[TenTec] Orion vs SDR-1000

[Martin, AA6E]

Interesting idea.  I imagine the existing code is built with licensed
3rd party libraries that could not be released in source.  There's a
big Xylinx chip in there.  I suspect the only well-formatted
documentation for a lot of the hardware (API) is the source code
itself -- if they are as lazy as I am!  I wouldn't mimimize the amount
of work to sanitize the documentation for an OSS type release.  Maybe
volunteers could help with this under NDA's.

I've wondered about reverse-engineering the firmware.  Apart from
being a lot of work, the DMCA or some such law may declare this to be
a terrorist activity.  On the other hand, TT has never specified any
license (shrinkwrap or otherwise) that limits what you can do with
their firmware releases, so maybe anything goes.  Ask your lawyer...

Still, it would be a bold and exciting move for TT to consider.

73 Martin AA6E

On 9/1/05, Harry Reed <doon at infoscientific.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> While I agree that TT probably should not release source code for the Orion firmware to
> the F/OSS community, how about releasing a hardware spec that the F/OSS community could
> code to? Granted the schematics for the Orion have been released and it *may* be possible to
> garner enough info to figure out how to program the thing, why not just release the
> specs needed so that we could write the software ourselves? Considering the sheer amount
> of resources in the F/OSS community the Orion could have a very long life indeed! While
> the software would no longer be TT software or even TT derived software, if/when TT
> decides to stop updating the Orion (as it apparently has with the RX-350 and Jupiter)
> that new firmware upgrades could continue to be produced via the F/OSS community.
> 
> 73
> Harry Reed, AB7YF
>