On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 6:47 PM, Hector Oron <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello, > > This is an update on Embedded and ARM Sprint email. > > Place, dates and venue has been fixed to ARM Headquarters in Cambridge,
oh that's _very_ interesting. how embarrassing for ARM, given their continued practice of supplying their latest designs with a non-free build chain and non-free firmware for the MALI GPU engines and infrastructure. they're trying to take on intel, have a fantastic opportunity because microsoft *can't* run "the latest" version of windows on any of these new laptop-class and desktop-class CPUs... and they're f*****g about with proprietary bulls**t! apologies for making a copy of the post which was made at forums.arm.com but the last message asking ARM to state their position clearly regarding proprietary and NDA-encumbered supply of critical system libraries was censored. and there weren't even any swearwords in it. http://forums.arm.com/index.php?/topic/13855-which-tools-have-you-used-so-far-what-do-you-want-to-see-next/page__gopid__34839#entry34839 reply as follows: * Unencumbered, unrestricted, royalty-free Free-software-Licensed, full and complete source code for the entire build chain, to produce firmware for the MALI GPU Engines - all of them - without requiring an NDA. * Unencumbered, unrestricted, royalty-free Free-software-Licensed, full and complete source code for the present OpenGL firmware which is available for the MALI GPU Engines - all of them - without requiring an NDA. there is not a single good reason to continue the practice of treating free software developers like lepers, and there is every good reason to treat the GPU as "just another general-purpose processor". objection to the above #1 : "we're afraid that someone will rip us off and make a copy of the GPU engine because they'll know, from the source code of the compiler, how to replicate the GPU! we'll lose money!!" answer #1 to the above objection: don't be ridiculous. you know how long it takes to produce silicon, and you know what lifetime it will have. by quotes giving away quotes the GPU's inner workings, any competitors who quotes rip you off quotes will be approximately 18 to 24 months behind the times, which is an ENTIRE occam's razor generation too late. answer #2 to the above objection: don't be ridiculous. imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. answer #3 to the above objection: don't be ridiculous. your competitor is going to ... what... sell silicon, where the toolchain has "Copyright (C) ARM, Copyright (C) MediaTek" on it??? and all of the (free software licensed) source code for the OpenGL 3D libraries has "Copyright (C) ARM, Copyright (C) MediaTek" on it? you should THANK your competition for advertising YOUR products, free of charge! additional benefits, in the form of expanding the purposes to which the GPU can be put, beyond that which your present fascist policy dictates "Thou Shalt Have What Thou Art Given And Thou Shalt Not Run Any Firmware Other Than That Which We Deem You Worthy Of Running", should be blindingly obvious. btw... _don't_ delete this message from the forum, like the other messages asking for the firmware source code and the build chain have been deleted: this issue won't go away. ARM are placing themselves in enough of an embarrassing situation situation by sponsoring the Debian 2010 Sprint, at ARM's own premises, and are going to discover that not one single one of the people attending will be in the slightest bit interested in helping you to get MALI 3D graphics up-and-running on the latest ARM CPUs, until the entire toolchain, firmware and libraries are no longer classified as "non-free". l. p.s. just in _case_ this is going to be censored (again), it's being made public elsewhere. i don't like having to repeat myself. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: http://lists.debian.org/[email protected]
