Re: [gforth] setting up a linux system so to learn gfroth and GNU/linux

[Bernd Paysan]

Am Mittwoch, 13. August 2014, 06:49:24 schrieb wilnav:
> So I am thinking of installing gnewsense. I would like to support FSF
> and GNU as much as possible. So within the gforth community is there a
> preference to one or other operating system?

Use Linux. Whether it's a Linux with 100% free software or not completely 100% 
- we don't care, that's your choice.  I personally like Debian best for 
servers, and prefer OpenSuSE on desktop/laptop.  But there are 500 Linux 
distributions out there, choose the one you see fit.

FSF's issue with OpenSuSE are the firmware blobs.  I'm not convinced of that 
issue: This is just technical, the manufacturers of these chips use RAMs to 
store the firmware so that they can develop that stuff without many long 
turnarounds. Therefore, you upload the firmware by the OS.  This is state of 
the art; all these more complex chips have embedded microcontrollers, a 
significant fraction requires uploading the firmware as blob (the rest has 
embedded flash, as when the firmware grows, flash is way more dense than RAM, 
so the additional masks pay off).

If you use a system that is free in the FSF sense, you will have troubles with 
many hardware components, except those already initialized by the BIOS (which 
does the blob uploading for you then).

-- 
Bernd Paysan
"If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself"
http://bernd-paysan.de/

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