Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 10:20:54 -0500 From: Chuck Swiger <cswiger@mac.com> To: Adam Stroud <adam@thegeeklord.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: "Blob" and FreeBSD Message-ID: <442AA5D6.6000205@mac.com> In-Reply-To: <442AA2B9.2030205@thegeeklord.com> References: <442A9DA0.9060703@thegeeklord.com> <9431F277-5B07-41B1-B80A-A56FB04C7E8F@gmail.com> <442AA2B9.2030205@thegeeklord.com>
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Adam Stroud wrote: > What about drivers that are not part of the ports collection? That generally implies that the drivers are under such a proprietary license term that the binary images cannot be redistributed: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/porting-restrictions.html > Nvidia I can understand because the code is not in the kernel to the best of my > knowledge. The nVidia driver runs in the kernel, which is perhaps arguably different from, say a wireless card to which the firmware BLOB is uploaded. > If you want *the* nvidia driver, you install the port. What > about drivers for something like raid controllers that would exist > solely in the kernel? Some RAID cards seem to want firmware uploads, too. I'm not really sure what the distinction you're drawing here is...? Basicly, most people would like to see the open source version of the driver support the devices at least adequately without using a proprietary driver, but it's useful to have the option of supporting a proprietary driver from the manufacturer if that works better, for those who want to use it. -- -Chuck
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