From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S265087AbUHVBat (ORCPT ); Sat, 21 Aug 2004 21:30:49 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S265040AbUHVBat (ORCPT ); Sat, 21 Aug 2004 21:30:49 -0400 Received: from liberty.phpwebhosting.com ([69.0.209.130]:55235 "HELO liberty.phpwebhosting.com") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id S265038AbUHVB3x (ORCPT ); Sat, 21 Aug 2004 21:29:53 -0400 Message-ID: <41282F4C.9060305@dastyle.net> Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 01:29:48 -0400 From: Jonathan Bastien-Filiatrault User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux ppc; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040819 Debian/1.7.2-3 X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Lee Revell CC: Wakko Warner , "David N. Welton" , linux-kernel Subject: Re: Linux Incompatibility List References: <87r7q0th2n.fsf@dedasys.com> <20040821201632.GA7622@digitasaru.net> <20040821202058.GA9218@animx.eu.org> <1093120274.854.145.camel@krustophenia.net> In-Reply-To: <1093120274.854.145.camel@krustophenia.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org 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.