Timothy Sipples writes: >... Most X86-based >Linux distributions include closed source device drivers. > Then Tom Marchant writes: >Really? Sounds like FUD to me. My experience with Linux is >limited, but I've beeen running Fedora Core for about a year and >I know that it's distribution is entirely open source. I'm pretty >sure Red Hat is also, as well as Debian, Ubuntu, Slackware, >Knoppix, Gentoo and others. Which distributions do you know that >"Include closed source drivers?"
It depends on the distribution of course, but the following popular Linux drivers are closed source: NVIDIA (video) ATI (video) LSI Logic (storage) some software-based modems (e.g. Lucent) some ISDN drivers There are others as well. Some distributions (e.g. Debian, Ubuntu) don't include these drivers at all, and you have to go fetch them on your own if you want/need them. Others include them as standard Web deliverables, and still others (e.g. Linspire) include them in their distributions. For NVIDIA and ATI there are open source alternatives, although functionality may be more limited with the alternatives. Now, whether this matters to you or not is another question. Still, I think it's a small but interesting detail that there are no closed source Linux drivers for System z, so far as I'm aware. It's all open source now. - - - - - Timothy Sipples IBM Consulting Enterprise Software Architect Specializing in Software Architectures Related to System z Based in Tokyo, Serving IBM Japan and IBM Asia-Pacific E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
