[MLUG] Linux kernel drivers source has binary blobs?

[Pascal Charest]

Hi,

Following your interest in a free Linux kernel, you might like those links:

http://www.gnewsense.org/static/homepage/

http://www.blagblagblag.org/

http://fsfla.org/svnwiki/selibre/linux-libre/index

Pascal

--
Pascal Charest, skype: pascal.charest
Free software consultant @ Laboratoire Phoenix
http://www.labsphoenix.com


On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 9:24 AM, David Montminy <david.montminy at gmail.com>wrote:

> I just read this article
> http://libresoft.es/Members/herraiz/blog/linux-is-not-free-software
> It state the some Linux kernel drivers includes binary blobs.
>
> In the interest of information, I have included the list of drivers here
> (and what the files represent):
> -Commodore A2232 serial board driver
>    * drivers/char/ser_a2232fw.h
>    * drivers/char/ser_a2232fw.ax
>
> -Intel's IXP2000 family of NPUs (IXP2400, IXP2800, IXP2850)
>    * drivers/net/ixp2000/ixp2400_rx.ucode
>    * drivers/net/ixp2000/ixp2400_rx.uc
>    * drivers/net/ixp2000/ixp2400_tx.ucode
>
> -wanXL serial card driver
>    * drivers/net/wan/wanxlfw.inc_shipped
>    * drivers/net/wan/wanxlfw.S
>
> -Driver for Atmel at76c502 at76c504 and at76c506 wireless cards.
>    * drivers/net/wireless/atmel.c
>
> -NCR (or symbios) 53c700 and 53c700-66 chip
>    * drivers/scsi/53c700_d.h_shipped
>    * drivers/scsi/53c700.scr
>
> -Adaptec U320 device driver firmware
>    * drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic79xx_seq.h_shipped
>    * drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic79xx.seq
>
> -Adaptec 274x/284x/294x device driver firmware
>    * drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic7xxx_seq.h_shipped
>    * drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic7xxx.seq
>    * drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old/aic7xxx_seq.c
>    * drivers/scsi/aic7xxx_old/aic7xxx.seq
>    * drivers/scsi/53c7xx_d.h_shipped
>    * drivers/scsi/53c7xx.scr
>
> -Device driver for the SYMBIOS/LSILOGIC 53C8XX and 53C1010 family of
> PCI-SCSI IO processors.
>    * drivers/scsi/sym53c8xx_2/sym_fw1.h
>    * drivers/scsi/sym53c8xx_2/sym_fw2.h
>
> -DSP56001 bootstrap code
>    * firmware/dsp56k/bootstrap.bin.ihex
>    * firmware/dsp56k/bootstrap.asm
>
> -Firmware for the Keyspan PDA Serial Adapter, a USB serial port based on
> the EzUSB microcontroller.
>    * firmware/keyspan_pda/keyspan_pda.HEX
>    * firmware/keyspan_pda/keyspan_pda.S
>    * firmware/keyspan_pda/xircom_pgs.HEX
>    * firmware/keyspan_pda/xircom_pgs.S
>
> --This code runs inside the DSP (cs4610, cs4612, cs4624, or cs4630)
>    * sound/pci/cs46xx/imgs/cwcdma.h
>    * sound/pci/cs46xx/imgs/cwcdma.asp
>
> I get the feeling that most of these blobs are actually compiled firware
> code from the associated .C files but I don't have time to check...
>
> ... And I don't have any of this hardware :)
>
> David Montminy
> P.S.: The weird thing is that some of these blobs seems to come from
> NetBSD and FreeBSD... So if these really are black boxes the Linux
> kernel is not the only one with blobs...
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