Date:	Sat, 19 Jun 1999 23:47:12 +0200 (MET DST)
From:	Emanuel Pirker <epirker@edu.uni-klu.ac.at>
To:	lkml <linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu>, linux1394@eclipt.uni-klu.ac.at
Subject: IEEE1394: Development issues


Dear Kernel and 1394 folks,

some kind of debate was on the lkml which has been already misunderstood
by some people ("conflicting development"). Well, development is not
conflicting, but quality wins. Andreas Bombe was too annoyed about the
old, from SCSI derived code in the Linux-IEEE1394 subsystem that he began
writing a new one, focusing on TILynx development.

This means:
* The old subsystem code is mainly derived from the SCSI code and mostly
  ugly. I know and knew that, but did not have the time and manpower to
  change it. Andreas did.
* Nobody began writing a TILynx driver (besides me writing an unusable
  skeleton file). Andreas did. 

So, there is NO development conflict. I have been out of business for
quite a time, but the old code will be replaced by Andreas' code. Quality
wins. I will bring my Adaptec AIC-5800 to the new architecture. I do not
say "port", because the ideas of the new subsystem code are mainly the
same. Only the code is much better. Of course there are some issues still
to be resolved, but these are only technical issues. 

Alas, I have failed to complete the whole thing alone while this project
was "official" and part of my studies. It is much work and I was much too
inexperienced. Well, now there are many developers out there. All of the
issues Subsystem, TILynx, OHCI, AIC-5800, IP-over-1394 are covered by
developers. There is work ongoing for usage of cameras, but I am not
informed well about this. Volunteers for SBP-2 (and as a consequence, 
IEEE1394 hard drives) are still searched :-)

I am approaching the end of my graduate program. Chances are good that I
can continue work on Linux1394 (at least more than I could do the last
months). There is still much to do and I like the project very much, I
want to continue, though I can not guarantee on it yet. That's why I am
especially glad, that Andreas joined, because he seems to have enough
resources to maintain the subsystem well.


Please have a look at the project's webpage

    http://eclipt.uni-klu.ac.at/ieee1394


I have hyperlinked it to Andreas' code properly (Download Section), but
you can reach Andreas' page directly: http://home.pages.de/~Andreas.Bombe/

While the lowlevel API is rather stable since the early days (I do not
consider renaming "register_host" to "register_lowlevel" a major API
change... at least not in our current stage), there is no real high-level
API. Nobody has still touched isochronous support (streams with guaranteed
QoS), which is prerequisite for video development.

But the project is alive, bad code is replaced by better code, and new
developers join in...


Best regards,

Emanuel


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Emanuel Pirker                        
  epirker@edu.uni-klu.ac.at 


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