Hi, I'm writing regarding the issue of inclusion of TG3 binary firmware in the Debian-distributed Linux post-2.6.5 kernels. I understand this has been a contentious topic, and I've read most of the mailing list archives on it, so I'm not trying to restart the debate, but merely adding some additional information, which might not be widely know. Clearly, the TG3 firmware is still distributed with the upstream Linux kernel tarballs, yet removed (post-2.6.5) from Debian distributed kernels for reasons of DFSG guidelines.
Much of the debate of this removal has surfaced around the fact that most Broadcom chipsets work fine without the firmware inclusion, and, at worst, possibly simply lose some of their more advanced features. Unfortunately, I believe that my server board contains one of the rare on-board Broadcom chipsets that is completely unable to function (best as I can tell), without downloading this firmware, or without at least disabling the download of it... In other words, it works perfectly with 2.4.26, but not at all with 2.6.8. It's recognized fine, get's IP address fine, has kernel modules loaded etc., but simply drops packets off the stack... My chipset is the Broadcom 5705 (not nearly as popular as the 5704, etc.), but included onboard in the only motherboard that offers a single Opteron processor---namely the Tyan Tomcat K8S---which I think is a wonderful board for certain economical uses where dual processor Opteron capability is overkill. Anyway, just thought I'd see what people think of this, and how the Debian community wants to proceed. Is there some way to enable compability with this without downloading the firmware and violating the DFSG? Thanks, Daniel PS Please cc: me on replies. Also, unfortunately, for various reasons, I don't currently have access to my Tomcat K8S board to test any options with the Broadcom 5705 chipset... :( -- Daniel A. Freedman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Graduate Fellow Electronic Structure Calculations, LASSP, Cornell University
