It does require binary blob
It does require binary blob
Posted Nov 26, 2008 23:04 UTC (Wed) by khim (subscriber, #9252)In reply to: wireless by xaoc
Parent article: VIA releases chipset documentation
I always wondered why so many people are insisting on having source for firmware of videocard or wireless chip while happily using binary blobs embedded in HDD, CPU (yes, both Intel and AMD CPUs require binary blobs to operate) and other components. Why 10 or more binary blobs embedded here in there in your system don't bother you, but single one sitting on your CD is such a big deal? And why trivial move of said blob from CD to embedded ROM suddenly make hardware more acceptable?
I can see why binary drivers embedded in kernel are bad idea: there are no "walls" in the kernel and so any driver can bring the whole system down (and DMA gurantees that even microkernel will not solve this problem), but firmware for Intel wireless device works on different CPU - like firmware for HDD, CD-ROM or Ethernet card! The host system just uploads it, nothing more...