Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Equivalent of GPLv3 for hardware???

[Pen-Yuan Hsing]

On 03/04/16 08:06, Fabio Pesari wrote:
> On 04/03/2016 03:38 AM, Pen-Yuan Hsing wrote:
> > Finally, RMS said that since making copies of hardware is costly
> > compared to software, free hardware is not as urgent of an issue right
> > now. That might be true, but I propose that since technology will
> > progress and one day copying hardware might become quick, it *is* a good
> > idea to set a good precedent and start a trend asap to ensure that
> > hardware designs will be free.
> >
> > Love to hear your critiques.
>
> The real question is not if new technology can be patented, in my
> opinion, but if existing patents apply to libre hardware designs. I
> suppose so, and this severely limits the amount of things which can be
> built.
>
> Also, is there a database/index for libre hardware designs like the Free
> Software Directory? If not, there should be. There are dozens of
> Arduino-based libre designs out there, for example.
>
> I also think there should be some equivalent to the FSF for hardware -
> including firmware, which has always been the elephant in the room when
> it comes to free software, and the poor (or inexistent) performance of
> free drivers has prevented GNU/Linux (and free distros in particular)
> from gaining mainstream adoption. Just think about how many WiFi cards
> require blobs (I don't think I've ever come across one which doesn't).

Some equivalent effort of the FSF effort for hardware looks especially 
important now.

First of all, there is the patent issue you mentioned. The later work 
begins on free hardware, the more technologies are locked up by patents. 
And the holders of those patents will likely prevent lots of free 
hardware from being made or even conceived.

More than that, in light of the recent post by Mike about the x86 
platform being locked up 
(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11422531), there is a strong 
imperative to either (a) free the x86 platform (which seems extremely 
unlikely), or (b) develop to maturity a replacement platform that 
Respects Your Freedom.

This is exemplified by the challenging situation the libreboot project 
is in. It currently only supports very old hardware. Even if some people 
find the performance of those hardware acceptable, one day those 
hardware will break down.

On that day, if there is no freedom respecting 
hardware/firmware/software combination, then there will literally be no 
free computer to use!

Developing a *mature* and well supported platform to replace x86 seems 
incredibly difficult, but it seems to me that without it free software 
will eventually become futile because there's no hardware to run it 
on??? (I hope to be corrected on this!) What to do?