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diff --git a/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2012-July/017469.html b/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2012-July/017469.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..51f375cee --- /dev/null +++ b/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2012-July/017469.html @@ -0,0 +1,134 @@ +<!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=%3C50077AC8.7070908%40q7.com%3E"> + <META NAME="robots" CONTENT="index,nofollow"> + <META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> + <LINK REL="Previous" HREF="017468.html"> + <LINK REL="Next" HREF="017483.html"> + </HEAD> + <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> + <H1>[Mageia-dev] free software purity question</H1> + <B>Steve Havelka</B> + <A HREF="mailto:mageia-dev%40mageia.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BMageia-dev%5D%20free%20software%20purity%20question&In-Reply-To=%3C50077AC8.7070908%40q7.com%3E" + TITLE="[Mageia-dev] free software purity question">yoshi at q7.com + </A><BR> + <I>Thu Jul 19 05:11:04 CEST 2012</I> + <P><UL> + <LI>Previous message: <A HREF="017468.html">[Mageia-dev] free software purity question +</A></li> + <LI>Next message: <A HREF="017483.html">[Mageia-dev] free software purity question +</A></li> + <LI> <B>Messages sorted by:</B> + <a href="date.html#17469">[ date ]</a> + <a href="thread.html#17469">[ thread ]</a> + <a href="subject.html#17469">[ subject ]</a> + <a href="author.html#17469">[ author ]</a> + </LI> + </UL> + <HR> +<!--beginarticle--> +<PRE>There is at least one fully free-software computer: + +<A HREF="http://www.lemote.com/en/products/Notebook/2010/0310/112.html">http://www.lemote.com/en/products/Notebook/2010/0310/112.html</A> + + +This is the kind of computer Richard Stallman uses, as mentioned on +<A HREF="http://richard.stallman.usesthis.com/">http://richard.stallman.usesthis.com/</A> + + + +On 07/18/2012 07:35 PM, blind Pete wrote: +><i> This is not supposed to be a troll, although I expect that some will +</I>><i> interpret it as such. There are two parts; the first is how does this +</I>><i> work, followed by some philosophical stuff. AFTER I get answers to the +</I>><i> first part I want to make up my mind about the second part. Then you +</I>><i> can flame. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> It appears that I don't know how things work. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> I prefer open source for a few reasons, but when it comes to +</I>><i> motherboard BIOSes there is no real choice, so I just hope +</I>><i> that the manufacturers are competent and trustworthy. What is +</I>><i> the story with CPUs and video cards? +</I>><i> +</I>><i> My attitude to non-free firmware is in flux. At the moment +</I>><i> I am annoyed by it, but accept it as a fact of life and just +</I>><i> install it. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> In the olden days CPUs and graphics cards were hard wired. If they +</I>><i> didn't work you had to throw them out, change the masks and +</I>><i> manufacture new ones. Remember the Pentium division error? +</I>><i> Modern devices are far too complex for that to work. They +</I>><i> have code that is variously known as; firmware, CPU microcode, +</I>><i> or a video BIOS. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> Now the bits that I don't know about... +</I>><i> +</I>><i> Does a modern CPU run *at all* without microcode? I assume that +</I>><i> when you buy a CPU it has microcode in ROM on the chip. +</I>><i> Then at powerup it copies the code from ROM to working memory +</I>><i> where it is run until either powerdown or it is over written with +</I>><i> a newer version of the same thing. Is that right? +</I>><i> +</I>><i> As I understand it, microcode is usually used to emulate CISC +</I>><i> instructions on RISC hardware. Can a consumer tell the difference? +</I>><i> Would the manufacturers tell us, even if we asked nicely? +</I>><i> If we do know which instructions are run on hardware and which +</I>><i> are run in microcode, does is change from one chip to the next? +</I>><i> Can gcc be configured to only produce the subset of instructions +</I>><i> that run on the hardware? There are a couple of references in +</I>><i> man gcc, but they seem to refer to the PowerPC, not x86. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> Same problem with video cards. According to Wikipedia, since +</I>><i> EGA hit the market in 1984, all video cards have their own BIOS. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> Is *possible* to run anything better than CGA without using +</I>><i> closed source code? If you physically removed the chip +</I>><i> containing the video BIOS from a video card would you even be +</I>><i> able to look at the motherboard's BIOS? +</I>><i> +</I>><i> Is there any practical, or moral, difference between; +</I>><i> downloading and installing the latest firmware on boot, +</I>><i> downloading and flashing the video BIOS, +</I>><i> flashing the video BIOS from a floppy that came with the video card, +</I>><i> waiting until cards with a good BIOS get distributed before buying. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> Should a truly free distribution say; "detected a VGA video +</I>><i> card and/or a Pentium II, refusing to install"? +</I>><i> +</I>><i> Is there any choice? An open source BIOS an arm chip and a +</I>><i> text only display? +</I>><i> +</I> +</PRE> + + + + + + + +<!--endarticle--> + <HR> + <P><UL> + <!--threads--> + <LI>Previous message: <A HREF="017468.html">[Mageia-dev] free software purity question +</A></li> + <LI>Next message: <A HREF="017483.html">[Mageia-dev] free software purity question +</A></li> + <LI> <B>Messages sorted by:</B> + <a href="date.html#17469">[ date ]</a> + <a href="thread.html#17469">[ thread ]</a> + <a href="subject.html#17469">[ subject ]</a> + <a href="author.html#17469">[ 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> |