Hello, >From time to time I see people debating about blobs on kernels. I have some understanding of the issue, but it seems that everytime some issue comes out that I was not aware of. Not too recently I've seen a discussion regarding intel wireless device, people from linux seem to say it doesn't require blobs, though some openbsd users sugested otherwise. Linux people even refered to some sourceforge link, I think http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php was it. I believe there are some problems when it comes to firmware. In that sense, is there even wireless hardware that have no need for any kind of blob?
A while ago I've seen theo slides about how hardware vendors do not suply the customer with documentation needed for him to operate the hardware any way he wants. That is a major problem because it does not let the user chose which operating system he will use. Now, couldn't the firmware be considered part of the hardware? Why need it be free? You can program the hardware without knowing about it, right? Is there some hardware manufacturer that's actually concerned with the customer's freedom? I know some of them eventually release some documentation, but are there any hardware vendor which has providing documentation as one of its goals? I know this is not enterily on topic, but I was looking for a mature open source comunity that's willing to discuss those matters with me. I hope I have found such comunity and I hope not to see too many (or not at all) aswers like 'linux just sucks' and the like (unless the phrase comes with proper justification, of course :-)).
