On Thu, 04 Jun 2015 21:31:29 +0200
Anto <aryanto@???> wrote:

>
>
> 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

Yes.

The proprietary firmware you choose will look the same as Windows. One
tiny part of your $450 laptop will be nonfree, as opposed to the entire
OS. The perfect is the enemy of the good.

It would be cool if the list you mentioned could tell whether each
firmware was free or not, so you could use that as part of your
decision.

SteveT

Steve Litt
June 2015 featured book: The Key to Everyday Excellence
http://www.troubleshooters.com/key