just saw the worrying Poseidon news

[tjaoz]

But i gather from the news post Poseidon licencing ceasing on 01-Aug-03 that they dont supply the drivers for the Poseidon stack.  im pretty confused again.

Spider drivers for the Poseidon stack have never been included in the Poseidon stack archive.

Spider drivers (spider.device and usb.device) have been developed by Elbox. They are enclosed on Elbox SpiderCD, which is bundled with the Spider card.

[tjaoz]

Poseidon support for the Spider has been terminated

Poseidon has NEVER supported the Spider card directly. Poseidon is the USB stack.

The support for the specific USB cards is provided by hardware drivers. Spider hardware drivers for the Poseidon stack have been developed and are supplied by Elbox, not by the Poseidon author.

Poseidon is like TCP/IP stack (e.g. MiamiDX, Genesis or Envoy 3). TCP/IP stacks do not support any network card directly. Drivers for the specific Ethernet or FastEthernet cards are supplied by the network card or the PCI busboard manufacturer.

Elbox still supports Poseidon stack and Spider/Poseidon users. OHCI and EHCI drivers for the Poseidon stack are enclosed with each Spider card.

due to issues between Chris Hodges and Elbox.

Here is my translation of the the most important part of the message from Elbox which appeared last month in one of the Polish news list in this respect:

----
Pursuant to the agreement made with Chris Hodges, author of the Poseidon stack,
(mutually agreed official release see here:  
http://www.elbox.com/news_02_09_11B.html) Elbox undertook to write hardware
drivers for the Poseidon stack for users of our USB controllers, and the author
of the Poseidon stack undertook to provide problem-free, paid registration of his
shareware software to every Mediator user who asks him for such registration.

Since making this agreement Elbox has been keeping all his obligations.

Unfortunately, the other party of the agreement, author of the Poseidon stack,
Chris Hodges, has been violating provisions of the agreement for several weeks
now, refusing sales of registration keys to users of Spider cards.

Chris Hodges refuses to answer our messages in this respect.

This dishonest action of Chris Hodges we perceive as an attempt at forcing
Mediator users to buy controllers of the USB 1.1 standard, produced by the E3B
company, with which Chris Hodges is very closely related.

We are now taking steps to cool down Chris Hodges from harming Mediator users.

Independent of this, every Mediator user who wants to use the Spider card and the
Poseidon stack, is fully entitled to demand problem-free registration from the
stack's author: Chris Hodges.
----

[tjaoz]

Alternatively, the next release of OpenPCI should allow Guido Mersmann's ArakAttack driver to work with ordinary Amigas.

ArakAttack drivers are USB 1.1 (OHCI and UHCI) ONLY.
 
Spider drivers by Elbox are EHCI (USB 2.0)!

AFAIK ArakAttack drivers do not include the Poseidon registration too.

[tjaoz]

You could try a subway (clockport?) which is supported by Poseidon

New Elbox drivers (e.g. for Mediator) do not work when you have any USB card from E3B (subway, highway, algor) installed in your computer.

[tjaoz]

The whole issue is about Elbox not being open an honest to Chris about e few things. He has the whole story on its website and I actually bothered to read the whole thing. Unfortunately (well I think at last for you) most of it is in german.

No. The 'Soap Opera' is not in German. It is in English.

I read all this 'Soap Opera' of Hodges and I have to admit I respect Elbox for peace and good manners in treating this 'partner,' who since very beginning wanted to go against them. Problem is that it was HODGES who BROKE the agreement. It is Hodges who is not honest.

For more about Hodges' ethics see my post in the Mediator ML http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amiga-Mediator/message/16577

[tjaoz]

@ Lemmink

I'm Hodges' customer. Hodges cheated me. He switched off my registration keys for Poseidon, for which I paid him.

[tjaoz]

@Lemmink

If you have a fully working keyfile it just doesn`t stop working all of a sudden, but I can quite imagine that newser versions won`t work with that keyfile anymore.

My keys do not work since ver.2.0 of Poseidon. See the part of Hodges description about this Poseidon version: 'Although the version number has been bumped to V2.0, it contains mostly bug fixes.' Switching my keys off is a clear violation of my rights as a client.

