Is a Wii or DS A General Purpose Computer?
As a gamer, I find it hard live fully by Free Software. I miss Nintendo games, as well as 3D which is almost non-existent in Free Software. The games exist, but only some Intel boards can play them. 3D games, and about half the 2D that use 3D features to run, do not run unless they are on some Intel boards.
Are video game consoles, such as the Wii and DS, really General Purpose Computers? If not, should they really be boycotted in the name of Free Software?
I guess my question, in its simplest form, is can I use Trisquel on my Desktops and Laptop and buy a Wii or DS and not be contradicting the values of Free Software and be a hypocrite?
Thank GNU.
The capability of the Wii is certainly up there with some general purpose computers, and I think the Wii can be booted with a version of GNU/Linux, so in that sense it could be considered a general purpose computer. Using a browser on either of these might also place them in the same category. If they are used exclusively for playing games from the discs or cartridges, I'm not so sure. Hopefully we're from others in the community. Almost anything that uses electricity these days utilizes some level of software (cars, phones, ATM machines, DVD players) most of which is probably non-free, and we still use those.
2010/3/30 <name at domain>
> As a gamer, I find it hard live fully by Free Software. I miss Nintendo
> games, as well as 3D which is almost non-existent in Free Software. The
> games exist, but only some Intel boards can play them. 3D games, and about
> half the 2D that use 3D features to run, do not run unless they are on some
> Intel boards.
>
> Are video game consoles, such as the Wii and DS, really General Purpose
> Computers? If not, should they really be boycotted in the name of Free
> Software?
>
> I guess my question, in its simplest form, is can I use Trisquel on my
> Desktops and Laptop and buy a Wii or DS and not be contradicting the values
> of Free Software and be a hypocrite?
>
>
In my humble opinion, and taking into account that the Free Software
movement is about freedom and not software, I think you'd be contradicting
your values, yes. But don't expect to find a person in the world that
doesn't contradict herself; we are humans, we are weak, and we need
transitions.
Do whatever you consider better for you and society. You can give a hand to
the Free Software movement or you can give your entire life if you want; in
any case, I think your help will be appreciated, at least I'll do so.
--
Luis Felipe López Acevedo
http://introsmedia.tuxfamily.org/