Paul Boddie wrote: > but who knows whether there's a proprietary > firmware blob involved?
With 802.11, most designs now have a proprietary firmware blob that you have to load into the chip/module, so I'd say it's safe to assume that this one has that too. >From a technical point of view, I don't see a big problem with this approach, as long as there is a clean separation between the wireless chip/module and the Linux system. E.g., if the closed stuff would share memory with Linux and maybe even directly access the kernel's data structures, that would be bad. But if all the accesses are mediated through an Open Source driver, it wouldn't bother me if the other side is closed. However, there is the issue of distributing the blob. If you can't redistribute it, be it with the source of the driver or via a separate channel, then any users are at risk of getting cut off when the manufacturer changes their policy, drops the product, disappears, etc. - Werner _______________________________________________ Qi Hardware Discussion List Mail to list (members only): [email protected] Subscribe or Unsubscribe: http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion
