Adaptec

[reyk at vantronix.net]

hi tomas,

On Sun, Mar 20, 2005 at 05:22:16PM -0500, Tomas Quintero wrote:
> I'm sorry, but aside from the chain of emails subject'd Adaptec AAC
> raid support, what good does this email serve to the
> freebsd-questions@ mailing lists? The only thing this is doing is
> perpetuating the cycle of emails which is simply clogging inboxes.
> While some of the discussion may be constructive or useful in the
> other thread, this is not.
> 

it's the main interest of many many many users to have open source
drivers for their hardware! i'm working on a free driver for atheros
wireless chipsets since a long time and i get an amazing feedback from
quite a lot people.

i started this project for the first generation of atheros' chipsets
before there was any madwifi or ath binary-blob. atheros was not very
happy about my work but the users - the open source community -
encouraged me to continue my efforts. i implemented it for openbsd but
i also continuously get massive feedback from freebsd, netbsd and
linux people who are upset about their partially non-free and
binary-only options.

of course, my driver does not support all the proprietary and bleeding
edge features, like the binary-blob does, but everything for basic
operation is mostly done. it's the choice of the freebsd _users_ if
they want to lose their freedom to get some "features" (and pleased
manufacturers) or if they want to have free software with all of it's
benefits.

> Try and keep your subjects together so I can archive them more easily
> and not be forced to read over more. If anything, this sort of email
> belongs entirely on your misc lists, not the freebsd lists.
> 
> -Tomas Quintero
> FreeBSD User
> 

from the FreeBSD website:
---snip---
FreeBSD is free

While you might expect an operating system with these features to sell
for a high price, FreeBSD is available free of charge and comes with
full source code. If you would like to purchase or download a copy to
try out, more information is available.
---snap---

the users should ask the developers - where is the full source code?

so it's absolutely correct from theo to cc the freebsd-questions@
mailing list because it's a _main_question_! we care about freebsd,
netbsd and even linux because this behaviour hurts the entire open
source community. more and more manufacturers are having success with
getting their binary-blobs into "free" operating systems. what next?

it's like accepting software patents or ridiculous copyright acts, but
nobody benefits from it in a long term. some huge companies may have
some initial business advantages if they protect their "intellectual
property", cover everything with patents and close their hard- and
software. but it does have a immense drawback, it will stop a
society's technical and economical progress and the users are free to
buy open and well-supported hardware from companies like ralinktech or
lsi.

and btw., it has always been a great benefit to _all_ of the free
operating systems to share good code and to improve it in an ongoing
development. free software development is like evolution and not like
genetically enhanced glowing fishes which are unable to reproduce. i
have some friends who are addicted to freebsd and i'm addicted to
openbsd, but we're all certain about the need for 100% free software.

reyk