On Tuesday 16 August 2005 11:51, Lee Revell wrote: > Please don't bring up the "non-free firmware" debate, it's really a > non issue. Linus' position is that the firmware does not run on > the host CPU and thus is unaffected by the GPL licensing of the Obviously it IS an issue if you have to use someone else's Windows box to extract the firmware and if that means your USB keyboard is not going to be plug and play under Linux. It's a practical consideration, not just some academic or religious debate, and it keeps Linux users from using this gear just the same as with Winmodems. Why buy something you know you're going to have to mess with for a couple hours (I know, I know, if you have a Windows machine handy it's a couple minutes.... I myself don't) when there are alternatives that need no messing with? I have an Edirol PCR-30 and it just worked when I plugged it in. I didn't mention it previously because it wasn't in the list of boards he was asking about, but it is a nice little portable board and it works fine (under Mandrake 10.1, no idea about Debian or anything else.) Rob
