[Prism54-devel] Re: [Prism54 on Knoppix?] Re: Kontaktformular [QK]

[Klaus Knopper]

On Tue, Feb 03, 2004 at 10:21:41PM -0700, S. Anderson wrote:
> hi,
> 
> > > 2. What exactly does the "license agreements for the firmware are the
> > > same ones you get for the equivalent windows driver" say? Is the binary
> > > driver freely distributable for non-commercial as well as commercial
> > > use? Where can I find this license agreement for inclusion in
> > > an appropriate "non-free" debian package?
> > 
> > I've downloaded a few windows drivers to extract their license but I
> > haven't yet seen any. I remember Dlink's old dwl-g650 A1 driver did used
> > to have a license agreement, I just can't find it, nor do I have windows
> > to run some exe's to see what are in them. 
> > 
> > Intersil never really gave us clearance to redistribute the firmware but
> > I just assumed it'd be rational to at least provide them in our
> > website. The way it seems to work is that manufacturers buy
> > chipsets from intersil, intersil/Globespanvirata/Conexant 
> > then provides them with a new shiny firmware (hence the different 
> > firmware versions you see on our website's firmware/ dir) and these
> > manufacturers then write a driver and redistribute the firmware with
> > their driver. The driver then has the manufactuer's own license.
> > 
> > So basically there is no direct license associated to the firmware,
> > except the ones attached to with the Windows Drivers. We can all
> > try to look for the less restrictive one to see if we can at least
> > redistribute the files (ALL HELP IS WELCOMED).
> 
> from the dlink site http://dlink.com/site/terms.asp it says:
> 
> Copyright Notice
>     D-Link authorizes you to copy materials published by D-Link on its
>     Web Site solely for non-commercial use within your organization in 
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^this
						  is utterly insufficient for a free
						  redistribution.
	

>     support of D-Link products. Any copy of these materials which you make 
>     shall retain all copyright and other proprietary notices in the same 
>     form and manner as on the original. Any software which you download is 
>     governed by the license terms accompanying the file or the terms of the
>     license agreement which accompanied the original product licensed by you
>     which you are updating.-
> when i install the driver in windows, i didn't get a license agreement 
> popup, nor eula. I couldnt find any license regarding the firmware in
> the windows driver either...

Unfortunately, in Germany "no license" means that you are NOT allowed to
use it AT ALL. So, I'll have to wait for a more clear statement from the
author or originator of these ominous firmware files before I can
include them. :-(

Any chance that there are prsm54 cards that have their firmware built
in, and don't require the firmware upload?

Regards
-Klaus Knopper