**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Tue Jun 03 02:59:57 2008 Jun 03 09:40:01 openwiz: efry * r5 wizmac/trunk/ (10 files in 4 dirs): Jun 03 09:40:01 openwiz: Added a filesize column to the index table. Jun 03 09:40:01 openwiz: Remember the last IP address when the application is shutdown. Jun 03 09:40:01 openwiz: Changed WizFile::filesizeString to display in GB for file sizes > 1GB Jun 03 13:19:38 hi peteru Jun 03 13:20:32 Evening. Jun 03 13:21:34 any luck with getting the kernel source from bw? Jun 03 13:22:00 No response :-( Jun 03 13:22:07 ah k Jun 03 13:24:19 Perhaps the point would get through if they received a request every 2-3 days, each time from a different person. Jun 03 13:24:56 I wonder how many people we could muster? Jun 03 13:27:47 Or maybe I should just contact gpl-violations.org - Harald happens to be the copyright owner of large chunks of the networking code in the kernel and has a pretty good track record of negotiating compliance. Jun 03 13:28:21 He's even managed to take a few companies to court and win. Jun 03 13:28:29 do you think that would hurt relations between bw and the community? Jun 03 13:29:20 Hard to say. I don't particularly want to go down the path, but as time goes on, there are fewer and fewer options remaining. Jun 03 13:30:26 It may not be all that bad - it certainly turned things around with Linksys for the good. Jun 03 13:30:38 true Jun 03 13:31:13 I can't see why they are so hesitant? Jun 03 13:31:29 I just read your post in the wizmac src thread Jun 03 13:31:43 yeah I'm using your openwiz icon Jun 03 13:31:44 :) Jun 03 13:32:03 that would be great if I could get the svg file. Jun 03 13:32:17 or even just a raster copy at 512x512 Jun 03 13:32:19 It's a fairly typical attitude from most South-East Asian companies. I guess there's very little respect for intellectual property and IP theft is a commonplace occurence. Jun 03 13:32:38 ah k Jun 03 13:32:52 so they are worried about their own ip? Jun 03 13:34:45 I think it's a typical case of staying ahead of the kids next door. Grab what you can from wherever and keep it all a secret. The less information gets out, the harder it is for the guys next door to grab what you have done and improve it, thus beating you at your own game. Jun 03 13:35:17 i would like to know why Ian thinks they are more than a one man band Jun 03 13:35:38 when steve was communicating with us, it had his name all thru the source Jun 03 13:35:47 now it has hanjo's name all thru the source Jun 03 13:35:57 Let's face it, in the last couple of months, the OpenSource developers would have probably put Beyonwiz to shame if we could get access to their code and fix it up. Jun 03 13:36:00 well, you know what I mean Jun 03 13:36:12 hey Tony Jun 03 13:36:22 fix the friggin aspect ratio bug for a start Jun 03 13:36:45 i don't think they have any clue about what I am talking about when i mention they are interpreting the SDE incorrectly Jun 03 13:37:06 i am guessing this is because they take everything Sigma designs says as gospel or something Jun 03 13:37:09 hey guys Jun 03 13:37:10 I have my reasons for suspecting that it's a very small group. I'd estimate it at less than 10 engineers in the whole company, including hardware people. Jun 03 13:38:37 Actually, I think there's probably no more than 3 clued people and perhaps another 3-5 who are managers or juniors. Jun 03 13:39:16 how would you say that compares with topfield? Jun 03 13:39:17 agree.. i don't really mean they are a one man band of course, but essentially Steve was the main coder, now out of action, now Hanjo is the main coder Jun 03 13:39:25 Topfield had over 20 Jun 03 13:39:35 there was a pic of the team in one of the TAP downloads Jun 03 13:39:51 but again, how many sales vs engineers, dunno Jun 03 13:40:06 this was in 2003 of course too... dunno now Jun 03 13:40:26 the 7k appears to be a worse piece of shit than the wiz was 1year ago Jun 03 13:40:43 silly bugs that would drive most people to drink Jun 03 13:44:37 People always ask me to recommend a PVR Jun 03 13:44:49 I struggle Jun 03 13:45:06 same here.... if they have a 16 : 9 tv I have no hesitation in recommending the Wiz Jun 03 13:45:33 but the Wiz lacking P&S/centre cut is a bit of a joke Jun 03 13:46:13 yeah that's a pretty main feature Jun 03 13:46:33 it is the reason I bought a big LCD really :-) Jun 03 13:46:42 Building PVRs is hard, because most of the time the underlying technology is out of your hands. For the TF7k it's Broadcom that holds all the cards, for DP-x1 it's SigmaDesigns. Jun 03 13:47:22 Funny thing is, most of the issues with the Beyonwiz seem to be in Beyonwiz code. Jun 03 13:47:24 yeah, Topfield must have had a better relationship with Nec for the 5K... mind you, look at how many improvements the MIPS hackers have added Jun 03 13:47:52 Having stat files named "at" is clearly a bug waiting to bite Jun 03 13:48:16 I think a lot of the TF5k stuff ended up drifting in from Humax. Jun 03 13:48:38 they might code around that, but then when some other unpredictable behaviour happens, it was likely some rogue code or buffer overruns or goodness knows what the heck is happening... Jun 03 13:51:43 SigmaDesigns want about US$10-15k before they'll let you have a devboard and a look at the SDK. They are so arrogant, they won't even tell you what you will get for your $$$ before you decide to pay. Jun 03 13:53:46 Broadcom won't talk to you if you don't have business plans and enough capital to order 10k+ units to start off, but from what I hear, you won't really get much support from them until you start placing orders in the 100's of thousands. Jun 03 13:54:43 That's why a lot of the smaller players go with SigmaDesigns - they will work with the smaller companies, but you get small company treatment. Jun 03 13:55:51 peteru: have you heard about open pandora? Jun 03 13:56:00 Of course, that still doesn't explain why Beyonwiz are 1.5 generations behind in terms of the hardware design that they ship and why so many bugs are apparently in their own code and have been so for more than a year. Jun 03 13:56:10 they are building a small openish gaminging handheld Jun 03 13:56:25 Yuv422: Nope. Got a URL handy? Jun 03 13:56:59 http://www.openpandora.org/index.php Jun 03 13:59:09 Cute. Jun 03 13:59:34 I think they are planning an initial run of about 3000 units Jun 03 14:05:24 I was hoping that the HD Dreambox PVR would be on the market by now, but it does not look like it's anywhere near production status. Jun 03 14:06:06 I wonder if ATI / AMD will be open with their Xileon platform so that they can gain some market share. Jun 03 14:07:54 via seems to be opensource friendly at the moment Jun 03 14:08:25 I'm off to bed now Jun 03 22:20:14 openwiz: efry * r6 wizmac/trunk/ (4 files in 2 dirs): Jun 03 22:20:14 openwiz: Fixed bug with download queue trying to download multiple files at once. Jun 03 22:20:14 openwiz: Thanks to John 'Vatoe' for spotting that one. Jun 03 22:20:14 openwiz: WizMac now remembers the last port used. **** ENDING LOGGING AT Wed Jun 04 02:59:57 2008