wolfgang, hi, i ran this one through google translate: http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/fsfe-de/2016-July/008455.html
whilst i can reply cc to marcus directly, what i cannot do is reply into the conversation at the right point in the thread (because i am not subscribed, and gmane is now gone... argh!) - could i ask you to forward this on, on my behalf?
marcus, you wrote (in german):
The proposed processor comes from Allwinner. This manufacturer is only known for a variety of GPL violations.
Personally, I would therefore rather refrain from support of the project.
you're wrong about the GPL violations on the A20, although i can fully understand the misunderstanding. but that's beside the point: the alternatives are much *much* worse. would you prefer that we used a processor that was DRM-locked? or that had Treacherous Zone? or that had a back-door co-processor that could do arbitrary remote code-execution without your knowledge? or that booted up from proprietary DRM-locked arbitrary signed AND ENCRYPTED bootloaders either from the GPU or from the main CPU itself?
all of these processors exist with *all* of the above absolutely terrible and totally unethical designs *BUILT IN*.
by total contrast, the Allwinner A20 is:
(a) "unbrickable". it was designed this way so that there is **ABSOLUTELY NO WAY** that any accidental application of DRM by an incompetent China OEM could "lock" the product containing an A20 by mistake. turns out that this is perfect for ensuring that people can upload their own OS.
(b) entirely GPL-compliant. this has taken a *LOT* of work by the software libre community, pressurising allwinner and carrying out reverse-engineering over many years. to say "i will refrain from support of the project" is therefore, if i may be absolutely blunt, quite disrespectful to the people who's hard work in the linux-sunxi community has brought you this OPPORTUNITY to completely own your own hardware, free from spyware.
the situation with allwinner is complex. there are many extremely powerful investors who in Chinese Society are "above the pay-grade" of the Directors in terms of China "Social Status". this is causing them huge problems internally, despite the **DIRECT** wishes of the Vice President!
it is a very strange situation that could really only happen in china. far from ostracising and boycotting them, we need instead to *BUY* products that are GPL-compliant, so that the Vice President has a way to say, "look, these products are fully compliant with the GPL and they're SELLING REALLY WELL".
if you boycott the entire company, that actually fucks up everything i'm trying to achieve, and actually DESTROYS any opportunity to introduce software freedom.
l.
--- crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68
On Fri, Jul 29, 2016 at 8:33 PM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton lkcl@lkcl.net wrote:
http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/fsfe-de/2016-July/008504.html
yay found the fsfe-de archives, these are actually really hard to find, they're not listed publicly and can't be found with a google search.
l.