You should blame Elbox and not Chris for this. If they told Chris the whole story, that they plan to sell a dongeled card you wold get an OEM license directly from Elbox together with the card, just like it is with der Highway,Subway,Algor.

In case of such dishonest person as Hodges, OEM license do not solve anything. Hodges could always inform: 'OEM license for Spider has been terminated and the support has been dropped for all the times.'

If a company, where I bought my hardware, sold it to me along with Poseidon (e.g. as OEM product), I would have complained with them. But I bought Poseidon directly from Hodges, no go-betweens!  

BTW. You should know that it was Hodges, who refused bundling Poseidon with the Elbox USB card. Check this post in the Mediator ML:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amiga-Mediator/message/13629

[tjaoz]

@_D_

It's precisely that attitude which prevents me from spending any money with Elbox.

I think that this is simple response to the Hodges' move.
Stopping Poseidon registration for the Spider users promotes other (IMHO obsolete and overpriced) USB Amiga cards.
 
You can find in the 'soap opera' that Hodges agreed with Elbox to be neutral to users of different hardware USB Amiga solutions.  Hodges clearly broke this agreement.  Now Elbox helps him in this case.

Fortunately we have companies now such as Genesi, which don't have to resort to dirty tricks to sell products.

Do you want to discuss here the dirty tricks of the ex-phase5 (now Genesi) people?

[tjaoz]

@bhoggett

Otherwise, take Chris Hodges to court for the alleged breach of contract or STFU!

I approached the German federation for consumer rights against Hodges. I will pursue my rights from Hodges on the legal way.

Everyone in the Amiga community is fed up with your trolling in every thread.

I rather find you as such permanent troll.
If you do not like my posts, simply stop reading them.

It wouldn't surpise me at all to find that the coward who posted a "how-to-crack-Poseidon" guide on the amithlonopen list was you. Yes, ArakAttack drivers do not include Poseidon registrations either - for now. OTOH, users are not being ripped off by being made to pay for something which cannot be used, which is the case for the Spider.

Maybe this is you 'who posted a "how-to-crack-Poseidon" guide on the amithlonopen list' to allow using Poseidon with ArakAttack without the registration key?

Have you registered the Poseidon stack?

Elbox have always been totally hostile to all other developers, and have a track record for bad relations. No wonder no one wants to support them.

AFAIK Elbox have much more drivers for their PCI solution than any other manufacturer. It proves that they have excellent relations with real, honest software developers.

[tjaoz]

@Kronos

Switching of keyfiles does NOT violate your rights, cos you only bought
Poseidon 1.x, which still works for you,not 2.x.

Free updates are a friendly gesture, not something that is mandatory.

You have completely no idea how consumer rights work in EU.

You can read about it in my post in the Mediator ML: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amiga-Mediator/message/16526

[tjaoz]

@T_Bone

You are not really a client. Elbox has "at NO time" had an OEM license for Hodges USB software. Never.

You did not get the point.
I'm a Hodges' client. I bought the registration keys directly from him. Hodges is a seller in this case, not matter what he sells.

Why does that make Hodges dishonest?

1. He switched off the keys, for which I paid him.
2. He does not fulfil obligations of the agreement that he made with Elbox.

[tjaoz]

@Acill

No this is simply untrue. I have a Algor and I have a mediator, both are working just fine.

Which driver versions do you use?
Do you have access to the pci.library 6.0?

[tjaoz]

@T_Bone

!!!!

Why?

OK, once again:

My guess is this is a simple response to the Hodges' move.

Stopping Poseidon registration for Spider users promotes other (IMHO obsolete and overpriced) USB  Amiga cards. Hodges agreed with Elbox to be always neutral to users of different hardware USB Amiga solutions.  Hodges move clearly breaks this agreement.

Now Elbox helps Hodges in restoring balance and regaining neutrality for various Amiga USB solutions.

[tjaoz]

@Targhan

So, you are now saying that my Mediator driver prevents me from CHOOSING another USB solution for my A1200?!

You can always use old drivers.

[tjaoz]

@Lemmink

I'm tempted to reply but you obviously have lost the sense for reallity or are just plain dumb, so it won't make sense to talk to you anymore.

Thank you for you kind words. I'm glad not to hear from you any more.