Will the new APUs/GPUs support a fully libre firmware

[bridgman]

How is it better to put proprietary software on ROM?

The only way it's better is that it has more chance of working under the current rules of libre distros (ROM good, file bad, flash TBD).

[Space Heater]

The only way it's better is that it has more chance of working under the current rules of libre distros (ROM good, file bad, flash TBD).

Yep, it's only better when dealing with distributions who arbitrarily declare it to be better.

[Laughing1]

Yep, it's only better when dealing with distributions who arbitrarily declare it to be better.

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-...esigns.en.html

"There is a gray area between hardware and software that contains firmware that can be upgraded or replaced, but is not meant ever to be upgraded or replaced once the product is sold. In conceptual terms, the gray area is rather narrow. In practice, it is important because many products fall in it. We can treat that firmware as hardware with a small stretch.

Some have said that preinstalled firmware programs and Field-Programmable Gate Array chips (FPGAs) “blur the boundary between hardware and software,” but I think that is a misinterpretation of the facts. Firmware that is installed during use is software; firmware that is delivered inside the device and can't be changed is software by nature, but we can treat it as if it were a circuit. As for FPGAs, the FPGA itself is hardware, but the gate pattern that is loaded into the FPGA is a kind of firmware."

https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw

So the issue is with Gnu.

[Laughing1]

Yes, just hope they don't update the vBIOS like the following: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pa...-New-SMC-Micro