Intel Pro Wireless cards

[Kyrre Ness Sjobak]

tor, 03.03.2005 kl. 05.56 skrev Eric Warnke:
> I know this will open a large can of worms, so please take this message 
> as mearly a way of opening a dialog on the subject.
> 
> Objecive 2 of the Fedora "contract" specifies that it should be built 
> exclusivly from open source software.
> 
> But is firmware software?  It is more like a document, image, or other 
> fixed item.  What about Creative Commons "by" and "by-nd" licensed 
> documentation are those items locked out of Fedora as well?
> 
> I think we should re-evaluate the belief that locking out "free as in 
> beer" firmware  ( and all firmware is only "free as in beer" unless they 
> provide the source ) is the proper action for the community when these 
> files enable open source operating systems to interact with otherwise 
> propratary hardware.  I think that the first objective of the "contract" 
> is to provide a general operating system platform equivilant to other 
> competing systems must be evaluated before locking these files out.  To 
> say that these types of firmware are no longer welcome I think will hurt 
> us long term as the hardware get smarter and more flexable.  
> Communications hardware especially that are generally bound by one or 
> more legal body to constrain it's abilities.  Hardware manufactures who 
> open their hardware to blanket hacking risk loosing the license to sell 
> the hardware, so don't expect them to open the firmware as that is 
> legally not an option for them.
> 
> Is this lock out based on ideology or reality.  Including "free as in 
> beer" firmware does not compromise the ability to redistribute Fedora 
> freely and I think it moves us closer to the goal of a genreal-purpose 
> operating system out of the box.  It improves user feedback and reduces 
> problamatic and frustrating installs for both users and the people that 
> are drawn in to help new users get past these repetitive and common 
> problems.
> 
> Cheers,
> Eric

IMO firmware is just a part of the hardware. It's not something running
on the main CPU etc.

Besides, the chances to get it opened, are probably really small