documenting devices that require non-free firmware on Linux

[Karl Goetz]

On Sun, 7 Mar 2010 11:50:01 +0300
Dmitry Samoyloff <dsamoyloff at yandex.ru> wrote:

> Karl Goetz wrote:
> > On Sat, 6 Mar 2010 23:41:48 -0300
> > 
> > Felipe Sanches <juca at members.fsf.org> wrote:
> > > >> =Where are the non-free firmware images made available?=
> > > >> (usually here we would want an url to the manufacturer's
> > > >> firmware download webpage)
> > > > 
> > > > Should we be linking to this? It seems contrary to the
> > > > guidelines used for all other projects related to gnu.
> > > 
> > > yes. I know the guidelines disallow it. But in this specific
> > > case, I think that it is important to have this info. Because it
> > > can help developers of the free alternatives since access to the
> > > non-free firmware is a pre-requisite for reverse engineering it.
> > > Also, developers might want to run the driver using the non-free
> > > firmware to better understand how the device works. "The only
> > > legitimate use of non-free software is in the development of its
> > > free replacement." was once said to me by Alexandre Oliva.
> > 
> > This is a valid point. Can the template be updated so it includes a
> > warning about only using it for reverse engineering (etc), and a
> > link to a suitable site?  (I know there is a page about this on
> > fsf/gnu.org, but i can't find it)
> > kk
> 
> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html#ProprietarySoftware
> 

thanks,
kk

-- 
Karl Goetz, (Kamping_Kaiser / VK5FOSS)
Debian contributor / gNewSense Maintainer
http://www.kgoetz.id.au
No, I won't join your social networking group
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