Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Trying for an all Free computer

Recently I decided that I should try a little harder to not have any non-free packages on my computers. So I installed Gobuntu which is as Canonical describes as:
Gobuntu is a GNU/Linux operating system, derived from Ubuntu, that endeavors to adhere to the Free Software Foundation's four freedoms and intends to provide a base for other free software platforms to build upon with minimal modification required. It does this by only including open-source non-restricted software. This means there will be no firmware, drivers, applications, or content included in Gobuntu that does not include the full source or whose license does not provide the right to use, study, modify, and redistribute the body of work.


and on my laptop has worked out great. I have an all centrino setup so all of the drivers are free. The only non-free packages I have installed are FireFox and Flash. Before any one gets a going here is what the FSF has to say about the Mozilla Public License:

Mozilla Public License (MPL)

This is a free software license which is not a strong copyleft; unlike the X11 license, it has some complex restrictions that make it incompatible with the GNU GPL. That is, a module covered by the GPL and a module covered by the MPL cannot legally be linked together. We urge you not to use the MPL for this reason.

However, MPL 1.1 has a provision (section 13) that allows a program (or parts of it) to offer a choice of another license as well. If part of a program allows the GNU GPL as an alternate choice, or any other GPL-compatible license as an alternate choice, that part of the program has a GPL-compatible license.


So if you don't wanna count that then the only non-free software I have on there is Flash.

The same is true for my desktop excluding one giant pain in the ass... the nVidia GLX driver. I must say that this is a point of sadness for me. The only bloody thing (other than Flash) that keeps me from total software freedom is driver... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhH! With the nv driver I was stuck with the ultra high resolution of 800x600, which is not gonna work, I lived with it for a week and just can't do it. ATi is releasing documentation in the next 6 months or so, and once a free-driver is out from that, i will be making the purchase of a new graphics card. Good job nVida fscked again!!!

So now when I am a pompous ass about software freedom you know that I am eating my own dog food (except flash)

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