CGX 4 and P96 SDK

[arnljot]

Hi

I´ve been surfing around looking for the Driver SDKs for these just for fun lately.

And I haven´t found anything. The only thing I found (ref1) was that Toni Wilen (ref2) (WinUAE) mentioned that he had the P96 SDK, and that he had asked to it to be GPL´ed.

What´s the chances of tracking up current rights holders, and persuade them to GPL it for AmigaOS 3.x?

Personally I´d like it for educational purposes, and people like Plato42 who are looking into USB video on the amiga would have an easier life.(ref3)

EDIT:
I sent the following short mail to Cloanto

Hi,

From a forum post by Toni Wilen I understand that you are the current lisence holders of the Picasso96 RTG software.

I was wondering if it could be possible to get a copy of the Driver SDK package for my own educational reasons, and if you would consider to GPL or LGPL the software?

Kind regards,
Arnljot Arntsen

[arnljot]

Update:

Today I received a reply from M. C. Battilana of Cloanto where he says that my request is forwarded to Tobias and Alexander, he also says that Cloanto have proposed to them that Picasso96 should be open.

I hope Tobias and Alexander answers as fast as Cloanto did. Very good of Cloanto answer this fast.

[Piru]

What´s the chances of tracking up current rights holders, and persuade them to GPL it for AmigaOS 3.x?

CGX is unlikely to go GPL, but as you can see from the ref3 it's no problem (in that particular case).

[arnljot]

Well, time goes by

I haven't heard anything from the P96 copyright holder.

Also, the issue is once again relevant with the new graphics.library effor by cosmos.
eab thread

It would be awesome to see CGX4 extended to support Mediators and WinUAE.

[Gulliver]

@arnljot
I emailed a little ago (7-FEB-2010) Tobias Abt (P96) about the driver sdk. What follows is the exact transcription.


From:
"Tobias Abt"
Add sender to Contacts
To:
"Ignacio"
Hello Ignacio!

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Hi, I am an Amiga user that wishes to have access to your Picasso96 driver
> developer archives, which may seem difficult to find, just to have the
> possibility to develop more drivers for Amiga graphic cards.
>
> Thank you for your time, expecting a positive answer,
> Regards,
> Ignacio Gully

Sorry, development of Picasso96 has stopped years ago, its code base has been integrated into the sources for the next Amiga OS releases, and to be honest I do not even have the necessary files accessible any more because of inaccessible hardware. And besides I could not give you any support you would surely need because I probably have forgotten all about it.

I am really sorry, but you are about ten years too late... ;-(

--
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
  Tobias Abt

GRATIS für alle GMX-Mitglieder: Die maxdome Movie-FLAT!
Jetzt freischalten unter http://portal.gmx.net/de/go/maxdome01

[Gulliver]

I havent got the email address of Frank Mariak, but as he did CGX 5 for Morphos maybe @Piru, if kindly asked can contact him. It would be cool if we have at least the permission to freely distribute CGX 4 binaries and of course its sdk.

[arnljot]

Re Tobias and P96.

Please explain to him that both Cloanto and Toni Wilen has the needed SDK, and others have the binaries.

What we need is permission to use it as we'd like from him and Alexander.

[Gulliver]

No problem, i will email him again, and ask him if we can put the sdk and relative documentation and sourcecode on public domain.


Update: Email sent. Lets cross fingers!

[arnljot]

Great, lets hope for a positive reply.

[matthey]

@Gulliver
Good luck!

[Gulliver]

Guys, I am really sorry to bring you the bad news. Let me quote the email I sent, and the one received regarding the Picasso96 SDK:

"Tobias Abt"
Add sender to Contacts
To:
"Ignacio"
Cc:
"Alexander Kneer"
Hi Ignacio!

Am 23.03.2010 21:31, schrieb Ignacio:
> Hi, I am sorry to bother you again with this ten year old stuff. The
> thing is that I have found the Picasso96 driver developer archives,
> along with some sourcecode, binaries and documentation. Will you
> please allow me to put these files on the Public Domain, so that they
> are freely available to everyone? I would also add if you think it is
> necessary, that you wont provide any suport whatsoever, and not be
> liable for any damage at all. So please, just say yes, and you will
> get rid of me

Sorry, but I have to decline your request. Unlike the application
package the driver package was never meant to be freely available.

The driver package contains our intellectual property and we always
intended it to be restricted so that any party willing to create
such a driver has to contact us and get approval.

That we do not further develop or support Picasso96 does not mean
that we forfait our rights regarding the intellectual property.

Therefore we can not allow you to redistribute it or change the
distribution conditions. In other words, no, the driver package
must not be put into the public domain.

> Thank you for your time, Regards, Ignacio

Thank you for understanding and respecting our point of view,
  Tobias

[Karlos]

Perhaps it's time to create a free RTG system that supports P96/CGX library calls.

[Cosmos Amiga]

Yes, Karlos !

[Piru]

the permission to freely distribute CGX 4 binaries

No permission granted.

and of course its sdk.

No permission granted.

[Karlos]

Yes, Karlos !

I didn't say I was going to do it... I paid good money for CGX4 :-)

It was pretty obvious that neither development camp would allow free redistribution of the drivers themselves, but if someone has a copy of the relevant SDK, I take it they can still apply for approval to release a driver they've developed for a new card? Or does the license of the RTG system cover all drivers written for it?