Re: [gNewSense-users] Where is kernel module saa7134?

[Ziro]

Hello,

On Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:15:52 +0000
Luis Alberto <address@hidden> wrote:

> I made a little bit of research for this driver, just to answer my question
> of how this happened.
> 
> Here what i found.
> 
> The short answer is:
> Not all the firmware necessary to function is free.
> 
> The long one is:
> 
> 1. At linux-libre 3 files (2 included in gnewsense) are marked as non-free
> firmware and blob.
> 
> 2. This driver needs other "complement" code that is non-free in order to
> function
> 
> 3. The third code calls non-firmware extracted by a perl script from
> ndiswrapper
> 
> So basically, the driver is free but it needs non-free firmware to function,
> and even some non-firmware that it needs is not at the linux kernel.
> 
> Maybe you could dig deeper and find someway to make it work with free
> software only.
> Or set the steps to free it, so work can be done in that direction.
> 
> Hope it helps
> 

Thanks a lot for the research.  As I can see from the kernel tree, the
saa7134 driver is heavily dependent on other drivers that need non-free
blobs or firmwares, so I think it is impossible for me to make it work
without those firmware.  Maybe I would try some other TV tuner cards...

Regards,
-- 
Ziro <address@hidden>