:: Re: [Dng] straw poll, non-free firm…
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Author: Anto
Date:  
To: dng
Subject: Re: [Dng] straw poll, non-free firmware for installers


On 04/06/15 20:51, Steve Litt wrote:
>
> .
> <snip>
> .
>
> Imagine the difference...
>
> You come home from Costco clutching your brand new laptop, all hot and
> bothered to install Devuan because you've heard it's simpler and better
> made than the others. You boot your Devuan DVD, and it tells you your
> network card needs a firmware. Fortunately for you, the documentation
> *screamed* that you might need nonfree firmware, walked you through
> exactly how to thumb-drive it, you use a different computer to put it
> on the thumb drive, stick it in, try again, and the install goes
> perfectly. Devuan was every bit as good as you thought.
>
> Bottom line: Be on the same team as reasonable users.
>
> SteveT
>
> Steve Litt
> June 2015 featured book: The Key to Everyday Excellence
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/key
>


Hello Steve,

According to the approach that Daniel suggested as I understood it, the
story is a bit different...

You come home from Costco clutching your brand new laptop, all hot and
bothered to install Devuan because you've heard it's simpler and better
made than the others. You boot your Devuan DVD, and it tells you your
network card needs a firmware. Fortunately for you, the documentation
*screamed* that you might need nonfree firmware, walked you through
exactly how to thumb-drive it, you use a different computer to put it on
the thumb drive, stick it in, try again, The installer gives you the
option to choose the firmware from the available list or abort the
installation. As you trust the firmware, you select it. If that would be
proprietary firmware, you will be given a license agreement to accept or
reject it (to abort the installation). After you read (assuming you have
time) and accept the license agreement, the install goes perfectly.
Devuan was every bit as good as you thought.

I am not sure thought if the installer would really do that. Especially
on the proprietary part, that looks exactly the same as what Windows
does (at work, I don't have any other choice rather than using Windows).

Cheers,

Anto