Thank you for correction!

Posted Apr 29, 2004 2:23 UTC (Thu) by rjamestaylor (guest, #339) [Link]

Eh, huh?

I noticed your previous post went off about "DriverLoader", which I didn't understand as I'm not familiar with it, but I never meant to refer to that package in the first place. In fact, the context of my "tirade" was Linuxant, not DriverLoader; nor do I mention DriverLoader or driverloader. Though I may have thrown you off with general descriptive language:

but I will definitely request a refund from Linuxant and remove the driver loader from my system.

In my non-kernel hacker mind, Linuxant is loading the Windows binary driver into Linux for me to use. That's what I meant. That there is a package/utility called DriverLoader...well, I assumed you would exercise reading comprehension skills before jumping to wild conclusions from an insignificant phrase that would have to be taken out of context not only of the post but of the very sentence in which the phrase exists.

Thanks for playing!

Posted Apr 29, 2004 2:34 UTC (Thu) by farnz (guest, #17727) [Link]

When I first heard about the LinuxAnt fuss, I also wrongly assumed that it was both DriverLoader and the Conexant modem stuff (having taken care to ensure that there are free drivers for all hardware in this machine). I still agree with rjamestaylor; LinuxAnt should be penalised by people who care about freedom of software for trying to bypass the usual rules, whether or not their intent was honourable.

I know this isn't Slashdot, and thus I'm probably preaching to the choir, but I don't feel that anything that helps Linux adoption is always beneficial. Part of the point of Linux for me is that it's free software in RMS's sense, and as such, people who for whatever reason do not wish to keep to the freedom side of things deserve penalising. The rules exist that allow you to co-exist adequately with those of us who don't buy devices that require binary-only drivers, and if you start bypassing them, I'm going to be unhappy.

My personal setup includes machines of 4 different processor architectures; I have both 64 and 32 bit systems, with both little and big endian byte orders. If I install free software on one, I know that it'll work on the others, provided I'm prepared to debug it. I like to have it made clear to me when I'm installing non-free software, so that I know that it may not work on any other machine I posess. LinuxAnt's trick has potential to confuse me if I'm not careful and rely on kernel tainting to spot non-free drivers, and for that reason I feel they are morally in the wrong.