GNU Linux-libre 4.13-gnu Deblobs More Drivers

[phoronix]

Phoronix: GNU Linux-libre 4.13-gnu Deblobs More Drivers

Immediately following Linus Torvalds' release on Sunday of Linux 4.13, the GNU Linux-libre 4.13-gnu was outted for those wanting a fully-free system with driver binary blob support removed and eliminating other code that could depend upon non-open microcode/firmware support or the loading of binary kernel drivers...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNU-Linux-Libre-4.13

[OneBitUser]

GNU Linux-libre 4.13-gnu was outted for those wanting a fully-free system

Let's just not call it a "system" as long as they do not provide working open alternatives to the proprietary stuff.
As it stands right now, this is just a crippled piece of software, more of a political statement than a practical solution.

[thebear]

Just curious, is there any hardware which you can use this natively on? (together with libreboot I presume)

[starshipeleven]

Just curious, is there any hardware which you can use this natively on? (together with libreboot I presume)

Oldish Intel hardware I presume. Think of the old Thinkpads, or the newer AMD opteron server mobo that has full open support (plus some total shit dedicated GPU as anything remotely modern needs firmware blobs)

[halo9en]

Just curious, is there any hardware which you can use this natively on? (together with libreboot I presume)

The old X200, and of course Libreboot T400 or Purism's Librem...

[onicsis]

Shortly

Phoronix: GNU Linux-libre 4.13-gnu Deblobs More Drivers

GNU Linux-libre 4.13-gnu was outted for those wanting a fully-free crippled and useless system
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...nux-Libre-4.13

[R41N3R]

I run Linux-libre on all my virtual machines and even on a Intel Core i5 4570. Haswell doesn't require firmware blobs, I think the newer Broadwell should work as well. Coreboot is not required, on Arch Linux it is easy to switch to Parabola. This project is very important, it shows exactly where we need improvements. I can't understand why people complain about something that is essential to Linux... it is free/libre software.

[cb88]

There isn't a CPU in the past 25 years that doesn't require a microcode blob... it just happens that haswell runs ok with the one baked into the chip itself.

[andyprough]

Let's just not call it a "system" as long as they do not provide working open alternatives to the proprietary stuff.
As it stands right now, this is just a crippled piece of software, more of a political statement than a practical solution.

Tell that to the Dell laptop in the office next to mine that's been running Linux-libre without a hitch for the past 3 years (Arch Parabola FSF-approved distro). Everything just works.

[RavFX]

There isn't a CPU in the past 25 years that doesn't require a microcode blob... it just happens that haswell runs ok with the one baked into the chip itself.

That will depend of the stepping I guess, initial haswell will have more crappy baked in microcode than last one.

Anyway, there is a reason of not including these? I mean, it's already IN the CPU anyway.