I agree the the bcm43xx driver is a headache but the firmware issues have _absolutely nothing_ to do with the Linux community. It's Broadcom that won't license their firmware to be redisitrbuted or even post a version that's not packaged as part of a windows driver. Your aggregation is justified but misdirected. Please take it out on Broadcom by letting them know why you won't be purchasing any of their products.
-J -- On Tue, Aug 07, 2007 at 09:35:58PM +0000, Duncan wrote: > Beso <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> posted > [EMAIL PROTECTED], excerpted > below, on Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:17:07 +0200: > > > you're wrong! the bcm4310 is supported and currently working fine with > > bcm43xx. > > you just have to [snip a whole series of steps, some of them "scary" > steps] > > OK, this is a bit of a rant, but anyway... > > I'm a pretty die-hard Linux supporter, I doubt anyone would argue that, > but the above is /certainly/ one reason Linux doesn't have a greater > share than it does. > > "Just" have to do, yeah, right. And for most people, they "just" have to > do a similarly daunting series of steps to honestly say they've climbed > Mt. Everest. There's no "just" about it. Sure, a newbie (or even an > "oldie" =8^) can be hand-held thru the various steps, one by one, but > it's not trivial by any stretch, even for the Gentoo target audience who > doesn't bat an eye at compiling their entire system, and they are > definitely not your "average Joe". > > Honestly, when one has to do all sorts of stuff including grabbing > software from multiple sites, excising a firmware blob from the middle of > something, and configuring by hand the system to use it, there's no way I > can see that fitting the description "supported and working fine". > Rather, it seems to me a more accurate claim would be that it "can be > made to work, provided one jumps thru a series of possibly scary hoops." > Sure, one can reassure the reader that it's not all that hard, provided > one is patient and can execute a set of instructions in given order, but > that doesn't change the fact that it's more "can be made to work" than > "working fine", or that there's more to it than the triviality a "just" > might imply. > > IMO, we don't help ourselves by pretending such problems don't exist, as > when people /do/ encounter issues, as they will (and MS isn't immune > either, people are just more familiar with the issues there and /used/ to > taking the machine to the experts for malware and bug extermination > periodically), it simply reinforces the stereotypes of Linux not being > ready for the normal computer user. > > </rant> > > -- > Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. > "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- > and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman > > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list >
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