Re: Linux Incompatibility List

[Jonathan Bastien-Filiatrault <joe@dastyle.net>]

Lee Revell wrote:

>On Sat, 2004-08-21 at 16:20, Wakko Warner wrote:
>  
>
>>>>Ideas/comments/suggestions are welcome at this stage.
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>Sounds interesting; is there a vendor blacklist (i.e. vendors that are
>>>  either hostile toward or simply don't care about Linux and their products
>>>  just won't ever work with Linux?)
>>>      
>>>
>>Broadcom's wireless chips come to mind...
>>    
>>
>
>Nvidia.  AFAIK all nvidia Linux drivers are either binary-only or
>reverse-engineered.
>
>To add insult to injury they have a stupid 20+page 'Nvidia Linux
>Advantage' whitepaper on their site that conveniently fails to mention
>the above.  They probably spent more money for some marketroid to put
>that together than they ever spent on actually supporting Linux.
>  
>
Vendors should understand that ACTUALLY supporting linux means adopting 
the free software philosophy. In many cases, vendors think that they 
should be the only one to be able to write drivers, since 99% of desktop 
users dont care about their software freedom. Vendors should not try to 
obscure the workings of their devices, they should show the world how 
they are innovating in hardware design by releasing specs on a 
freely-redistributable basis. This would greatly improve competiveness 
and innovation in the domain of hardware design. Give me a binary driver 
and i will  buy from you once, give me the specs and i'll appreciate the 
effort you put in designing the device.