"Hardware support" [LWN.net]

"Hardware support"

Posted Jun 12, 2009 4:47 UTC (Fri) by masuel (guest, #28661)
In reply to: "Hardware support" by gmaxwell
Parent article: The LGPL and video codecs

WDTV seems to use the Sigma Designs SMP8635LF (took some googling to find that)

So you would have to contact them I suspect. I don't think Western Digital have the kind of access we are talking about. The good news is if you speak American then the should be able to communicate fine. The bad news is that I don't think you will get anywhere without a large potential order to discuss.

I happen to have the SMP86** linux SDK and its a long way from the kind of access you would need to add a new codec.

(Log in to post comments)

WDTV, Sigma Designs and GPL source code for Linux

Posted Jun 14, 2009 1:32 UTC (Sun) by jlokier (guest, #52227) [Link]

Thanks for mentioning the WDTV.

I've been looking for a long time for a legitimate download site for the sources of Sigma Designs' modified Linux kernel for SMP8634 chips.

I did find one very dubious-looking FTP URL in a forum, supposedly from a device manufacturer in Korea, but that leads to a lot of kernel source files which say "proprietary and confidential" on them and no indication that they are distributed under the GPL.

Western Digital's WDTV support site does provide the modified kernel source, which is a refreshing change!, although the copyright notices on many individual kernel files seem inconsistent with the GPL. Still, looks like GPL compliance is slowly improving with these Sigma Designs vendors, and Western Digital are to be commended for being better than average.