On 2008-10-21 14:30, Romain Beauxis wrote: > Le Tuesday 21 October 2008 13:10:28 Peter Clifton, vous avez écrit : > >> Having no source-code for firmware is hardly that different to having a >> completely open-source driver which does un-told magic by poking >> un-documented registers in a complex chip. Think Intel graphics before >> they released documentation for (some of) their chips. >> > > Agreed, though it does not restrain us from asking for free firmware. > > If I recall well, one of the origin of the GNU fondation was the fact that > having free drivers alowed one to actually *fix* issues he may have with his > *own* hardware. Then, the very same reasoning can apply to binary firmware. > > So, yes this is a brand new issue, that comes from the new way of designing > hardware. But that doesn't mean we should give up and remain behind the line > that was drawn 20 (or so) years ago. We now should also ask for open source > firmware for the very same reason that this huge effort toward free drivers > was done. If we did it for drivers, there's no reason we can't suceed for > firmwares. >
With firmwares you need much more than the source code for it in order to make changes: - documentation on how the hardware works internally - documentation of what you are allowed to safely do from firmware (without damaging the hardware) - the tools used to compile the firmware, which are not necesarely open source or free If a vendor wants to provide that fine, but just because they don't it doesn't mean we should stop using that piece of hardware. Best regards, --Edwin -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]