There's been some discussions building on Planet Debian and Planet Ubuntu about a proposal to include binary video drivers by default in future versions of Ubuntu. The motivator for including these drivers is to enable fancy 3D accelerated desktop eye candy, for the most part.
The inclusion of proprietary, closed-source binary-only drivers is contentious, because Ubuntu purports to be a Free Software distribution, and the lack of source for these video drivers makes them anathema, by definition. Ubuntu includes firmware for various network cards, so there is some precedent for the inclusion of non-free stuff in the distribution; though many folks rationalize firmware as something different than drivers, and therefore less deserving of freedom in some way.
It's a slippery slope, to be sure. Mako has some interesting observations. It's always interesting to hear the first-hand accounts of folks involved in the decision making that affects us, the users.
If you have an opinion on the matter, consider adding it to the AcceleratedX Comments page. This may well be an opportunity for the community to truly steer the development of a product they use.
*I tried posting a comment on an old thread from a year back but kept getting an "OOops" error message ... so I thought I'll post here since its the closest linux entry I found. :)
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This is an old thread ... but I'm just wondering if you are still using Ubuntu, (6.10?) on your 4265? I have a 4265 as well.
And asking upfront, without sounding entrapping later, if you still have your 4265, would you be so kind as to backup your ROM BIOS and email it to me? I messed up mine with one from uniwill.com and I believe its causing the USB ports to only function as USB2.0 ports. :(
I'm under the same alias in averatecforums.com
Snappy: I do still have my 4265, and I am still using Ubuntu Dapper Drake.
My battery's memory has been shot, so I can't use the laptop without AC power for more than a couple of minutes. That's very annoying. I sent the battery back to Averatec, who sent me a replacement; and the replacement battery's memory went out a couple of weeks later. So now I'm always tethered to an AC outlet.
I'll see what I can do to make a ROM backup. Are there GNU/Linux tools available for this? I don't have Windows installed at all.