GSM modem documentation

[Petri Aarnio]

Hi

Thank you for your clarification, Harald. It's good that TI has 
implemented AT interface stricly accoring to 07 series. My previous 
adventures in the wonderful GSM world have shown that this is not always 
the case (though my experience is mostly based on single chip solutions).
I'm also sorry, because I did not want to spread any rumours. My text 
was mainly a matter of opinion. But the fact is that Siemens GSM modem 
documents can easily be found in several web pages in the net.

Now I stop complaining about this subject and focus now only to possible 
technical problems on this discussion list. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Best Regards,
Petri


Harald Welte kirjoitti:
> On Sun, Jul 15, 2007 at 09:30:19AM +0300, Petri Aarnio wrote:
>   
>> GSM modem AT command spec and application developer's guide shouldn't be 
>> NDA stuff, since GSM modems are available also as separate boxes which can 
>> be controlled by the buyer with PC.  So any part of the interface cannot be 
>> kept "secret". So I'm quite sure that if the TI contact person in FIC just 
>> asked for the spec, it should be no problem to publish them to developers.
>> I tried to search more information about Calypso in TI's web pages but 
>> couldn't find anything.
>>     
>
> This is just ENTIRELY NOT TRUE WHATSOEVER
>
> 1) Almost any vendor of GSM modems has their complete commandset
>    documentation under NDA.  Please name me a major vendor (Ti, Qualcom,
>    etc.) who has ever made that documentation completely public before
>    spreading such rumours.
>
> 2) I can assure you, no matter how long which person would ever talk to
>    the TI GSM department, this will not change.  There is nothing more
>    closed in the entire electronics industry than the GSM branch of
>    every big semiconductor vendor.  In fact, it is very hard even for
>    FIC to get any documentation or support from Ti.  For even the most
>    simple response to provide anything _UNDER NDA_ you have to expect
>    at least one month to get a useful reply.
>
> 3) Yes, there is _NO_ documentation on the calypso hardware on the Ti
>    webpages.  In fact, in the GSM world it is common that only
>    hand-picked selected customers even know what kind of products the
>    semiconductor vendors have.  Yes, even the product catalog is
>    becoming proprietary and under NDA
>
> 4) You have failed to properly respond to nay of my questions. 
>    Please give a concise example of where in the implementation of the
>    GSM part of the Neo1973 would you need any information that is not
>    either visible from gsmd source code, or in GSM 07.05, 07.07, 07.10
>    or similar.
>
>    Please show me one.   I carefully reviewed the calypso before we
>    accepted it for the Neo1973.  The main criteria for selecting it (and
>    not some other chipset) was that it is _extremely_ good following the
>    official GSM specs and that there is no proprietary/NDA documentation
>    required.  Very unlike other vendors that we investigated (such as wavecom)
>    which have their own proprietary multiplex (instead of 07.10) and the
>    like
>
> I am happy to accept any challenge of my chain of arguments.  But please
> argue with factual data and not out of some kind of "I need that
> documentation because I need it" mood.
>
> Thanks.
>