If you can't bring yourself to donate (for financial reasons, etc) help
promote free software in general. There are lots of people here and in
particular using other distributions who don't know about the various
problems. Distributions that include non-free software or make it more
readily available don't hate free software. These distributions rely on
freedom just like Trisquel. The differences of opinion is largely in the
approach to tackling non-free software and support issues. The reasons for
the "open source" position is not a hate for free software. It is in order to
gain mainstream "support" (which is a problem for free software users on both
sides of the issue). Ideally we all want to be shipping exclusively free
software though.
It really is pretty easy to explain in simple terms the importance of
avoiding non-free software and how it negatively impacts users. In order for
the free software community to support hardware / software there needs to be
the support from manufacturers / software companies. Many companies show an
unwillingness or inability to cooperate with the free software community
though. Without free software drivers, firmware, and other software there is
no guarantee your hardware or software will continue working. The community
literally can't support it. There are no bug fixes, there are no
improvements, there is only a reliance on the manufacturer for
drivers/firmware/updates. Non-free dependencies mean your stuff may or may
not continue to work.
Most of the problems users run into in GNU/Linux have to do with purchases of
hardware dependent on non-free components or other non-free software.
You can see that across the board with just about every class of device.
You can see that with pure software situations as well such as the non-free
Java Oracle debacle where users lost support for Java applications due to the
discontinuation of licensing terms which allowed for the distribution of said
software.
You can now see this happening again with Adobe Flash. For quite a few years
now most distribution have had support. Now Adobe has decided to discontinue
the older software and left users out in the cold. Had the software been free
Mozilla or another party could continue developing the software. Instead what
has happened is Adobe has teamed up with Google and turned Adobe's Flash into
a Chrome exclusive feature.
There are very few devices that will continue working year after year in
GNU/Linux. Users should be weary of purchasing random hardware or any "Linux"
hardware. What users should be seeking is free software compatible hardware.
We have put together a catalog to help solve this problem.
I can give some general advice on where to look for free software compatible
hardware although there are many issues with getting it outside of our
catalog.
N Mini PCIe Wireless cards: Any N Atheros Mini PCIe card is golden
N USB Wirelesss cards: Any device with an Atheros AR9170 should be golden
G USB Wireless cards: Any device with an Realtek 8187B or 8187L chipset
should be golden
N Wirless PCIe & PCI cards: Technically any with an Atheros N chipset should
work. I would not suggest trying to get a random card based on this
information as in practice there are various issues. What you get may or may
not work.
USB Bluetooth cards: CSR is what you need to aim for although not all cards
with a CSR chipset work.
Bluetooth / Wifi combo Mini PCIe cards: The cards with an Atheros wifi and an
Atheros bluetooth chipset are best although there is currently no free
software support for the bluetooth portion. We advise a pure Atheros wireless
Mini PCIe card with a USB Bluetooth dongle with CSR chipset.
Printers & Multifunction machines: HP is the way to go. While there are a few
non-HP printers that are free software compatible it is not worth the
headache. Not all HP printers and multifunction machines are free software
friendly though. While HP's documentation is very good for figuring out which
printers to buy one needs to understand how to interpret the documentation. A
good portion of the Inkjet printers and multifunction machines are free
software friendly. The color laserjet multifunction machines should be
avoided at the consumer end. They all require non-free software. I would
suggest inquiring with us before purchasing a printer if you don't get one
from ThinkPenguin.
Ethernet cards: Most 10/100 ethernet chipsets are free software compatible
although not all. At least some 10/100/1000 ethernet chipsets are dependent
on non-free software. I have not suggestions as to how to locate free
software compatible cards. We do sell both 10/100 and 10/100/1000 USB cards
that are free software compatible (the 10/100/100 may not work yet with free
distributions- I believe we will see support by Trisquel's 6 release though).
USB sound cards: Most should work with free software. There are some that
should be avoided. Creative's newer cards for instance. There are also some
USB audio cards which I believe don't work. We have two USB audio cards which
should work good enough for most users.
USB 3 express cards: If I recall there is only one chipset for these devices.
In theory I believe this should work although the support is kind of iffy
right now.
This covers a good portion of the problems people encounter and just finding
out what chipsets they have using lsusb and lspci can give you a good
indication of the problem. If they aren't using one of the above chipsets
explain the problem and suggest switching cards/systems/devices/etc.
ATI and NVidia graphics chipsets are also a problem. Unfortunately you can't
easily replace these. There are also problems switching Mini PCIe Wireless
cards in many newer systems. This is due to digital restrictions in the BIOS.
HP, Lenovo, IBM, Dell, and Toshiba users may want to get a USB wireless card
instead. We advise users not to purchase new laptops from these companies. We
do have a limited selection of laptops and desktops with many configuration
options for just about any price point you may need to hit.
