:: Re: [dyne:bolic] conflict of goals
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Author: El Evans
Date:  
To: dynebolic mailinglist
Subject: Re: [dyne:bolic] conflict of goals
My two cents ---
Free isn't free unless it's free.

On Fri, Sep 30, 2011 at 10:46 AM, Lukasz Jastrzebski <
luke.jastrzebski@???> wrote:

> Guys that made free kernel put a lot of effort for you to *not* have
> the drivers, you know...
> It's probably different with each case, Ralink firmware IIRC was a
> separate package, dunno if it was coupled with free or non-free kernel
> module.
> But I'm still wondering what the devs would say ;)
>
> 2011/9/30 PaK Zer0 <dmusta1ne.pak@???>:
> > That's what we are begging for: a solution to that problem.
> >
> > Maybe a workaround would be a "patch" for D:B for old/not-free
> > hardware, so you always can choose instead of have this problem or not
> > being free about this choice.
> >
> > 2011/9/30 Lukasz Jastrzebski <luke.jastrzebski@???>:
> >> Hi!
> >>
> >> My conclusions are quite different, but first, define what is the old
> >> hardware, what does it mean?
> >> I'd say 10 years old hardware is a rare example of good manufacturing,
> >> and I quite frankly have problems to, for example, upgrade hardware
> >> with much newer components than this - and with few exceptions we're
> >> talking about second market here.
> >> I usually buy 4-6 years old hardware from what used to be the top
> >> shelf. I use them on a daily basis, they do what I want (for 10% of
> >> the price I should pay for a new one). But let's say that 10 years is
> >> giveaway level - no matter if this is a PC, laptop or whatever else -
> >> I assume it has USB, PCI, PCIMCIA if mobile, and around 256 MB of ram
> >> (even though half of it was kind of normal back then), 800MHz clock,
> >> leaving plenty of opportunities to upgrade it... I think that D:B will
> >> work on that.
> >> If it's worse - taking different distro, dedicated for old stuff
> >> should do the trick.
> >>
> >> And yes, no wi-fi from D:B works in my place as well, and the problem
> >> is the same as yours - lack of free drivers. I usually depend on
> >> wireless connectivity. The answer is as simple, as taking the cable
> >> and making it work. Wifi is just for ease of wandering around my
> >> house...
> >>
> >> Having binary blobs, or some not-so-free components inside Linux is
> >> not that good, but oh, come on guys! There always is a solution!
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> Ł
> >>
> >> 2011/9/30 sayhi2guy@??? <sayhi2guy@???>:
> >>> Hi
> >>>
> >>> Just a few thought son what I see as a conflict of goals in D:B's
> >>> philosophy. On one hand d:b is committed to totally free software, but
> >>> D:B is also trying to be an OS to recycle old equipment (as in the
> >>> famous $0 laptop).
> >>>
> >>> People who depend on other peoples old unwanted
> >>> hardware cannot always choose what they want, especially whether the
> >>> hardware has free drivers. There is an English saying that 'beggars
> >>> cannot be choosers.' As an example, both my computers are donated 'cast
> >>> offs' and the usb wireless on one needs the ralink firmware that D:B
> >>> does not include; I cannot just afford to go out and buy something else
> >>> so I cannot use that PC with D:B.
> >>>
> >>> The goal of encouraging someone to
> >>> only use hardware with free drivers is good, but not always practical:
> >>> The irony is that this hinders the people who need the free software
> >>> the most.
> >>>
> >>> Best wishes
> >>> Guy
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>> dynebolic@???
> >>> http://lists.dyne.org/mailman/listinfo/dynebolic
> >>>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> dynebolic mailing list
> >> dynebolic@???
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > DMusta1ne / PaK-Zer0
> > http://pak-0.bandcamp.com
> >
> > Could you put a price on peace?
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> >
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