Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Marius Bakke]

Chris Marusich  writes:

> Hi Pierre,
>
> Pierre Neidhardt  writes:
>
>> linux-libre turns off the ability to load non-free firmware.  Why is
>> it so?
>
> I did a little bit of searching on the Internet, and it seems to me like
> the reason why Linux-libre turns off the ability to load non-free
> firmware is because the project does not want to induce you to use
> non-free software.

This is not true.  After all, you may wish to load a firmware that you
have developed yourself, but that is not possible either.  The problem
is a limitation of the kernel interface and/or the deblobbing script:

From an interview with Alexandre Oliva[0]:

"Indeed, I became aware that some users have got the idea that blocking
the loading of blobs is a feature. It's not; it's just a bug that's
quite difficult to fix. The decision on whether or not to use a piece of
software, be it Free or not, should belong to the users, and it's not
our intent to make that difficult."

[0] 
https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/blogs/lxo/2013-11-08-linux-libre-interview-by-bruce-byfield.en.html


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Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Hartmut Goebel]

Am 25.03.2018 um 07:34 schrieb Chris Marusich:
> As Ludo mentioned elsewhere, using a dongle is one good option.  What
> prevents you from using a dongle?

Why should I punish myself just for to says "Hey, I'm using only free
software"? This benefits nobody! [1]

Please don't get me wrong: free software is to be preferred and we
should push users and vendors towards it. But if for any reason one owns
a device demanding non-free firmware, using e.g. a dongle would not
benefit anybody.[1] The vendor already has the money. In contrary:
buying a dongle adds to environmental pollution and sweating in poor
countries.

The only thing we achieve is distracting users from free software since
it "doe not work".

[1] Given that you basically "trust" the non-free software. Bu if you
don't, you'll not going to use it anyway.

-- 
Regards
Hartmut Goebel

| Hartmut Goebel  | h.goe...@crazy-compilers.com   |
| www.crazy-compilers.com | compilers which you thought are impossible |

Re: Installation: Load non-free wifi firmware (iwlwifi)

[Pierre Neidhardt]

> "The trouble with firmware" by Jake Edge, January 5, 2011
> https://lwn.net/Articles/421680/

Interesting article.  I share similar views and I believe that making
proprietary code hard to proliferate is laudable.  See the GPL license.
I'm not completely convince how Linux-libre would work towards that end
though.

That said, I'm now stuck with an iwlwifi card and I have to live with
that much backward practices.

> As Ludo mentioned elsewhere, using a dongle is one good option.  What
> prevents you from using a dongle?

A nit, really, but I have an rather extreme life-style that pushes me to
travel as lightweight as possible.  A dongle is not much for sure, but
if I can I'd rather avoid it.

The other issue is that when I initially wrote this e-mail I could not
buy one and could not even order online.  Not a problem anymore for now.

Being even more picky, dongles have drawbacks:
- They occupy a USB port (I have only 2).
- They stick out... :p

> https://minifree.org/

Thanks for the link, I did not know about it.  Very nice initiative.

I am now running the ultra-thin laptop Xiaomi Air 13, which, beside the
non-free iwlwifi card, is an excellent piece of hardware in my opinion.
Way ahead of the offers on minifree.  I wish there would be something
similar and a 100% free.  Anyone aware of such a machine?

--
Pierre Neidhardt


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