<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 15:01, Worik Stanton <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:worik.stanton@gmail.com">worik.stanton@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
But the same is true for the HVR-2200 is it not? Looking at<br>
<a href="http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-HVR-2200#Making_it_Work" target="_blank">http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-HVR-2200#Making_it_Work</a> it<br>
sems you have to download "firmware" to make it work. Is that not a<br>
"binary blob drivers"?</blockquote><div><br>No. A "binary blob" driver interfaces to the kernel so it is sensitive to changes in the kernel. It requires a vendor who is willing to track those changes and possibly support multiple versions of the driver for different kernel versions. It also "taints" the kernel - the kernel developers will no longer provide support because they don't know what is going on inside the driver. Binary drivers can be well supported - the nVidia X driver is the obvious example, but few vendors are willing or able to provide the level of support necessary.<br>
<br>OTOH firmware runs on the device and interfaces to the driver. It is isolated from the kernel by the driver and so it doesn't taint the kernel and isn't affected by changes to the kernel. It is very closely tied to the hardware and really should be considered to be part of the device. Few (if any) vendors are willing to provide open source firmware. But having the firmware upload to the device makes it easier for users to upgrade.<br>
<br>Cheers,<br>Steve<br></div></div>