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Groups > linux.debian.user > #212433

Re: How free is Debian

From <tomas@tuxteam.de>
Newsgroups linux.debian.user
Subject Re: How free is Debian
Date 2019-08-08 15:20 +0200
Message-ID <ysQuJ-5H6-3@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
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On Thu, Aug 08, 2019 at 06:06:24AM -0700, Shahryar Afifi wrote:
> On Thu, 2019-08-08 at 17:37 +1000, Andrew McGlashan wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > On 8/8/19 2:27 pm, Shahryar Afifi wrote:
> > > Very well said. If debian free is not using amd64 microcode, so
> > > what kernel module runs my cpu as 64bit?
> > 
> > Here's part of the problem.....
> > 
> > The CPU has it's own microcode [...]

> > So, I guess, totally free really means, give up on electronic gear
> > altogether.
> > 
> > Cheers
> > A.
> 
> Thank you for this acknowledgment.
> Currently I have X61 with Middleton BIOS that claims to be free. Is
> that also not the case?

It becomes more and more complicated the more you look into it.
Your harddisk? A complete subsystem with a microcontroller in
it, with some custom-made kind of operating system. Your WiFi
adapter? Same story. Sometimes they need firmware blobs, which
the operating system has to somehow make available to them.
Sometimes they do work without the blobs, sometimes the don't.
Sometimes they kind-of work, but have some security vulnerability.

Free is not an end state one can achieve, but a constant uphill
fight.

Or to put it another way, borrowing from somewhere else, "freedom
is not a product, it's a process".

Cheers
-- t

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Thread

How free is Debian Shahryar Afifi <shahryarafifi@yahoo.com> - 2019-08-08 02:40 +0200
  Re: How free is Debian Judah Richardson <judahrichardson@gmail.com> - 2019-08-08 03:20 +0200
  Re: How free is Debian Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2019-08-08 05:00 +0200
    Re: How free is Debian John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-08-08 05:10 +0200
      Re: How free is Debian rhkramer@gmail.com - 2019-08-08 14:00 +0200
        Re: How free is Debian Brad Rogers <brad@fineby.me.uk> - 2019-08-08 14:30 +0200
          Re: How free is Debian Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2019-08-08 14:50 +0200
          Re: How free is Debian John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-08-08 22:50 +0200
      Re: How free is Debian Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2019-08-08 15:40 +0200
    Re: How free is Debian deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> - 2019-08-08 06:50 +0200
      Re: How free is Debian John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-08-08 15:10 +0200
        Re: How free is Debian deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> - 2019-08-09 00:30 +0200
          Re: How free is Debian John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-08-09 02:10 +0200
            Re: How free is Debian Ben Caradoc-Davies <ben@transient.nz> - 2019-08-09 03:20 +0200
              Re: How free is Debian Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2019-08-09 05:30 +0200
            Re: How free is Debian Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2019-08-09 14:00 +0200
              Re: How free is Debian John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-08-09 16:00 +0200
                Re: How free is Debian Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2019-08-09 16:40 +0200
            Re: How free is Debian Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2019-08-10 10:00 +0200
              Re: How free is Debian Joe <joe@jretrading.com> - 2019-08-10 10:20 +0200
              Re: How free is Debian John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-08-10 15:00 +0200
                Re: How free is Debian Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2019-08-10 16:40 +0200
        Re: How free is Debian Alessandro Vesely <vesely@tana.it> - 2019-08-09 18:00 +0200
          Re: How free is Debian <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2019-08-09 18:20 +0200
            Re: How free is Debian John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-08-09 19:40 +0200
          Re: How free is Debian John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-08-09 18:20 +0200
  Re: How free is Debian David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2019-08-08 06:20 +0200
    Re: How free is Debian Shahryar Afifi <shahryarafifi@yahoo.com> - 2019-08-08 06:30 +0200
      Re: How free is Debian deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> - 2019-08-08 07:00 +0200
      Re: How free is Debian Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglashan@affinityvision.com.au> - 2019-08-08 09:40 +0200
        Re: How free is Debian Shahryar Afifi <shahryarafifi@yahoo.com> - 2019-08-08 15:10 +0200
          Re: How free is Debian <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2019-08-08 15:20 +0200
          Re: How free is Debian The Wanderer <wanderer@fastmail.fm> - 2019-08-08 15:30 +0200
            Re: How free is Debian Michael Stone <mstone@debian.org> - 2019-08-08 15:40 +0200
            Re: How free is Debian Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2019-08-10 10:00 +0200
          Re: How free is Debian Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglashan@affinityvision.com.au> - 2019-08-08 16:50 +0200
          Re: How free is Debian John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-08-08 23:10 +0200
            Re: How free is Debian Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglashan@affinityvision.com.au> - 2019-08-09 07:30 +0200
      Re: How free is Debian John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-08-08 13:30 +0200
        Re: How free is Debian Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2019-08-08 16:10 +0200
      Re: How free is Debian David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2019-08-08 15:20 +0200
    Re: How free is Debian john doe <johndoe65534@mail.com> - 2019-08-08 09:00 +0200
      Re: How free is Debian <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2019-08-08 10:00 +0200
        Re: How free is Debian John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-08-08 14:00 +0200
          Re: How free is Debian Alessandro Vesely <vesely@tana.it> - 2019-08-09 19:10 +0200

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