On Thu, Aug 08, 2019 at 06:06:24AM -0700, Shahryar Afifi wrote: > On Thu, 2019-08-08 at 17:37 +1000, Andrew McGlashan wrote: > > Hi, > > > > On 8/8/19 2:27 pm, Shahryar Afifi wrote: > > > Very well said. If debian free is not using amd64 microcode, so > > > what kernel module runs my cpu as 64bit? > > > > Here's part of the problem..... > > > > The CPU has it's own microcode [...] > > So, I guess, totally free really means, give up on electronic gear > > altogether. > > > > Cheers > > A. > > Thank you for this acknowledgment. > Currently I have X61 with Middleton BIOS that claims to be free. Is > that also not the case? It becomes more and more complicated the more you look into it. Your harddisk? A complete subsystem with a microcontroller in it, with some custom-made kind of operating system. Your WiFi adapter? Same story. Sometimes they need firmware blobs, which the operating system has to somehow make available to them. Sometimes they do work without the blobs, sometimes the don't. Sometimes they kind-of work, but have some security vulnerability. Free is not an end state one can achieve, but a constant uphill fight. Or to put it another way, borrowing from somewhere else, "freedom is not a product, it's a process". Cheers -- t
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