Re: [gNewSense-users] Suspected Non-free

[Karl Goetz]

Andrew Wigglesworth wrote:
> On Monday 16 April 2007 06:18, Kevin Dean wrote:
> <snip>
>   
Snip.
>> The complete source code of the kernel Linux is NOT availible, and
>> that's EXACTLY why the gNewSense project, in essence, forked the Linux
>> kernel to remove the non-free components.
>>
>>     
> </snip>
>
> gNewSense has not forked the Linux kernel in any sense.  gNewSense is Ubuntu 
> Dapper without the non-free stuff put in by Debian/Ubuntu.
>
>   
Actually, most of the firmware in the kernel is from the Linux team.
None is added by debian, but i dont know about Ubuntu.

>> If you can not reasonably makes changes to it, it's not Free. You can
>> not _reasonably_ make changes to binary firmware so it has been deemed
>> non-Free and removed. It is GPL, and it is non-Free. The same
>> situation exists for the Radeon driver provided by Xorg. It is a Free
>> Software license, but it contain ATI microcode that can not be
>> reasonably modified so it is non-Free and removed.
>>     
>
> The Free Software Radeon drivers have not been removed in gNewSense.  See the 
> package:
>
> xserver-xorg-driver-ati
>   
Its impossible to do DRI with ati cards, because of the change Kevin
mentions. what the package is i dunno.
kk

-- 
Karl Goetz
User of gNewSense: Free as in Freedom - http://www.gnewsense.org
Australian Ubuntu users team - http://wiki.ubuntu.com/AustralianTeam
User of Debian, The Universal Operating System - http://www.debian.org

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