Template:3rd party drivers: Difference between revisions
W3ird n3rd (talk | contribs) (Created page with "<div style="padding: 1px 2px 1px 2px; background-color: #ffeaa5; border: solid 1px #ffeaa5; font-size:-1;"> Why you SHOULD NOT want a device with 3rd party drivers: Sometimes a ...") |
(#2 of disadvantage removed, http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#SystemLibraryException thus not incompatible.) |
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Why you SHOULD NOT want a device with 3rd party drivers: |
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== In-Kernel Drivers == |
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<b>Advantages:</b><br/> |
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Sometimes there is another v4l-dvb fork, think multiproto, em28xx-new or s2-liplianin. These either get merged into v4l-dvb or are eventually forgotten. Sometimes a user has written a patch for a particular device, but the patch for whatever reason is not incorporated in v4l-dvb. And sometimes the manufacturer creates their own closed-source driver, like nVidia does for graphics chips. |
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1. It's possible your device will work.. for the moment.<br/> |
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2. If the manufacturer provides open source drivers with an acceptable license, volunteers could technically implement this code in the Linux kernel for true support. However.. : |
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<b>Disadvantages:</b><br/> |
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Whatever the cause, all these are not part of v4l-dvb. Sooner or later the user or manufacturer will stop supporting these, but the Linux kernel will move on. When that happens, you have a few options: |
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1. The quality of the code (if open, there are also cases where you just get a binary blob) too often just isn't good enough and there's still too much work to be done to make the device work. There was probably a reason the manufacturer didn't just send their patches to the linux-media mailinglist.<br/> |
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2. Depending on what exactly the manufacturer did, you may have to reinstall the drivers every time your kernel is updated.<br/> |
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3. When the manufacturer stops updating the drivers, the drivers will quickly refuse to install as newer kernels are released.<br/> |
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In case a manufacturer provides open source drivers the patches can be sent to the linux-media mailinglist [mailto:majordomo@vger.kernel.org?body=subscribe%20linux-media Linux-Media Mailing List] (LMML). Keep in mind however that if the license isn't compatible with the Linux kernel or the quality of the code isn't good enough, these will not become a part of the Linux kernel.<br /> |
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1. Stick with your current kernel for ever and ever. Not recommended.<br /> |
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2. Create and submit a patch for v4l-dvb to support the device that does get incorporated in v4l-dvb. Unless you're a programmer, you may not be able to.<br /> |
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3. Hire someone else to do that. May be expensive.<br /> |
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4. Buy a new device. Oh, you probably shouldn't have bought this one in the first place.<br /> |
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== Closed source userspace drivers (mostly Sundtek) == |
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You can contact the [mailto:majordomo@vger.kernel.org?body=subscribe%20linux-media Linux-Media Mailing List] (LMML) and see if perhaps there is a developer who would be willing to borrow your device to create support for it. No guarantees though. |
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<b>Advantages:</b><br/> |
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In the end, you should (sadly) generally not buy these. |
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1. Same driver for nearly all Linux versions starting from 2.6.15 on.<br/> |
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2. No need to reinstall drivers when your kernel is updated.<br/> |
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3. Your device could work well.<br/> |
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4. Drivers can be profiled easily and more accurately than in kernelspace.<br/> |
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5. If the driver crashes, it won't crash the kernel. (so the system will stay uneffected).<br/> |
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6. If the manufacturer would stop to support the drivers, the userspace driver will still continue to work with newer Linux systems since the Kernelspace <-> Userspace interfaces are fixed and are not meant to be changed.<br/> |
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7. Application based drivers are modern since they use modern Linux interfaces (eg. stable Userspace USB Interfaces since 2006) which did not exist when legacy Kernel drivers were invented<br/> |
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<b>Disadvantages:</b><br/> |
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1. You can't look into the sources. For end-users this is generally not a problem, but for programmers and people who like to hack their devices or are trying to fix bugs, it would be a disadvantage. If you just want to watch television, this does not concern you.<br/> |
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Examples: |
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Currently relevant since Linux has an unstable USB 3.0 Kernel stack: |
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Sundtek based tuners are used to debug general USB 3.0 Kernel issues, because the application based drivers themselves cannot crash the system. |
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Such Kernel issues also affect legacy drivers but legacy drivers are able to trigger other problems (follow-up problems) by themselves which could be triggered due the faulty Linux USB 3.0 stack which makes debugging much harder. |
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Revision as of 10:37, 3 September 2014
Sometimes a manufacturer forks v4l-dvb all on their own and writes a driver for their device so they can claim Linux support.
In-Kernel Drivers
Advantages:
1. It's possible your device will work.. for the moment.
2. If the manufacturer provides open source drivers with an acceptable license, volunteers could technically implement this code in the Linux kernel for true support. However.. :
Disadvantages:
1. The quality of the code (if open, there are also cases where you just get a binary blob) too often just isn't good enough and there's still too much work to be done to make the device work. There was probably a reason the manufacturer didn't just send their patches to the linux-media mailinglist.
2. Depending on what exactly the manufacturer did, you may have to reinstall the drivers every time your kernel is updated.
3. When the manufacturer stops updating the drivers, the drivers will quickly refuse to install as newer kernels are released.
In case a manufacturer provides open source drivers the patches can be sent to the linux-media mailinglist Linux-Media Mailing List (LMML). Keep in mind however that if the license isn't compatible with the Linux kernel or the quality of the code isn't good enough, these will not become a part of the Linux kernel.
Closed source userspace drivers (mostly Sundtek)
Advantages:
1. Same driver for nearly all Linux versions starting from 2.6.15 on.
2. No need to reinstall drivers when your kernel is updated.
3. Your device could work well.
4. Drivers can be profiled easily and more accurately than in kernelspace.
5. If the driver crashes, it won't crash the kernel. (so the system will stay uneffected).
6. If the manufacturer would stop to support the drivers, the userspace driver will still continue to work with newer Linux systems since the Kernelspace <-> Userspace interfaces are fixed and are not meant to be changed.
7. Application based drivers are modern since they use modern Linux interfaces (eg. stable Userspace USB Interfaces since 2006) which did not exist when legacy Kernel drivers were invented
Disadvantages:
1. You can't look into the sources. For end-users this is generally not a problem, but for programmers and people who like to hack their devices or are trying to fix bugs, it would be a disadvantage. If you just want to watch television, this does not concern you.
Examples: Currently relevant since Linux has an unstable USB 3.0 Kernel stack: Sundtek based tuners are used to debug general USB 3.0 Kernel issues, because the application based drivers themselves cannot crash the system. Such Kernel issues also affect legacy drivers but legacy drivers are able to trigger other problems (follow-up problems) by themselves which could be triggered due the faulty Linux USB 3.0 stack which makes debugging much harder.