Re: [9fans] Opera6, the phantom browser

Re: [9fans] Opera6, the phantom browser

[presotto]

On Tue Jun 25 07:15:26 EDT 2002, sbin@ts.com.ua wrote:
> > I'll sign an NDA, give a quart of blood, help port opera6 to other
> operating
> > systems, whatever.  I understand you need incentive.  Here's incentive ...
> I wonder where must I dig to do the very same thing to Lucent/Agere
> softmodem driver.

	It's not Lucent any more, just Agere.  The last time I tried, they agreed
	to give me the Lucent port as long as I didn't distribute anything except
	binary so I declined.

> I've heard some folks managed to port it to Linux, using an object binary
> from Lucent.

	The original Linux port was done by the chip development group in their
	not so copious spare time.  They release binaries only.  Are you
	saying that someone now releases a source version for Linux?  If
	so, that sounds like the way to go.

> I've heard also that Inferno has such driver (commercial CD only).

	News to me.

Re: [9fans] Opera6, the phantom browser

[Victor Eibelmann]

> The original Linux port was done by the chip development group in their
> not so copious spare time.  They release binaries only.  Are you
> saying that someone now releases a source version for Linux?  If
> so, that sounds like the way to go.
Yes and no. They have an .o for i386 architecture, and
an OS-dependent layer in open-source. FreeBSD folks ported that -
they grabbed an .o, and rewritten the OS-dependent layer (although it
does not work sometimes when Linux one works, I think it is a buggy
implementation). If there is some way to feed an i386 .o to Plan9
compiler/loader/whatever, or to get a .8 from Agere to work on, that's
the way to go. And I think that it would be much more easier to write the
middle layer (ok, fileserver :) for Plan9 than a device driver for Linux.
Well, and I suppose it will be not fully open-source - it will still have a
.8
in the distribution - I guess Agere will agree with such a distribution,
but not much more.

Also, there is a fully open-source driver, but without signal-processing
code. Just like a kind of soundcard attached to a phone line.

> > I've heard also that Inferno has such driver (commercial CD only).
> News to me.
Well, that's what I've saw somewhere on the net for Inferno 2.0
announce. They stated that they fully support Lucent/Agere
software modem technology, and so on.

Re: [9fans] Lucent Win Modem driver [was: Opera6,..]

[Victor Eibelmann]

> It's not Lucent any more, just Agere.  The last time I tried, they agreed
> to give me the Lucent port as long as I didn't distribute anything except
> binary so I declined.
By the way, does anybody know *how* to contact them on this topic? Any email
address or so?

Re: [9fans] Opera6, the phantom browser

[forsyth]

>>I've heard also that Inferno has such driver (commercial CD only).

that would be the Altocom soft modem used on the Philips screenphone
(and no others).  i don't think it's in the distribution.

Re: [9fans] Opera6, the phantom browser

[Victor Eibelmann]

> I'll sign an NDA, give a quart of blood, help port opera6 to other
operating
> systems, whatever.  I understand you need incentive.  Here's incentive ...
I wonder where must I dig to do the very same thing to Lucent/Agere
softmodem driver.
I've heard some folks managed to port it to Linux, using an object binary
from Lucent.
I've heard also that Inferno has such driver (commercial CD only).

[9fans] Opera6, the phantom browser

[Sam]

What with all the star wars talk flying around, i couldn't resist.
(Incidentally, i hear 1,2 stink because lucas is a poor director.
He evidently didn't direct Empire or Return of the Jedi).

Anyhow, I harassed support@opera.com until they finally said, "post
to news://news.opera.no, I have no idea what you're talking about."
Here's my post - no cracks about how cheesy it is or about the
flat out lies.  I'm trying not to end up being ignored like Rob was.

Hopefully this will be useful information next year when someone
goes back to ask about Opera7. ;)

Cheers,

Sam

----

Greetings,

I've been communicating with some poor individual at support@opera.com and
they've told me to come here (twice, in fact).  Here's my situation ...

My development operating system, Plan9, currently lacks a browser - much
to the consternation of new users.  I want to port opera6 to plan9.  I'll
sign an NDA, give a quart of blood, help port opera6 to other operating
systems, whatever.  I understand you need incentive.  Here's incentive ...

Regular users of our OS total around 300.  These users are academics and
bell-labs employees who, I'm sure, would be happy to purchase a copy
of opera as a show of support.  Average users total around 2000.  Being
the only web browser, you would have the ad eyes of every person who
uses Plan9.  As we get users, you get concrete influence.

I'm very serious about this and very interested in seeing this happen.
Too many of our new users run away when they find out we don't have as
"basic" an app as a web browser.

Please correspond to sah@coraid.com.  One of our core developers tried
to contact you a year ago about Opera5 and claims he got nowhere.

For your edification, check out http://plan9.bell-labs.com.  Click on
Plan9.

btw, congratz on Opera6.  You're really starting to figure out the user
interface.  It's very clean, well organized, and easy to navigate about.

Cheers,

Sam Hopkins