Steve Havelka wrote: > There is at least one fully free-software computer: > > http://www.lemote.com/en/products/Notebook/2010/0310/112.html
I am surprised and pleased that such a thing exists, but it does not look like a replacement for my desktop computer. MIPS cpus still exist. You learn something every day. > This is the kind of computer Richard Stallman uses, as mentioned on > http://richard.stallman.usesthis.com/ If anyone was going have such a computer it would be RMS. > On 07/18/2012 07:35 PM, blind Pete wrote: >> This is not supposed to be a troll, although I expect that some will >> interpret it as such. There are two parts; the first is how does this >> work, followed by some philosophical stuff. AFTER I get answers to the >> first part I want to make up my mind about the second part. Then you >> can flame. >> >> It appears that I don't know how things work. >> >> I prefer open source for a few reasons, but when it comes to >> motherboard BIOSes there is no real choice, so I just hope >> that the manufacturers are competent and trustworthy. What is >> the story with CPUs and video cards? >> >> My attitude to non-free firmware is in flux. At the moment >> I am annoyed by it, but accept it as a fact of life and just >> install it. >> >> In the olden days CPUs and graphics cards were hard wired. If they >> didn't work you had to throw them out, change the masks and >> manufacture new ones. Remember the Pentium division error? >> Modern devices are far too complex for that to work. They >> have code that is variously known as; firmware, CPU microcode, >> or a video BIOS. >> >> Now the bits that I don't know about... >> >> Does a modern CPU run *at all* without microcode? I assume that >> when you buy a CPU it has microcode in ROM on the chip. >> Then at powerup it copies the code from ROM to working memory >> where it is run until either powerdown or it is over written with >> a newer version of the same thing. Is that right? >> >> As I understand it, microcode is usually used to emulate CISC >> instructions on RISC hardware. Can a consumer tell the difference? >> Would the manufacturers tell us, even if we asked nicely? >> If we do know which instructions are run on hardware and which >> are run in microcode, does is change from one chip to the next? >> Can gcc be configured to only produce the subset of instructions >> that run on the hardware? There are a couple of references in >> man gcc, but they seem to refer to the PowerPC, not x86. >> >> Same problem with video cards. According to Wikipedia, since >> EGA hit the market in 1984, all video cards have their own BIOS. >> >> Is *possible* to run anything better than CGA without using >> closed source code? If you physically removed the chip >> containing the video BIOS from a video card would you even be >> able to look at the motherboard's BIOS? >> >> Is there any practical, or moral, difference between; >> downloading and installing the latest firmware on boot, >> downloading and flashing the video BIOS, >> flashing the video BIOS from a floppy that came with the video card, >> waiting until cards with a good BIOS get distributed before buying. >> >> Should a truly free distribution say; "detected a VGA video >> card and/or a Pentium II, refusing to install"? >> >> Is there any choice? An open source BIOS an arm chip and a >> text only display? >> -- blind Pete Sig goes here...
