>    Right, which brings up the issue that you cannot produce a distibution
> without an initramfs because, among the other problems, some of the drivers
> it comes with, some of which are needed to mount the root filesystem, do need
> a proprietary firmware.  What one can do on his own PC does not constitute a
> solution for the distribution.

     It brings the issue that you cannot produce a *universal* 
distribution without an initramfs etc...

     I don't know of any distribution with a pretention to be universal 
without an initramfs. initramfs is what distros need to be as universal 
as possible.

     Considering no distribution will provide you with the proprietary 
blob you need for your specific hardware, you will have to hack it a 
little bit and go beyond what the distro can give you. Either you hack 
the initramfs, or you hack the kernel, or you buy hardware which can be 
managed by free software. This leaves you with 3 options (at least). Not 
too bad :-)

     Didier