Re: GPL source code for Smart USB 56 modem (includes ALSA AC97 patch)

Erik Mouw
2004-09-09T13:46:31Z

On Thu, Sep 09, 2004 at 12:47:47PM +0100, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
> i was staggered to find that swansmart (smlink.com) have a GPL
> driver for their smart usb 56k modem.
>
> they also do a pci version: their download supports both (usb+pci)
>
> they also provide an AC97 ALSA driver (patch is against 2.6.0)
>
> this PCI ALSA driver is based on the i8x0 / MX 440 modem driver,
> by Jaroslav Kysela <perex@suse.cz>.
>
> all their code is GPL. this is very cool.

Most of their code is not GPL'ed. It does have a COPYING file, but that
looks like a BSD license to me. The only (implicitly) GPL'ed part is
the ALSA patch.

> it is available here:
>
> http://www.smlink.com/main/down/slmodem-2.9.9.tar.gz
>
> i trust that someone will download, check it, and if
> appropriate, incorporate it into the mainstream linux kernel.

It's not a GPL driver, the kernel part contains a binary object file
(drivers/amrlibs.o) so I don't see how it can be included in the main
kernel tree. OTOH, at first glance only the PCI driver needs that
binary blob, the USB driver doesn't.

Erik

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