Warning: long. CC'ed to debian-legal in case anyone there knows anything more.
The source for the acenic driver is in fact in the source package for the kernel. The firmware is absent from Debian for *very* good reasons: the version in the Linux kernel is distributed without proper copyright notices or a license. (SCO should really have bought up firmware copyrights if it wanted to sue Linux distributors.) I do so wish people wouldn't go off ranting about "anti-firmware fanatics" before checking the facts. (If someone wants to try to change Debian policy so that Debian can distribute copyright-encumbered works with no clear license, go ahead. However, Debian's current policy is, I believe, to follow the law strictly in copyright matters.) -- As a point of interest, the source code for the ACENIC firmware is actually available at http://alteon.shareable.org/, but it comes without a proper license, so it's no good if you want to do things legally. The web page says: "Look at the source files yourself to understand any licensing restrictions on their use. Alteon's license may be summarised like this: you may share and develop the firmware, but it is only for use with Alteon NIC products." Unfortunately, looking at the source files, I find that they are "all rights reserved" and I can find no license grant. The Alteon Open Firmware Agreement doesn't appear to exist any more. So his summary of the license appears to be wrong. Perhaps someone can track down the original license listed on the now-defunct web page (supposedly http://alteonwebsystems.com/) where Alteon allowed people to download the firmware? (This is a sad lesson for the developers of the Arsenic enhanced firmware: Never, ever, point to someone else's license on a web page; *always* put a verbatim copy in your distribution.) At least they have proper copyright notices; I suppose Alteon's successor might be convinced to release it under a Free license, or at least a license which grants permission to distribute. Alteon is now owned by Nortel, but apparently sold the ACENIC business to 3Com. Did that include the firmware? Who knows? Unfortunately, 3Com seems to be pretty bad about responding to licensing-related requests. If anyone knows someone on the "inside", it would help. :-P (Parts are also copyright "Essential Communication Corp.", and I have no idea what's become of them; I think they may be the "Essential Communications Corp." which was bought by ODS Networks according to http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/1998/05/04/daily7.html. Also, Alteon presumably had a license from them, and it may allow Alteon to sublicense arbitrarily; http://www.socratek.com/Agreement-Preview.asp?num=37354 may have something to do with this, or may not.) -- More usefully, the alteon.shareable.org web page features the documentation for the board, and although that's all under copyright too, it could certainly be legally used as a reference for writing your own firmware. (And if you do, you can release it under a Free license and everyone will be happy.) Jamie Lokier's tools on the same webpage, in contrast to the firmware itself, are GPL, and could certainly be used to help develop new firmware. A related page is http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~tjd21/alteon/, with more GPL tools which might be useful for anyone developing new firmware. In addition, if someone gets the original firmware licensed acceptably (or writes new firmware to which the changes can be applied), there's some serious improvements -- the "Arsenic" firmware -- released under a 4-clause BSD license from http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/arsenic/. I think that sums it up. -- This space intentionally left blank.
