Hi David, I don't agree that just being given a redistributable blob is any wonderful thing. What you end up with down the road (and this is where we are now) is systems that need several (or many) blobs that only the providing company understands and controls. Usually these blobs are in control of critical or highly desirable functionality. You don't know for sure what the blobs do or whether or not they have security vulnerabilities. And sometimes the blobs come with restrict licensing allowing distribution but not allowing you to reverse engineer.
For firmware development to be practical, you want more than documentation. You want source code. Also (for embedded development) you want a tool chain. You might have the source code but find it near impossible to build because you don't have a good tool chain. Yeah, with documentation, you might be able to engineer the source code and tool chain... but it might take you 3+ years, and then only if enough people are interested. And by that time no one will want the hardware anymore. This isn't a moderately annoying problem for x86, but it is a major problem for tablets, cell phones, and other embedded development. The companies that should be the rewarded are the ones that release firmware, source code, and tool chain. E.g., Thinkpenguin and the TPE-R1100. On 02/03/2017 09:18 AM, David Craven wrote: > Hi Taylan, > >> Being freely redistributeable doesn't make a blob free software >> obviously, so endorsing such blobs would be out of the question as per >> the core principles of the FSF. Correct me if I misunderstand. > > The requirements I proposed for the definition of free firmware is > already more than most companies are willing to do. Any company > willing to do these things should IMO get a medal pinned on their > chest and not be disadvantaged. > -- Christopher Howard, Computer Assistant Alaska Satellite Internet 3239 La Ree Way, Fairbanks, AK 99709 907-451-0088 or 888-396-5623 (toll free) fax: 888-260-3584 mailto:christop...@alaskasi.com http://www.alaskasatelliteinternet.com
