Re: Bug#239952: kernel-source-2.6.4: qla2xxx contains non-free firmware
On Thu, Mar 25, 2004 at 02:21:17AM -0800, Don Armstrong wrote:
>
> 2: I really hope these devices aren't quite so braindead as to not
> work at all if they don't have the firmware loaded by the
> driver... but then again, hardware designers never cease to depress
> me.
In most of these cases the driver cannot communicate with the device
in any meaningful way until the firmware is loaded. The reason is
that they do not contain copies of the firmware in their ROM (if they
have any ROM at all).
However even when the device does contain copies of the firmware in
their ROM, it is probably out-of-date and/or buggy. Therefore in
either case removal of the firmware will render the driver useless.
At best they'll have to go into contrib.
--
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