News from Minolta

David Rose (drose@wdi.disney.com)
Wed, 18 Nov 1998 22:02:14 -0800

Good news from Minolta! They are interested in facilitating a Linux
port of their hardware. I met with some representatives from Minolta
today at Comdex, and they are definitely willing to work with me to
get the QuickScan 35 going under Linux. Although we didn't talk about
other scanners or cameras, surely they will soon follow if the
QuickScan port goes well.

They have some concerns, though. They are reluctant to release the
SCSI protocol, primarily because of potential liability concerns. As
I understand it, they are worried that if someone writes a poor driver
for their hardware, it could easily damage the scanner, or much more
seriously, might conceivably start a fire and lead to other personal
or property damage. Minolta is concerned, rightly or wrongly, that
they might be held liable for such damage caused by their hardware, no
matter who wrote the driver. And in today's world, who can argue.

But they are intrigued because they know that other, competing
companies (for instance, Nikon) have released sufficient documentation
to facilitate writing a SANE driver for their equipment. They would
like to know the nature of the agreement(s), if any, these companies
entered into before releasing said information--this might encourage
them to emulate those companies.

What can anyone tell me about this? People who have worked with
other scanner and camera companies, what experiences have you had?

Many thanks!
David

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