Cheap, good tulips...

[Robert G. Brown]

On Thu, 7 Jan 1999, Bob Drzyzgula wrote:

> We could perhaps all do this individually, or alternatively
> we could send a jointly-signed letter making such a request.
> It would be great if we could collect data from everyone
> on the list regarding the volume of such product they
> would be likely to purchase on an annual basis, along with
> statements regarding sucess or lack of sucess with Tulip
> clone chips as well as the 82558/82557.
> 
> I would be happy to draft such a letter, especially if
> interested parties were to give me input on what they
> would like it to say.
> 
> Opinions/Thoughts/Comments/Fla^H^H^H^H?

Go for it, Bob.  As a long-time tulip lover, I'll sign on, for sure.
Feel free to reference my tulip/linux performance specs from the brahma
page.  While you are at it, you should certainly include a note on one
of Don's pet tulip peeves -- there is an annoying tendency of card
makers to introduce pointless differentiation into the cards -- just
enough to make it "impossible" to write a generic tulip driver.  (This
differentiation is just enough so that the vendor-provided drivers will
work with their card only and so that the Win95-provided or
linux-provided driver will not work with their card.)  Intel has the
marketing clout to establish a de facto standard if they so choose, and
it would greatly benefit tulip users, if not resellers, if they did so.

It would help tremendously if we could provide some sort of "linux
certification" for a card by brand/part number, and could encourage
resellers to use this on their box and website and marketing in general.
I don't much care if they supply a linux driver (source and/or module)
on their driver disk unless their card is pointlessly differentiated --
the standard linux sources always come with a tulip driver anyway that
should work with a true generic card.

   rgb

Robert G. Brown	                       http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/
Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305
Durham, N.C. 27708-0305
Phone: 1-919-660-2567  Fax: 919-660-2525     email:rgb@phy.duke.edu