On Sat, Aug 25, 2012 at 04:32:36PM +1000, Ben Sturmfels wrote: > Adam Bolte <[email protected]> writes: > > > On Sun, Aug 12, 2012 at 07:50:00PM +1000, Ben Sturmfels wrote: > >> I see they've already raised $8M in pre-sales though, so perhaps > >> there are other free software organisations that would benefit more > >> from a donation right now. I'm thinking instead of buying a video > >> card from Think Penguin [3]. > >> > >> [3] > >> https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/geforce-9500gt-1gb-pci-express-20-video-card-gnulinux > > > > I just noticed... it's an Nvidia card you are talking about. This gives me > > mixed feelings. Sure supporting free software drivers and stores that find > > such hardware is great, but supporting Nvidia? <shudder>
> > AMD makes cards that have excellent free software drivers, and (unlike > > Nvidia) > > they release the specs... however most modern AMD cards rely on non-free > > firmware - firmware that isn't built into the device's ROM, but instead > > needs > > to be loaded by the driver during initialisation. > > > > Even so, it seems to me that AMD is doing far better at helping the free > > software driver communities than Nvidia ever has. > Choosing an AMD card means I'm giving some profits to AMD, who offer > dramatically better support for free software. On the other hand though, > I'd be required to use proprietary firmware. True. Even basic embedded proprietary firmware that users are not expected to interact with directly can still be a problem, as most people who have purchased a SSD recently would be able to tell you. http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/4870/lsi_sandforce_5_series_ssd_firmware_trim_lost_and_found_performance_investigated/index.html Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any HDDs/SSDs with free firmware... perhaps some basic USB Mass Storage devices qualify as not requiring any (and running hdparm -I on the few USB keys I have produces garbage which might suggest as much)? However I'm guessing you (as well as most/all free software advocates on this list) do use a HDD or SSD of some kind. If my above assumptions are correct, why treat graphics driver firmware specially? I'm certainly not saying it's wrong to demand free firmware, however I'm curious why some firmware is treated differently. Is it because one lives in your filesystem on your HDD, but the other is stored in an EEPROM (and if so, why does this matter)? Or is it just because the graphics card is from Think Penguin? -Adam
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