LINUX/ UBUNTU

This is the place for comments, criticisms and even the occasional compliment related to the SmartNav drivers and profiler. Also the place to discuss and review support issues.
uglyDwarf
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:15 am

Re: LINUX/ UBUNTU

Post by uglyDwarf »

I've been thinking it through during the weekend, and I came to a several conclusions.

Artificially limiting Smartnav's functionality to ensure NP associate's monopoly doesn't bring much benefit to their paying customers. Also the fact, that NP percieve linuxtrack as a threat is saying something - is there a possibility, that a free program developed by a hobby programmer during evenings could be more appealing than profesionaly crafted piece of software costing triple of the price of the full MacOS X operating system?

Also if you bought a device, you have the right to freely choose where and how are you going to use it, including the right to select an operating system you like. If Naturalpoint is not going to grant you this freedom (or if it is going to directly deny it), and if linuxtrack is able to give you this freedom back, then I'm going to ensure it does.

Be it as it may, the linuxtrack development is going to continue and if you want to take a part (there is no need for any special skills), don't hesitate to chime in.

Kind regards,

Michal
Franck Dernoncourt
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 1:48 pm
Contact:

Re: LINUX/ UBUNTU

Post by Franck Dernoncourt »

It is indeed extremely disappointing, especially for Linux users who are left behind without any solution (yet), but I can understand NaturalPoint's position regarding its legal opposition to cooperation (well I should read the above-mentioned existing business agreement to form a clear opinion). Requesting that support for SmartNAV not be added to linuxtrack is however highly questionable, and probably futile in light of https://github.com/qdot/emokit which Emotiv has never succeeded to erase. Given NaturalPoint's awesomeness I guess it is just a public position to keep the Mac OS X partner's lawyers quiet. Anyway, kudos to linuxtrack! Your code is under MIT license and from what I can tell around me under MIT appreciation as well.
Last edited by Franck Dernoncourt on Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:39 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: typo
uglyDwarf
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:15 am

Re: LINUX/ UBUNTU

Post by uglyDwarf »

Thank you for your kind words, I really appreciate it...

As for the progress so far, I have the normal protocol parsing implemented and grayscale is next in the line...

If things go well, during the weekend or begining next week there should be first working version ready (first for a small scale testing).

Many thanks to the kind user who provided me with the informations needed to implement the support, despite his own discomfort (like loosing the cursor when setting thresholds).
Kind regards,

Michal
121310
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:59 pm

Re: LINUX/ UBUNTU

Post by 121310 »

I've been waiting several years for a Linux driver always hearing it's being considered. It really sucks that disabled people are denied the freedom of choice other computer users enjoy :( Why should a mere pointing device control which operating system a person uses? This is unfair and really a baffling point of view from a company producing accessibility hardware.
I'm currently on my fourth smartnav device, this experience does not encourage me to buy the fifth. Many customers like me are repeat buyers of these devices and if they can not use it as they see fit they will most probably find some other solution.

Hoping for a satisfactory solution
Seth Steiling
Posts: 1365
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:29 am
Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: LINUX/ UBUNTU

Post by Seth Steiling »

As noted above, we're open to Linux support for SmartNav. Our concern here is an existing business agreement that is in place for the OSX platform. We already have obligations in place that we need to respect regarding support of that operating system, and because Michal is unable to restrict porting to OSX as part of his Linuxtrack project license, we cannot extend firmware usage rights to it.

All of the customer implications, which we are totally sympathetic to, unfortunately do not change the reality of our current obligations on the OSX side of the equation. Unless stipulations can be made that restrict porting to OSX, our hands are tied.
Marketing Manager
TrackIR | OptiTrack
uglyDwarf
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:15 am

Re: LINUX/ UBUNTU

Post by uglyDwarf »

Hello,
I'm affraid, this is the point, where we will not be able to agree on - the portability is the key in the whole thing.
I worked hard to make it work on Linux and Mac, so imposing artificial limits on otherwise working devices is not an option for me.

As for the firmware, I think I'm going to go the same way that others Linux drivers follow - extracting the firmware from the windows driver. As far as I know, this is absolutely legal and as far as I'm concerned also absolutely legitimate way to make the device you bought work the way you want it to. Feel free to correct me - I'm no lawyer afterall...

Anyway, the work to bring SmartNav support to Linuxtrack, along with virtual mouse application is still in progress (there were several problems to be solved)...

Kind regards,

Michal
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