[Slightly off-topic] Re: Sound Blaster Live (heads up Alan)

[Mike Wyer <mjw7@doc.ic.ac.uk>]

On Tue, 24 Nov 1998, Trever Adams wrote:

>I called Creative about the Live and got the run around.  When I became
>frustrated I started pushing a bit harder.  This is unofficial, but I
>never heard back from them, so I will speak what I was told.  Creative
>bought out Emu.
>
>The Live has an Emu chip as it's main component.  One of the reasons at
>the point of my call (in late Sept I think) that no driver info was
>released was because Emu was still patenting parts of the chip.  The
>person at Emu I heard this from suspected that info might be available
>once the patents were filed.
>
>I hope this provides some useful background to whoever will contact
>Creative.  Please note, I would give the name of the person I talked to,
>but I do not have permission, and they probably aren't the place you
>need to end up at.
>
>Trever Adams
>
>P.S. Tech support is not the place to call, they have NO info and might
>not have functioning brains.
>
>-

As far as I was aware, Creative have always owned Emu. It was started up
as the professional face of Creative Labs. The AWE64 has an Emu chip in
it as well. BTW someone else mentioned S/PDIF- the AWE64 Gold has S/PDIF
output, but I don't know whether or not it works under Linux, and I
guess they might want digital-in so therefore the SBLive!. I believe the
Terratec SW40-XL (or something, see www.terratec.de) also has a digital
I/O system, and the new Yamaha board as well. As for Linux drivers for
_those_ cards, I have no idea.

Creative seem to like their "privacy", but I guess they're not the only
ones. It seems to be somewhat similar to the current video hardware
market- the major players all desparately trying to get market share
with their new-fangled chipsets, withholding the device specifications
to use as a bargaining tool with the software houses. The amazing thing
about the video situation was the way Linux enthusiasts persuaded Matrox
to cooperate in developing an X server for the G200. If Creative could
be persuaded that they were missing out on a huge number of sales, then
just possibly they might lend a paw.

Is there anyone with the resources and motivation to set up a petition,
or is there already one? Maybe we can crack the Creative Labs nut.

Cheers,
Mike
--
          ///   Mike Wyer : <m.wyer@ic.ac.uk>   \\\
         //\\___________________________________//\\
      "I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather....
 ...Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car."