Internet is dying - diagnostics

[Robert Heller]

At Mon, 30 Oct 2017 19:44:44 -0500 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> On 10/30/2017 05:43 PM, Tom H wrote:
> > On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 6:39 PM, Eddie G. <eoconnor25 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> YET.....THERES NO WAY TO BUILD A LINUX OS THAT COMES WITH THE
> >> NECESSARY DRIVERS SO THAT WIRELESS CAN WORK OUT-OF-THE-BOX?
> > Ubuntu's the distribution where you're most likely to have wifi work
> > out of the box. I can't remember when I last had such a problem on
> > Ubuntu; 5.04 maybe.
> >
> As I sent in a previous post: Mint 17-3  long term on a Dell laptop 
> works right out of the box with the Broadcom wifi board.
> If they can do it, and of course, Windows can do it, then any Linux can 
> do it, if they want to. Perhaps they are too damned stubborn,
> because some "non-free" software is involved. I think this is obscene!

In some cases the "non-free" software has actual license restrictions. *Some*
linux distros disreguard those license restrictions (I think Mint does that)
and some distros are very careful to honor the license restrictions (RedHat is
*very* careful about that). Part of what is going on in some cases is
nationality issues: the European Union's copyright laws don't allow certain
types of copyright license restrictions (eg anti-reverse engineering
restrictions for example) and USA's copyright laws allow more restrictive
license restrictions. And some distros are produced by companies that are more
"sensitive" to legal issues (eg RedHat) and other distros are produced by
organizations who don't as much of a damn about legal issues.  In some cases 
the distros are willing to distribute software in binary only form.  Or have 
managed to "make arrangements" with the copyright holders.

Also: some hardware makers are just plain stupid about their "software", even 
when the software in question has no meaningful value without the hardware 
(Nvidia is that way for example).  Other hardware makers realize that "widget 
frosting" is a cheap givaway (Intel is that way, so was 3Com back in the day).

> 
> --doug
> 

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