These days I'm often thinking about a crazy idea. Now I would say that free software is a full-blown reality and recognized worldwide. What instead there is a solid counterpart. Hardware is not free if they never hear about. The only voice that has sometimes been mentioned is the usual "extremist" Stallman nor he with great conviction. Yet to think of it the problem is more than solid. Free software is useless if there is no hardware that can perform. In addition, the current generation of hardware has a much stronger bond of the past with the software and drivers without a close source and patented more often and maybe even impossible to flourish the device. For hardware makers do not seem to be important in the loss of potential customers to keep their relationship knowedge, its technology.
So the most obvious conclusion is that free software needs a solid alterego as free. I said
free not free. The money has nothing in this reasoning. Do not know about you but I'm willing to similarly priced to give up more power in exchange for the freedom to explore open to change and build a device as having only secondary obligation to make public the draft and amendments. In an electronic device design costs are I think about 50% of the cost of the machinery itself. So the question is who you want us to design a processor and make public the draft knowing that a competitor could produce a similar device without paying a penny for the project? The application makes sense and explains the lack of hardware free. One possible solution is to turn to companies that do not have business as the sale of the accessory itself. Also as for the software you will not have to leave immediately by the main things. I think the first step is to provide the tools to design. At the beginning you will use standard components, making mass production of free designs printed circuit boards and the list of components. Then with the passage of time before it comes to chip manufacturing equipment and then the basic components. The system from which it is a system similar to the gp2x but with monitor and keyboard. So proprietary components, but the first soft side by side and then gradually replaced by free components. Nothing hard drive, but a wide door, sd ethernet port and a USB port on some decent graphics card. In short, a very simple but integrated hardware with a maximum of entirely free software. The moment the door with the 2.0 pc seems to me the most propitious. So I ask you: do you want to free hardware?
0 comments:
Post a Comment