can corner the pyramid-building business.

These companies must evaluate their proprietary stance in relation to lost
sales, the more so as free source accelerates.  ATI, Matrox, Adaptec: need
we say more?  But then, I'm preaching to the choir.  Perhaps ServerWorks
should look into their hearts, and decide what small part of their IP
has enormous, eternal value -- the kind that will have them rolling in
dough, just like Scrooge McDuck.  The rest of the specification, like
the miserable ECC circuitry that's been done a million times before,
release it already!  Their adoring Linux fans are waiting.

P.S. I wonder if Via reads this list.
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