Nonfree firmware

13 replies [Last post]
raunz
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Joined: 03/18/2015

Hey there,

I just installed Trisquel 7 and was pretty pleased until I tried to get the radeon driver to run.

The open source AMD driver needs firmware blobs. Who would have known...

Since there is no linux-firmware-nonfree package, there is no way to no run the radeon driver. Also there will never be a nonfree repository. Right?

Also why can't I search the forums?

Have a nice day.

davidnotcoulthard (not verified)
davidnotcoulthard

"linux-firmware-nonfree" The clue is in the name :( And no, Trisuel will not provide prorpietary software.

As for why the forums can't be searched, I guess that's just the way the site is. One can search the entire site, but not the forums :(

raunz
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Joined: 03/18/2015

That's reasonable I guess, but I don't want to work with Fallback nor a laggy Gnome shell.
Until there is a way to install it manually I guess I'll have to stick to Arch or try Ubuntu Gnome.
Waiting for AMD to become blob-free isn't a thing I believe. :D

Hopefully a future release will fit my needs some day. (Which includes a Wiki and proper forum software) ;D

JadedCtrl
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Joined: 08/11/2014

The forum IS searchable! When you use the search box, it searches the entire website, including the forum.
And Trisquel does have a wiki- click "Documentation" at the top to be taken there.

SuperTramp83

I am a translator!

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Joined: 10/31/2014

If you need video acceleration - not possible with ati crap.
If you need a native screen resolution and a fast DE environment - install trisquel 6 mini or the full version adding xfce.

marioxcc
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Joined: 08/13/2014

>Hopefully a future release will fit my needs some day. (Which includes a Wiki and proper forum software) ;D

Contribute something to make it happen (work or money, not necessarily donating directly, you can hire a developer to contribute on your behalf). Otherwise, you will just add to the masses of people who complain about something but don't put the least effort to make the difference. Society don't needs more of this attitude, it has already done a lot of harm for which you are a victim and also (if you don't do anything about it) guilt of.

We don't support the open source viewpoint here, see the link for an explanation.

We are free software supporters, we care for the moral and social problems that proprietary software brings and therefore we don't recommend or give support for it; that'd be hypocritical of us. You have been asked to read our commuity guidelines (the link is on top of all forum threads) which explain this, but apparently, you couldn't be bothered to do so either.

quantumgravity
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Joined: 04/22/2013

"(...)it has already done a lot of harm for which you are a victim and also (if you don't do anything about it) guilt of."

There is not enough water in africa, and i assume that you didn't do anything about it.
Now, are you guilty of it?
Just because you don't contribute to changing a certain situation doesn't mean that you're the one who is responsible for it.
It just means that you're not in a position to complain.

tomlukeywood
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Joined: 12/05/2014
raunz
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Joined: 03/18/2015

If I could use this distribution I would donate for sure, let me tell you.
And if my coding skills would be anywhere near good enough for driver reverse engineering I would do it too.

And I mostly "complained" about the inability to read more about the distribution- specific issues I had, because there is no Wiki and no (obvious) forum search. Its honest feedback and can be done easily.
I did not complain about my Trisquel not being able to do stuff with my graphics card - at all. I asked if one can work around that problem.

I know about licensing issues - things are bad.
But I'm surely not the enemy.

TLDR
Make a Wiki, put your manifest, guidelines, hardware support lists, etc. in there and don't be bothered by the nasty complainers. It's already there, people just need to be able to find it.

JadedCtrl
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Joined: 08/11/2014

The forum is searchable. There is this obvious search box at the top right of the webpage- you can't miss it!
And Trisquel does have a wiki- click "Documentation" at the top to be taken there.
Guidelines? For the forum rules? We have those. For the distro? Trisquel goes by the Free Software definition and the Free Software Distribution Guidelines set by the FSF.
There is a database of Free Software friendly hardware, and it's called H-Node.

marioxcc
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Joined: 08/13/2014

Like JadedCtrl replied above, we have many of the things you thought we didn't have.

>I know about licensing issues - things are bad.
>But I'm surely not the enemy.

Not the enemy. It's not about friend and foes. However, you know that there are problems, and with that attitude of not even bothering to search for forum features already present, let alone make any effort to help deal with the problem of proprietary software, (or at least avoid using it) you are contributing to perpetuate the current situation.

You need not use Trisquel to donate for its development and you know it. You don't even need a credit card, you can donate Bitcoin and you do not need to be skillful in reverse engineering. That's just an excuse you made to not to contribute in the least to change what you are complaining about. There is more to do than reverse engineering, there are plenty of ways to contribute to free software. Programming, software packaging, software testing, reporting bugs, raising awareness (tell the people you know about how proprietary software damages society), installing fully free GNU/Linux distributions to newcomers, donating, writing documentation, providing support, buying goods and services that respect the user's freedom (Tehnoethic https://tehnoetic.com/, ThinkPenguin http://thinkpenguin.com/, others https://www.fsf.org/ryf) and so on.

The answer is not to stop complaining, but stop being lazy and put yourself to work on what you rightfully complain.

onpon4
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Joined: 05/30/2012

You should blame the developers of Linux (especially Torvalds) for allowing proprietary firmware blobs into the main distribution of Linux; if they didn't do that, AMD would have at least a little pressure to provide either the specs so someone can write a libre firmware program, or the source code to their firmware program under a libre license.

SuperTramp83

I am a translator!

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Joined: 10/31/2014

exactly! right on onpon!

lydell

I am a member!

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Joined: 04/20/2014