Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 13 Oct 1998 12:38:22 -0700 | From | Pete Popov <> | Subject | Re: driver for new hardware |
| |
I received a few very useful emails on how to submit a new driver, all of which suggested to have other people test the driver. I guess I should have sent additional information about the hardware and the driver.
The driver is for RedCreek's Virtual Private Network, VPN, adapter (the pci45). It's a pci bus based adapter which offers IPSEC support, 3DES, etc. I've been using the driver for a few months now and have stress tested it with speciliazed hardware; it hasn't crashed in a very long time, although there are some areas which need improvement.
The problem with other people testing it is that the hardware is currently only available to OEMs (and it's expensive too). In about a month, it will be available to all other "qualified" integrators, but not directly to end users since RedCreek would not be able to offer end users support. Thus, for a Linux user to obtain the adapter, he would have to buy an integrated system from a Linux vendor (although, if eventually there is enough end user demand, RedCreek might decide to sell the hardware directly to end users). In this case (the hardware not being easily obtainable), does it make sense to even have the driver as part of the kernel distribution? I guess I wanted the driver distributed with the kernel so Linux users know that there is a hardware VPN solution available for Linux. Any opinions?
In any case, the driver will be available with a GPL license on RedCreek's web cite in about a week.
Thanks,
Pete
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |