On Fri, 31 Oct 2003, Colin Watson wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 31, 2003 at 05:41:33AM -0500, Haines Brown wrote: > > Rob Weir wrote: > > > 3) get the non-free binary-only nvidia drivers. The "nvidia-glx-src" > > > and "nvidia-kernel-src" packages make this rather easy. This is only > > > an option on x86, however. > > > > Rob, I follow you on points 1 and 2, but not 3. The nVidia has > > completely changed its driver policy, and now everything (driver, > > installation utility) comes in one self-expanding .run file. And this > > driver supports a range of their cards, including all the GeForces. So > > it's very simple now. What you do is to use a (downloaded or > > automatically compiled) interface to mediate the relation of your > > driver and kernel. > > > > Further, it is apparently free. Or at least I downloaded and installed > > the driver on woody and have not paid yet ;-). The driver's name is > > "nvidia." > > That's not what Rob means by "non-free". Debian people believe that the > freedom to take the source code to a piece of software, improve it, and > pass on the results is very important. See > http://www.debian.org/intro/free for more details. > > When people say "non-free" on this list, they almost always mean that it > doesn't meet the Debian standards for free software, so perhaps it > doesn't come with source code, or you aren't allowed to modify it, or > you're only allowed to put it to non-commercial use, or something > similar. > > Cheers, > > -- > Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Haines, Rob and Colin, It took me a while to 'get' RMS's point about 'free' vs ESR's 'open source' and the difference between 'free as in beer' vs 'free as in freedom'. And for a while I thought better of ESR's open source vs RMS's Free software. This is because I got into 'linux' and liked the 'free as in beer' nature as I think most folks seem to in the beginning. But it took a while to fully appreciate the 'free as in freedom' aspect and the difference between 'linux' and 'Gnu/Linux'. Unfortunatly, the 'free as in freedom' aspect is not as easy to get across to people as the 'free as in beer' or the 'open source' idea especially in a society that seem to allow many freedoms. -Kev -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
