First off here are two things I'm not saying:
In the Pandora, there are various binary-blob-driven bits of hardware. They have badly documented firmware, and commercial drivers. These include:
Two of them are rather complex, and probably impractical to find alternatives to (wifi, GPU) and free drivers for.
The other two, however could (I think) be replaced by a OTS microcontroller and a good dev with some spare time.
If this were feasible, I think it would be a very good idea - since it would allow us to fix bugs and add features.
Being a small project, the original vendor is unlikely to care tuppence about our needs or problems.
- Commercial software is less useful than FOSS
- Commercial software is immoral or unethical
In the Pandora, there are various binary-blob-driven bits of hardware. They have badly documented firmware, and commercial drivers. These include:
- Nub controllers
- Wifi chip
- GPU
- Power management chip
Two of them are rather complex, and probably impractical to find alternatives to (wifi, GPU) and free drivers for.
The other two, however could (I think) be replaced by a OTS microcontroller and a good dev with some spare time.
If this were feasible, I think it would be a very good idea - since it would allow us to fix bugs and add features.
Being a small project, the original vendor is unlikely to care tuppence about our needs or problems.