eee-pc 900 FLOSS impurity [was Re: attack of the low-cost ultra-mobile linux boxen]

On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 11:37 AM, Dave Crossland <dave <at> lab6.com> wrote:
> 2008/5/19 Tony Godshall <togo <at> of.net>:
>>
>> 1) ASUS has, in its manual, a list of devices qualified to work with
>> it (mostly USB devices) including normally problematic things like TV
>> tuners.
>
> Are these because of non-free kernel modules though? That might even
> be non-redistributable?

Yes, quite possibly.  But I'm willing to accept
baby steps in our direction.  While fully GPL-free
drivers are very much the ideal, I'll take BSD-free
as two steps forward, and semi-proprietary as
one step forward away from Microsoft-world.

I think this strategy is more effective than the
FSF-style all-or-nothing confontational approach.
It's more in line with Linus' and Ubuntu's
approach and look where it's got them vs FSF.
Heck, even Debian is not hostile to proprietary
software; they just say it won't be in Debian.

Anyhow, there's no pure Libre laptop in this
class and I think it's a huge step ahead to
(a) have Linux installed and (b) see the
manufacturer cooperate with and document
other peripherals not of its own manufacture
that work with it.