Post by thread:[TECH] Broadcom and NDA

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 10:45 AM, <spam_OUTjana1972TakeThisOuTcentrum.cz> wrote: > Has anyone succeeded with Broadcom, when asking for a datasheet? > Would be a Non-Disclosure-Agreement (NDA) enough for Broadcom? Ohoho, good luck with that. I was shocked to see the Raspberry Pi people were allowed to publish a datasheet, this comment sums it up well: http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/615#comment-1107

Alex , What do you mean by " I was shocked to see the Raspberry Pi people were allowed to publish a datasheet " ? Do you mean it is not possible to sign NDA with Broadcom? As to Raspberry, I think some people from the foundation are employed with Broadcom. BR, Ja. > On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 10:45 AM, <.....jana1972KILLspam@spam@centrum.cz> wrote: > > Has anyone succeeded with Broadcom, when asking for a datasheet? > > Would be a Non-Disclosure-Agreement (NDA) enough for Broadcom? > > Ohoho, good luck with that. I was shocked to see the Raspberry Pi > people were allowed to publish a datasheet, this comment sums it up > well: > > www.raspberrypi.org/archives/615#comment-11075 > -

jana1972@centrum.cz wrote: > Alex , > > What do you mean by > " > I was shocked to see the Raspberry Pi > people were allowed to publish a datasheet > " > ? > Afaict Broadcom have always been a very "closed" company. AIUI the partial datasheet they published for the Pi guys may very well be the first datasheet they have every published publically. Maybe this is a start of a gradual opening up from them, maybe it was just a special favor for the Pi project. Only time will tell. > Do you mean it is not possible to sign NDA with Broadcom? > I haven't tried personally but my understanding is they won't agree to let you access datasheets (even under NDA) unless you come to them with a buisness proposal that entails selling large volumes of devices based on their chips and they accept it. > As to Raspberry, I think some people from the foundation are employed with Broadcom. > Indeed they are

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 3:39 PM, peter green <plugwashKILLspamp10link.net> wrote: > I haven't tried personally but my understanding is they won't agree to > let you access datasheets (even under NDA) unless you come to them with > a buisness proposal that entails selling large volumes of devices based > on their chips and they accept it. Sounds like Cambridge Silicon Radio. -- Martin K

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 3:39 PM, peter green <.....plugwashKILLspam.....p10link.net> wrote: > > As to Raspberry, I think some people from the foundation are employed > with Broadcom. > > Indeed they are. > That's disgusting. Fuck Broadcom. Their Linux device support has always been horrible too. I don't know why people still use them..

Depends on what your looking for. I know my local broadcom rep and for ethernet stuff, no issues. If you want datasheets on the RF stuff for cell phones, then the anwer is going to be no unless.. You know someone on the inside (as we did a few years ago), your going to be using LARGE volumes of the product, or you've paid a large amount of money to be an official developer. I know of one company here locally that is I believe (or at least they are for Atheros). The reason behind this is bandwidth. They have a small dedicated apps group that simply do not have the time to deal with customers that are not large users. Its a simple thing...where are you going to be making money...the guys using 10K to 50K per year, or the ones using that many every month. So they dedicate the resources there. What exactly are you looking for?

Harrison, Thank you for your reply. > Depends on what your looking for. I know my local broadcom rep and for > ethernet stuff, no issues. If you want datasheets on the RF stuff for > cell phones, then the anwer is going to be no unless.. Unless what? Some extra money to the local broadcom rep? > > You know someone on the inside (as we did a few years ago), your going > to be using LARGE volumes of the product, or you've paid a large amount > of money to be an official developer. I know of one company here > locally that is I believe (or at least they are for Atheros). Do you know what is a a large amount of money ? I contacted Broadcom several times and no response at all. > > The reason behind this is bandwidth. They have a small dedicated apps > group that simply do not have the time to deal with customers that are > not large users. Its a simple thing...where are you going to be making > money...the guys using 10K to 50K per year, or the ones using that many > every month. So they dedicate the resources there. > > What exactly are you looking for? We would need datasheets for Digital Video/Audio SoC for Satellites. For example BCM 7401,BCM 7405, BCM 7413, BCM 7325 and BCM 7335 Or do you know where we could buy such datasheets? Thank you for help BR, Ja. > > -

On 3/2/2012 2:25 AM, EraseMEjana1972spam_OUTTakeThisOuTcentrum.cz wrote: > We would need datasheets for Digital Video/Audio SoC for > Satellites. > For example BCM 7401,BCM 7405, BCM 7413, BCM 7325 and BCM 7335 > Or do you know where we could buy such datasheets? > Thank you for help > > BR, > Ja. > You will not get access to those datasheets without some serious legal and financial work involved. The reason is pretty simple, security. Those chipsets are part of the processors for many cable and satellite boxes as well as blu ray players and contain the security features to protect access to those systems. Broadcom protects that information extremely well and even getting access to binary drivers is an issue, source code is even more scarce. I have a bluray player I reverse engineered to get at the linux system it runs and even that is a monumental task because information is so scarce on the chips involved and how the internals work. Good luck , you will need it. Mark

Mark, Are there available details about your reverse engineer efforts? BR, Ja. {Quote hidden}> On 3/2/2012 2:25 AM, jana1972spam_OUTcentrum.cz wrote: > > We would need datasheets for Digital Video/Audio SoC for > > Satellites. > > For example BCM 7401,BCM 7405, BCM 7413, BCM 7325 and BCM 7335 > > Or do you know where we could buy such datasheets? > > Thank you for help > > > > BR, > > Ja. > > > > You will not get access to those datasheets without some serious legal > and financial work involved. Chinese company The reason is pretty simple, security. > Those chipsets are part of the processors for many cable and satellite > boxes as well as blu ray players and contain the security features to > protect access to those systems. Broadcom protects that information > extremely well and even getting access to binary drivers is an issue, > source code is even more scarce. > > I have a bluray player I reverse engineered to get at the linux system > it runs and even that is a monumental task because information is so > scarce on the chips involved and how the internals work. > > Good luck , you will need it. > Mark > > > -