this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2025
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I am not sure we are understanding each other. My point is that the FSF counting worse firmware outcomes as wins (like firmware that I cannot even see or update). Their position is that, if it is not a binary blob in your distro, it does not exist and is therefore ok. Whatever. Firmware that can be updated is better than firmware that cannot. The fact that that they disagree is nuts.
Let's just agree that RISC-V is a good thing. I cannot wait to have Linux running on a truly free ISA. The hardware design needs to be free too though. The ISA is not enough. A proprietary chip is still a proprietary chip even if the ISA is RISC-V.
But, if the ISA is free, at least I am not locked into a proprietary ecosystem because I can also buy my hardware from somebody else and run all my existing software on it.
People underestimate how important RISC-V is on the micro-controller side. Because when you have an NVIDIA GPU, the "firmware" that you use on Linux is just small piece of the puzzle. There are several chips in that card and today you have absolutely no idea how any of them work. You may not even know what ISA they use. In the future (and it is increasingly common today) all those internal chips will be RISC-V chips too.
Ahh I did misunderstand. Maybe concept you and I support would be better called Libre computing, with the stack that the FSF caring about being above the rest of the logic, but it is still logic that decides what does or does not happen to our data on our machines.