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First off, I guess everyone on this list has heard by now that Netscape is giving away the source to their browser. I want to congratulate Richard on a fine job with the NPR interview this afternoon! This thread being discussed here could not have happened at a more serendipitous time. If Netscape can do it, and Sun has already done it with NFS and olwm, then we have empirical evidence that we are on the right track! >>>>> "Alec" == Alec Cawley <alec@cawley.demon.co.uk> writes: Alec> It seems to me that the publication of good hardware designs Alec> is as much a public good as the publication of good software Alec> design. If a designer has a greater library of proven Alec> solutions at his fingertips, he can create better Alec> producs. He has to spend less time reinventing the wheel. Alec> By insisting on GPL/GPLL for hardware designs, the FSF is Alec> promoting (to the best of it's limited ability) the approach Alec> of the originator loosing a small potential monopoly profit Alec> in order to achieve a much greater public benefit into the Alec> hardware arena. It seems to me exactly in accordance with Alec> the FSF philosopy and aims that it should do so. The Alec> benefits, however large or small they may be, to those who Alec> chose to take the proprietary path, are no concern to the Alec> FSF. I missed something. Where does the FSF "insist" on GPL for *HARDWARE* designs? (see below...) Alec> In fact, it seems to me that the barriers to copying in Alec> hardware are far greater than in software. I can copy a Alec> complete software product with a few keystrokes. To Alec> duplicate the hardware, I have to get a machine readable Alec> circuit diagram, lay it out, get it manufactured, get it Alec> populated, obtain sources for programmables.... Actually, most new integrated circuits are designed with a programming language for describing and simulating digital circuit behaviour. The 2 dominant languages are Verilog and VHDL. They each have their good and bad points. But my point is this: hardware is just a source file too, just like software! So when will the FSF start addressing the development of hardware? There is already a Verilog simulation system available under GPL or some other free software arrangement. What is needed is a systhesizer, which is the tool that converts the HDL to a netlist of low level gates, somewhat like the code generation phase of a software compiler, and a floorplanning tool, which essentially does the job of a linking loader for hardware. Then, once the free tools are available, we need to build up a body of free circuits -- cpus, memory managers, device controllers, signal processors, memories, graphics accelerators, encryption engines, etc. With such a library to draw on, the users of free hardware could design devices quickly and easily. The first synthesizer targets should be FPGAs, since no foundry is needed. This should significantly increase sales of FPGA chips, so one could expect the FPGA vendors to subsidize the development of these targets. Alec> -- Alec Cawley Newbury Berks, UK -- -------- "And there came a writing to him from Elijah" [2Ch 21:12] -------- Robert Jay Brown III rj@eli.elilabs.com http://www.elilabs.com 1 847 705-0424 Elijah Laboratories Inc.; 37 South Greenwood Avenue; Palatine, IL 60067-6328 ----- M o d e l i n g t h e M e t h o d s o f t h e M i n d ------