Re: Yet another [cross] installer
On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 8:00 AM, Hector Oron <hector.oron@gmail.com> wrote:
>> For any device where the manufacturers try to close it off to hackers,
>> we're always going to have to jump through hoops specific to that device
>> to get Debian installed. They can easily disable bootloader
>> features but on netbooks, maybe they won't: PC makers are used to having
>> a BIOS with screens saying "Press F1 to enter Setup".
>
> It is nice if we can hack manufacturers toys, but if those are
> non-free to hackers, why should we "officially" support them?
because they may turn out to be "toys" numbering in the several
hundred thousand to millions of units (e.g.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skytone_Alpha-400 which is MIPS-based and
was at such a compelling price-point that over thirty OEMs that we
_know_ of absolutely absolutely pounced on it. and the manufacturer's
OS is yep, you guessed it: emdebian-based. but that's another story)
by providing people with a truly free operating system, the chances
are that one of those people will turn out to be an excellent hacker /
engineer who will have enough time on their hands to reverse-engineer
the device and create a proper free/libre kernel, _once_ they are into
an entirely "free/libre" operating system and thus can install the
tools of their choice.
remember: i've been there with reverse-engineering of PXA27x HTC
smartphones, using WINCE (HARET.EXE and gnuharet.exe) and it took up
about eighteen months of my life. having a truly free/libre OS
already on those machines would have made a big damn difference.
that having been said, the sheer overwhelming number of such "toys"
coming out with e.g. android at the moment makes it far more likely
that one of said "toys" will have the linux kernel source available,
anyway.
l.
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