diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2012-July/017468.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2012-July/017468.html | 124 |
1 files changed, 124 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2012-July/017468.html b/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2012-July/017468.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..f5ff2e64a --- /dev/null +++ b/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2012-July/017468.html @@ -0,0 +1,124 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> +<HTML> + <HEAD> + <TITLE> [Mageia-dev] free software purity question + </TITLE> + <LINK REL="Index" HREF="index.html" > + <LINK REL="made" HREF="mailto:mageia-dev%40mageia.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BMageia-dev%5D%20free%20software%20purity%20question&In-Reply-To=%3C4d8kd9-80j.ln1%40psd.motzarella.org%3E"> + <META NAME="robots" CONTENT="index,nofollow"> + <META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> + <LINK REL="Previous" HREF="017467.html"> + <LINK REL="Next" HREF="017469.html"> + </HEAD> + <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> + <H1>[Mageia-dev] free software purity question</H1> + <B>blind Pete</B> + <A HREF="mailto:mageia-dev%40mageia.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BMageia-dev%5D%20free%20software%20purity%20question&In-Reply-To=%3C4d8kd9-80j.ln1%40psd.motzarella.org%3E" + TITLE="[Mageia-dev] free software purity question">0123peter at gmail.com + </A><BR> + <I>Thu Jul 19 04:35:48 CEST 2012</I> + <P><UL> + <LI>Previous message: <A HREF="017467.html">[Mageia-dev] ANN: GLIBC-2.16 landing on Cauldron +</A></li> + <LI>Next message: <A HREF="017469.html">[Mageia-dev] free software purity question +</A></li> + <LI> <B>Messages sorted by:</B> + <a href="date.html#17468">[ date ]</a> + <a href="thread.html#17468">[ thread ]</a> + <a href="subject.html#17468">[ subject ]</a> + <a href="author.html#17468">[ author ]</a> + </LI> + </UL> + <HR> +<!--beginarticle--> +<PRE>This is not supposed to be a troll, although I expect that some will +interpret it as such. There are two parts; the first is how does this +work, followed by some philosophical stuff. AFTER I get answers to the +first part I want to make up my mind about the second part. Then you +can flame. + +It appears that I don't know how things work. + +I prefer open source for a few reasons, but when it comes to +motherboard BIOSes there is no real choice, so I just hope +that the manufacturers are competent and trustworthy. What is +the story with CPUs and video cards? + +My attitude to non-free firmware is in flux. At the moment +I am annoyed by it, but accept it as a fact of life and just +install it. + +In the olden days CPUs and graphics cards were hard wired. If they +didn't work you had to throw them out, change the masks and +manufacture new ones. Remember the Pentium division error? +Modern devices are far too complex for that to work. They +have code that is variously known as; firmware, CPU microcode, +or a video BIOS. + +Now the bits that I don't know about... + +Does a modern CPU run *at all* without microcode? I assume that +when you buy a CPU it has microcode in ROM on the chip. +Then at powerup it copies the code from ROM to working memory +where it is run until either powerdown or it is over written with +a newer version of the same thing. Is that right? + +As I understand it, microcode is usually used to emulate CISC +instructions on RISC hardware. Can a consumer tell the difference? +Would the manufacturers tell us, even if we asked nicely? +If we do know which instructions are run on hardware and which +are run in microcode, does is change from one chip to the next? +Can gcc be configured to only produce the subset of instructions +that run on the hardware? There are a couple of references in +man gcc, but they seem to refer to the PowerPC, not x86. + +Same problem with video cards. According to Wikipedia, since +EGA hit the market in 1984, all video cards have their own BIOS. + +Is *possible* to run anything better than CGA without using +closed source code? If you physically removed the chip +containing the video BIOS from a video card would you even be +able to look at the motherboard's BIOS? + +Is there any practical, or moral, difference between; +downloading and installing the latest firmware on boot, +downloading and flashing the video BIOS, +flashing the video BIOS from a floppy that came with the video card, +waiting until cards with a good BIOS get distributed before buying. + +Should a truly free distribution say; "detected a VGA video +card and/or a Pentium II, refusing to install"? + +Is there any choice? An open source BIOS an arm chip and a +text only display? + +-- +blind Pete +Sig goes here... + +</PRE> + + + + + +<!--endarticle--> + <HR> + <P><UL> + <!--threads--> + <LI>Previous message: <A HREF="017467.html">[Mageia-dev] ANN: GLIBC-2.16 landing on Cauldron +</A></li> + <LI>Next message: <A HREF="017469.html">[Mageia-dev] free software purity question +</A></li> + <LI> <B>Messages sorted by:</B> + <a href="date.html#17468">[ date ]</a> + <a href="thread.html#17468">[ thread ]</a> + <a href="subject.html#17468">[ subject ]</a> + <a href="author.html#17468">[ author ]</a> + </LI> + </UL> + +<hr> +<a href="https://www.mageia.org/mailman/listinfo/mageia-dev">More information about the Mageia-dev +mailing list</a><br> +</body></html> |