From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 29 15:20:57 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9834516A401 for ; Wed, 29 Mar 2006 15:20:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from pi.codefab.com (pi.codefab.com [199.103.21.227]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BBD8043D6E for ; Wed, 29 Mar 2006 15:20:52 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pi.codefab.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 430DD5DA0; Wed, 29 Mar 2006 10:20:52 -0500 (EST) Received: from pi.codefab.com ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (pi.codefab.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 24435-03; Wed, 29 Mar 2006 10:20:51 -0500 (EST) Received: from [192.168.1.3] (pool-68-160-194-11.ny325.east.verizon.net [68.160.194.11]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pi.codefab.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 36D745C3C; Wed, 29 Mar 2006 10:20:50 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <442AA5D6.6000205@mac.com> Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 10:20:54 -0500 From: Chuck Swiger Organization: The Courts of Chaos User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5 (Windows/20051201) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Adam Stroud References: <442A9DA0.9060703@thegeeklord.com> <9431F277-5B07-41B1-B80A-A56FB04C7E8F@gmail.com> <442AA2B9.2030205@thegeeklord.com> In-Reply-To: <442AA2B9.2030205@thegeeklord.com> X-Enigmail-Version: 0.94.0.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at codefab.com Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: "Blob" and FreeBSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 15:20:57 -0000 Adam Stroud wrote: > What about drivers that are not part of the ports collection? That generally implies that the drivers are under such a proprietary license term that the binary images cannot be redistributed: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/porting-restrictions.html > Nvidia I can understand because the code is not in the kernel to the best of my > knowledge. The nVidia driver runs in the kernel, which is perhaps arguably different from, say a wireless card to which the firmware BLOB is uploaded. > If you want *the* nvidia driver, you install the port. What > about drivers for something like raid controllers that would exist > solely in the kernel? Some RAID cards seem to want firmware uploads, too. I'm not really sure what the distinction you're drawing here is...? Basicly, most people would like to see the open source version of the driver support the devices at least adequately without using a proprietary driver, but it's useful to have the option of supporting a proprietary driver from the manufacturer if that works better, for those who want to use it. -- -Chuck