Trisquel, thanks to exist! :)
First of all, I'd like to say that I'm a newcomer and loved Trisquel, for its
full embracing the Free Software principles without giving up Ubuntu's best
features. This post tries to be my small contribution to an issue that upsets
me since two years ago.
In brief, I own a Poulsbo-based netbook, with all related problems (actually,
a real mess) involving closed source drivers developed by Tungsten Graphics
and licenced by Power VR, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#GMA_500_on_Linux. Even with the new
kernel 3.x, it appears the situation won't improve from our point of view,
since a part of the integrated support to this chipset will remain closed
source.
Sometimes, I even thought to sell the net and buy another, but the truth is
that putting aside the graphics, DOTM it's not a bad piece of hardware,
mainly for its low energy consumption: so, I decided to keep it and looking
for a free solution.
Finally, I found the following page on the Ubuntu Wiki, that suggests two
alternatives to the EMGD driver, still closed source (by the way, many thanks
to Lucazade and his companions for the hard work!).
The page is
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupportComponentsVideoCardsPoulsboAlternatives
, and I'm happy to say that both methods work very well without renouncing
the principles we believe in.
Of course, one can't expect the full graphics speed granted by the others
drivers, nonetheless, is fast enough for the most common tasks and even to
play low to medium resolution videos. What can I ask more?
I suppose the principle applies to any poulsbo-based, any further test would
be greatly appreciated.
- [Trisquel-users] Trisquel and GMA 500 / Poulsbo on Packard Bell... alenisco
