Re: ZVG firmware / the future of ZVG

On 4/19/2012 5:18 PM, Bryan McCraw wrote:
> Clay, Sounds like you have put some thought into this..
>
> Have you actually been working on a stand alone multi vector or a ZVG
> type vector interface?
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ** Unsubscribe, subscribe, or view the archives at http://www.vectorlist.org
> ** Please direct other questions, comments, or problems to chris@westnet.com
>
Wait, I've given the next generation of ZVG some thought! ;-)

If you look *way* back into the deep dark beginnings of Vectorlist, (we
used morse-code in those days to post to Vectorlist), there were many
discussions between Clay and me, and everyone else, about a vector
generator, so yeah, he's also given it a bit of thought! (If you need
help reading the old archives: http://ascii-table.com/morse-code.php)

I just want let everyone know, I do plan on open-sourcing the ZVG.

I've talked it over with my partners, and I'm fairly certain we are not
going to build any more ZVG's, and I've made it clear that if we stop
building them I'd open source it. And anyway, it's not like
open-sourcing them would keep us from making more.

The source code needs a little cleaning, not because of documentation,
it's well documented. The problem is the ZVG firmware can be upgraded
through the parallel port. The function was never used, because I never
found a bug. (That's right! Who's your Daddy!)

However the firmware upgrade routines use a decryption algorithm that
allows us to post encrypted upgrades to the net, without fear of
releasing the firmware. The algorithm is a variation of an algorithm
out of "Applied Cryptography", so it's nothing world changing, but it
is very similar to the one used in our current audio/video switches and
we consider it a trade-secret. So I need to remove it from the
source-code before I release the firmware.

Another problem is this was written before GCC had a compiler /
assembler for the Atmel processors. I was using a free version of the
IAR assembler, which I;m pretty sure is no longer available (but I
haven't checked). The mnemonics are the same, but the pseudo-mnemonics
and macro handling is a bit different between the two. I don't have the
time to go through and make the code GCC compatible, that's going to
have to be done by some other enterprising soul.

I also need to properly license these files. I'm currently leaning
towards a GPL type license. I've put a lot of work into the design and
if I'm going to give it away, I think it's only fair that if anyone
improves upon it, they also return the favor and release their sources /
hardware changes, back to the public.

But I also don't want to hinder anyone from building more of these (and
even making a profit on selling them), so I need to look at the
licensing carefully.

-Zonn

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Unsubscribe, subscribe, or view the archives at http://www.vectorlist.org
** Please direct other questions, comments, or problems to chris@westnet.com
Received on Thu Apr 19 23:03:59 2012