Re: FSF continuously harms Free Hardware

[Thomas Lord]

A few thoughts on Leah's definition of "free hardware":

+ The gist is clear

  "Essentially, "free hardware" means that you can make
   the hardware yourself."

  What I think is envisioned here is a world in which hardware
  manufacture is for many practical purposes driven by software:
  designer/programmers write code that drives production of
  hardware.

  Additionally, the production capacity that inputs raw materials
  plus software, and spits out hardware, is envisioned as (for
  practical purposes, at least) ubiquitous.   For example, if
  I have read about a particular chip design I'd like to try,
  I can just head to the nearest fabrication shop -- one of
  many that can be found all around the world in many places.
  Same with PC boards, etc.

  When this "gist" is stated in terms of particulars like
  "verilog files" or "gerber design files" the concretization
  is good for informal description, but not great for putting
  "hardware freedom" next to "software freedom" as a clear
  set of principles that are fairly robust over long stretches
  of history independent of changes to underlying production
  technology.  For example, "software freedom" is not a concept
  that depends on the concept of a "program written in C".  It
  applies equally well to, say, programs written for a fancy
  scientific calculator, etc.   Defining hardware freedom

  Similarly, I think it would be worth spending some effort
  to come up with appropriate, clean, historically robust
  abstractions -- analogous to the four freedoms -- for hardware.

+ Hardware state of the world compared to early GNU days

  With that said, the situation is very different from software
  freedom.   Software freedom as a category, as a concept, as
  the focus of a movement came into being in reaction to a
  sudden actual, rapidly expanding ubiquity of programmable
  hardware.  Already when I first heard about GNU software,
  thanks to being on a typical university campus, I could
  download, compile, study, modify, and above all make good
  use of it.  In fewer than 10 years after, everyone who could
  afford a personal computer could do the same, easily.
  Hardware manufacture is not at that stage, not quite, but
  could possibly get a lot closer in coming years.  It's not
  assured -- but it seems to be technologically possible, at least.

  There is room for a "free (as in speech, aka libre) hardware"
  movement but the historic moment is much closer to the earliest
  days of GNU when people could see powerful-enough "personal computers"
  coming on the horizon, but they distinctly were not yet in
  existence.   At this stage, getting fundamental, simple, historically
  robust (i.e. suitably abstract), definitions clear would likely
  be very helpful.

  -t




On 2022-01-25 04:48, Leah Rowe via libreplanet-discuss wrote:
> On Mon, 24 Jan 2022 23:16:36 -0500
> Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> wrote:
>
> > [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
> > [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
> > [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
> >
> >   > Your dismissive attitude about hardware freedom is indeed
> >   > damaging,
> >
> > Do I have a "dismissive attitude" towards "hardware freedom?
> > Do I have any one single attitude towards that range of issues?
> >
> > I can't tell.  I don't know what range of issues you include in that
> > term, so I don't know what I would think of it.  All I can say is that
> > I agree it is good you got the info needed for supporting the T400s
> > (or any other computer model) with free software -- and I see that as
> > part of the Free Software Movement.
> >
> > If you explain in a few lines what issues you include in "hardware
> > freedom", I could see what attitude or attitudes I have towards those
> > issues.  They may be quite different from each other.
>
> Then let me be clear. By "free hardware" I mean that the following is
> available under a free license:
>
> * Gerber files for circuit boards
> * Boardview / gerber / design files
> * Verilog files for making your own versions of each chip
> * Built-in firmwares on chips must also be free. E.g. bootroms
>
> (this last one is something that the FSF currently provides exceptions
> for in RYF)
>
> Essentially, "free hardware" means that you can make the hardware
> yourself. You also get the most freedom possible to modify your
> existing hardware. Contrary to what you believe, it's actually possible
> to perform a lot of modifications on hardware. Modifying *integrated
> circuits* is virtually impossible, but printed circuit boards are
> another matter altogether. I can show you the dark side in that world,
> and you'd be amazed what's possible.
>
> A "boardview" file is like a schematic, but it shows the exact shape
> and size of the board, and where everything is on the board. It shows
> how all the little connections hook up. You can use the "openboardview"
> software to browse a board this way. This is useful in repair of the
> board, because you can easily see everything on the board. The
> boardview file will have all the same component names as the schematic.
> The schematic is better for understanding how each circuit works, cross
> referenced with the boardview which tells you how to modify/repair a
> circuit board.
>
> It's often possible to make modifications to a circuit board in useful
> ways, even if you don't have the ability to fab your own chips. For
> example, on ThinkPad T400 mainboards I regularly replace the default
> boot flash with bigger flash, and modify the board to accept quad-core
> CPUs. On the ThinkPad X230 there's a mod where you can piggyback off of
> the built-in displayport channel on the docking connected, and add eDP,
> replacing the default LVDS connection for internal monitors. These are
> useful mods, and schematics+boardview file enable such mods to be done
> more quickly.
>
> --
> Leah Rowe <info@minifree.org>
> Company Director & Libreboot developer
>
> Do you know you have rights?
> The right to privacy, free speech, the right to read
> and the right to learn.
>
> Defend freedom. Use free (free as in freedom) software.
> Spread freedom. Tell everyone you know about it!
> https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
>
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