DOS ain't dead - AC97 sound driver for DOS

AC97 sound driver for DOS (Announce)

posted by Rugxulo , Usono, 11.12.2009, 20:36

> hi everyone.
>
> old thread, but i'm a new user.

Heh, actually old user, you just never posted much. ;-)

> This topic is interesting to me because I (back in 2002) wrote an AC97
> .wav player for DOS. I open sourced it, and placed it on programmer's
> heaven:
> http://www.programmersheaven.com/download/23237/download.aspx

Seen it but my one attempt didn't work (I'm not that familiar with soundcards or even barely know whatever the heck my machines have, ugh, SB Live vs. EMU10k1 vs. AC97 vs. Intel HDA vs. SB16 ?????).

> so I checked out the stuff that georgpotthast was doing:
> http://www.georgpotthast.de/dossound/index.htm
>
> Sure enough, there's some chunks of my original source code in his work.
> I didn't license any of my source-it's truly open and freeware; do with it
> what you wish. georgpotthast has absolutely taken my work to a new
> level-it's more robust and supports way more devices than mine ever
> did-kudos to him for this.

He's actually done a few interesting things. And a lot is freeware, at least, so that's nice.

> My concern is, that like his USB drivers, if he is looking to charge a
> pile of cash for his work, then this gets a little disturbing for me. I
> open sourced my project in the spirit of keeping things free and open, not
> to allow someone else to profit from the work I did.
>
> I have not asked him what he's planning on doing; the site doesn't say
> that there is a cost for a license or for the source code. I have not (to
> my knowledge) had any contact with him.

I'm pretty sure you won't get sources without paying for them. (I think Rayer's COMPAQ EVO USB keyboard issues weren't initially resolved too well [until Bret?], and I think Georg even wanted him to buy a license just to fix it!)

> This is a first for me; I'm not really sure what I should do. I'm
> flattered that someone is using my code in their own projects of course,
> but not so much flattered if he's out cruising in a new yacht because of
> my work...

I seriously doubt he's making much money, if any. Certainly not enough to buy a yacht. He's probably just a poor sap trying to eek out some extra money.

Ironically, DOS is often called "dead and crap and useless", yet people (id, Sierra) still sell and make money off it (and MS will still whine "in 2009!" if you download their old DOS stuff illegally). Also, the entire DOS software ecosystem is much more of the "freeware closed source" attitude than elsewhere. Don't ask me why.

Legally, (although I'm no lawyer!) I would think he's in the clear since he's heavily modified your work, plus you never specifically prohibited commercial use, did you?

But in my heart I feel for you. I understand how weird it feels, and yes definitely we should have more open drivers! (Although, I guess to be completely fair, sound isn't normally essential to using computers. BUT ... who the heck wants hardware that doesn't work??? Enough with the Win32-only drivers, silly world!!) NDAs and software patents seem to be self-defeating in some ways. "But we gotta eat!" (bah, it's not like food grows on trees or anything).

Dumb rhetorical question: why the heck must we reinvent the wheel a thousand times due to bad licenses, closed source, bugs, new APIs, forced deprecation, etc.? Wouldn't it be better to standardize this stuff? (Or does virtualization and emulation minimize and/or correct the damage?)

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Complete thread:

AC97 sound driver for DOS - Laaca, 25.04.2009, 10:59 (Announce)
- AC97 sound driver for DOS - RayeR, 25.04.2009, 15:12
- AC97 sound driver for DOS - Khusraw, 25.04.2009, 15:45
  - AC97 sound driver for DOS - Laaca, 25.04.2009, 22:31
    - AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOS386, 26.04.2009, 02:15
      - AC97 sound driver for DOS - Khusraw, 26.04.2009, 10:13
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOS386, 27.04.2009, 10:09
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - Khusraw, 27.04.2009, 10:26
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOS386, 27.04.2009, 10:37
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - rr, 28.04.2009, 20:35
      - AC97 sound driver for DOS - RayeR, 28.04.2009, 00:50
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - Khusraw, 28.04.2009, 01:16
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - RayeR, 28.04.2009, 09:13
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - Khusraw, 28.04.2009, 10:27
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - Rugxulo, 28.04.2009, 22:50
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOSferatu, 11.12.2009, 20:17
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - Rugxulo, 11.12.2009, 20:36
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - rr, 12.12.2009, 22:55
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOS386, 13.12.2009, 09:56
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOS386, 12.12.2009, 09:33
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - rr, 12.12.2009, 22:37
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - Rugxulo, 12.12.2009, 23:04
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOSferatu, 14.12.2009, 16:14
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - Arjay, 14.12.2009, 18:10
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOS386, 15.12.2009, 02:38
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOSferatu, 16.12.2009, 16:03
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOS386, 18.12.2009, 01:55
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOSferatu, 18.12.2009, 17:55
        AC97 sound driver for DOS - DOS386, 19.12.2009, 04:10