[Savannah-register-public] [task #6120] Submission of Composer Automated Audio Disc Backup Sys

[Quatre Horrace]

Follow-up Comment #4, task #6120 (project administration):

I have been thinking about the project, and there is something I would like
to ask before going further.

My laptop consists of hardware and software. The hardware and their designs
are proprietary, however the software is GNU/Linux and is free. The free
software interfaces with the proprietary hardware, and there is not an
issue.

The project I am proposing uses a piece of hardware which is proprietary.
However, the interface to it to this point is not. I have developed a free
alternative to most of the functions of the device. 

For a quick explination, the hardware I am refering to is the BravoPro from
Primera (http://www.primera.com/bravopro_image.html). This includes a robotic
arm, disc drives, and a lexmark printer. The robotic arm and the drives I have
figured out the interface to, and the interface is pure free software. I am
concerned about the lexmark printer and what the interface to this will mean.
I do not forsee in my wildest dreams Lexmark telling me the secrets to their
printing engine and how to print to it without their printer driver. One way
or another, if I want to use the printer in my project (which I am interested
in doing) I will have to use their printer driver.

I have two options based on how things work out:
1) Lexmark provides a Linux development kit for writting drivers for some of
their printers in Linux. I have seen successful projects for certain
printers, and these projects are released under GPL. Perhaps it would not
violate the free software ideal to use this mechanism? The only concerning
part is that their SDK involves binaries to which I would interface with.
They would not be open source, but the finished product could be released
under the GPL license.
2) If they do not support an SDK for the printer that the BravoPro uses, the
company Primera provides a modified printer driver that can be used with
their products. I am not sure what the license on this is. It is available
for download online, but you may need to purchase one of their hardware units
to have rights to their modified driver. As the base, my project does nothing
without their hardware. Would using their printer driver be against the free
software ideals, given that it is closed source? What if the driver was
released under a GPL license?

My main goal for my project is to allow developers to use Primera's hardware
without resorting to using Windows or Mac. Currently Primera only supports
these two OS's. I believe that this is unacceptable. I would like to give
others the opportunity to use these hardware devices under a free GNU
operating system. In doing do, the product I produce, the interface to the
Primera hardware and the example application (Composer program) will be free
for other's use under a free software license.

Given this information, do you believe that I have the right intentions to
post my project on Savannah? Do you believe that my project would be able to
support the free software ideals given the limitation of the Lexmark
printer?

Thanks,
Quatre

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