RE: [ros-dev] Release 0.2.6

[Casper Hornstrup]

>   -----Original Message-----
>  From: ros-dev-bounces(a)reactos.com
>  [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Karim Liman-Tinguiri
>  Sent: 24. februar 2005 12:34
>  To: ReactOS Development List
>  Subject: Re: [ros-dev] Release 0.2.6
>  
>  Greetings everyone,
>  
>  I totally agree with Murphy and I believe we should launch another 
>  0.2.x release before the next 0.3 release. I think before we can 
>  launch a 0.3 release, we need to have a solid support for Win32
>  drivers: networking doesn't limit to LAN-Ethernet, but it also 
>  includes PPP and modem connection (analogic and broadband).
>  
>  With the growing amounts of winmodems, Win32 driver support must 
>  definitely be implemented before claiming "networking
>  support": this is one of the weaker points of Linux: driver 
>  compatibility (though lots of efforts are being made by manufacturers 
>  and hackers), many drivers are still only available on the windows 
>  platform. It'd be much cheaper, programming-effort wise, to natively 
>  support windows driver than try to port them to ReactOS, (I'm not even 
>  mentionning the case of closed-source drivers and undocumented 
>  hardware).
>  
>  As is stated in the status page of the library "Driver Support At the 
>  moment, work to support 3rd party drivers (Microsoft Windows
>  compatible) is restricted. The focus is more on only basic drivers 
>  that are written in conjunction with the various kernel facilities." ; 
>  there's not much 3rd party Microsft Driver support. It'd definitely 
>  have to be implemented before
>  0.3 release. 
That would be nice, but it's not practical since nobody has volunteered
to work on it and thus it will not get implemented any time soon. If you
will work on it or can find someone who will and can give a rough
timeframe for its completion (say 5-6 months), I might vote for a delay
of a 0.3 release.

Casper