[TenTec] Open Source for TT firmware

[Martin Ewing <martin@aa6e.net>]

(In another thread) Mark Erbaugh wrote:
>
> I'm not faulting TenTec in this decision. You can't really expect them to
> continuually pour engineering resources into a project without a
> corresponding revenue stream. Now that TT has ceased support for the
> Pegasus, I hope that they will release the firmware source code to the
> general ham public. I'm sure folks like Carl could add new features.

I would definitely approve of open sourcing the firmware for all TT radios, but 
especially for EOL models.  I hope TT seriously looks at this proposal.  Of 
course, it's not a simple decision, but I see lots of good results.

-Much faster debugging if code is scanned by more expert eyes.
-Possible user support for firmware (taking some load off TT?)
-User experimentation with new features that could make their way back to the 
official code if found worthy.
-Very good PR with the community, strengthening the user/vendor relationship 
that is already a key feature of TT products.

Against it, though
-Loss of proprietary content (if any?), which might extend to TT's commercial 
product line.
-Exposing TT's "spaghetti code" to the world (!)
-Someone (TT?) having to play Linus Torvalds and decide what gets into the 
kernel (we do have a kernel don't we? ;-) and what doesn't.
-Requiring a specialized code development environment that most people don't 
have - possibly a whole breadboard radio, logic analyzers, etc.
-Need good documentation of firmware.  (not cheap)
-Firmware "forks" could confuse the marketplace.
-Firmware mods for general use have to be carefully tested against all operating 
modes - pretty intense stuff.

If we could pull it off, it would be a wonderful thing, but I'm not holding my 
breath.

73- Martin

p.s.  I'd like to see a radio with an inbuilt Linux OS environment - more 
standardized and accessible for experimentation.

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