ES9028Q2M driver for Raspbian based distro

[Dimdim]

Originally Posted by phofman

Was this file not originally written by the author therein and was it not GPL from the start?

Rpi-ES9018K2M-DAC/es9018k2m.h at master * luoyi/Rpi-ES9018K2M-DAC * GitHub

This code looks like it was written to control an ES9028/38Pro, not an 9018K2M. Something weird is going on.

ESS should really reconsider all of this NDA nonsense. It's really not helping their brand. ******* off your most enthusiastic customers is never good for business. And yes, we, the DIY audio community are definitely their most enthusiastic customers.

[soundcheck]

"ESS should really reconsider all of this NDA nonsense. It's really not helping their brand."

Trying to protect your business. Nonsense?

Target customers of ESS are large scale manufactures. This target group can afford some extra hurdles.

ESS couldn't care less about some DIY-audio nerds.


@cdsgames. Thx for sharing your experience and getting all that down
to the bottom.


And I do hope that people over here reading all that don't consider this discussion a "destructive" effort.

I do think that for guys like Ian it's good to know that he has to walk
the extra (MCU) mile.

And for most other fellows around here it's important to know to better stay away from HW that's lacking proper software support.


And not to forget Gandolf. He doesn't want to get trapped in any kind of legal issues. He wouldn't be the first!


Thx. Great discucssion.

[gandolf]

Originally Posted by cdsgames

Gondolf signed a NDA with Ess Sabre . He is aware of what can and cannot be published . Taking what amounts to pirated code and publishing , modify it and distributing it (like he does on diyaudio) ..?
Frankly , would you do that ? Be frank also, do you think this is code that can be distributed under GPL ?

On reverse engineering the i2c and reading registers, I think its a question beyond this conversation . A good article is here Coders’ Rights Project Reverse Engineering FAQ | Electronic Frontier Foundation

I agree with your ess sabre is not being easy. However they have a fallowing and a good product.

Since the beginning I disclosed that I am also making a Ess Sbare 9038 DAC. Its bothering that we are fallowing the rules and complying with NDA and licensing while others try to find an easy shortcut and undermine (ours) and many others hard work.

I understand the appeal of Gondolf code especially for people with ess9028 boards from the far east . Use it in the privacy of your home for testing purposes . Do not link to it , do not distribute it. Do not pretend its GPL

The NDA states any publicaly available information is not considered confidential. If you want to accuse the original author is at fault you will need proof that he or she has signed NDA and was not disclosed by anyone except ESS. Otherwise the code can be used without ESS’s permission. As for the license issues, I don’t claim any credit, I simply discovered the GitHub repo and pasted it here. If you have further concerns please contact the original author. If you feel the content is not suitable for the community, feel free to report it to the forum admin.

[adrianbaugh]

Well this has all got very tetchy. The only thing an NDA does is establish a civil contract between two parties. It does not protect information once it has become public (contracts between two parties are not binding on third parties who haven't signed them). If a third party uses information that was formerly protected by an NDA but has now become public, there's no legal recourse for the originator. That doesn't necessarily stop them paying lawyers to write threatening letters, but there's no substance to them.


I'm actually not sure how Gondolf and Clive and Luoy stand: if they breached the terms of their NDA (I don't know the terms so I can't comment) then they may be in trouble for breach of contract. Gondolf says the information subject to NDA was already public and therefore not covered, and he is therefore okay. However third parties who receive the information would not be in any kind of trobule, as they have no contract with ESS to breach.


Also don't confuse breach of contract with piracy, which is breach of copyright. The fact that information in this software was once protected by an NDA has no bearing on the copyright licence that it is under.

[Dimdim]

Originally Posted by soundcheck

"ESS should really reconsider all of this NDA nonsense. It's really not helping their brand."

Trying to protect your business. Nonsense?

Considering that pretty much every other dac chip manufacturer out there is giving out their full datasheets without being afraid that they'll be "ripped off", I'd definitely say 'nonsense'.

Originally Posted by soundcheck

Target customers of ESS are large scale manufactures. This target group can afford some extra hurdles.

ESS couldn't care less about some DIY-audio nerds.

That's what I'm saying.. But we are indeed their most enthusiastic customers..

[cdsgames]

Originally Posted by gandolf

If you feel the content is not suitable for the community, feel free to report it to the forum admin.

I have no intention to do so.

Gandolf you seem to have the talent to help this community , I hope to see your contributions in the future .

[miero]

Open source package for LG phone V30 (lgmv300s) contains kernel drivers for two ESS codecs - ES9218 and ES9218P (second one copyrighted by ESS).

I believe they might be used as a base for the ES9028Q2M codec.

Check the register list excerpts from these drivers:

#define ESS9218_MASTERMODE 10
#define ESS9218_CHANNELMAP 11
#define ESS9218_DPLLASRC 12
#define ESS9218_THD_COMP 13
#define ESS9218_SOFT_START 14
#define ESS9218_VOL1 15
#define ESS9218_VOL2 16

#define ES9218P_MASTERMODE_SYNC_CONFIG 10
#define ES9218P_OVERCURRENT_PROTECT 11
#define ES9218P_DPLL_BANDWIDTH 12
#define ES9218P_THD_COMP_MONO_MODE 13
#define ES9218P_SOFT_START_CONFIG 14
#define ES9218P_VOL1_CTRL 15
#define ES9218P_VOL2_CTRL 16

You can find LG sources at http://opensource.lge.com/

[soundcheck]

Interesting find!

Are they undermining their own policy!?!?

If you can sell several millions of DACs at once, they might consider it worth it.
They deliver the DACs since G5 - I think - for the G and V series.


Now the question is if this will enable Gandolf and others to go ahead...

...and most important, just apply - if possible at all - the stuff to a different type of DAC!?!?


You'll figure it out.