On 20/09/06 03:42, Jan Engelhardt wrote:
Recently, I got a couple of these:
Sep 5 20:34:55 static24-89-67-198 kernel: thinkpad: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
Why the system thought this was a thinkpad is beyond me, it isn't even a laptop... so much for shooting *myself* in the foot.
Nono, that is different.
No taint flag = phone someone Your options: Novell, LKML or ModuleAuthor
U taint flag = don't try phone Novell Your options: LKML or ModuleAuthor
T taint flag = don't try phone anyone in the opensource community for it Your options: ModuleAuthor Bottom line, this all means what to the average user? To the average user, the difference between a tainted kernel and ndiswrapper is non-existent: It will all come down to him being unable to find support from the people who wrote the product he is using, and possibly being unable to find support from anyone. The average user will simply
Translation: "If you have a thinkpad, and are foolish enough to install SuSELinux on it, don't call us." Can you think of any reason why Novell doesn't support a SBAwe32 (which is the card I referred to before)? The source (included in the kernel source package) certainly *seems* to be open-source. translate either situation into "Novell doesn't even support it's own products" and switch back to <the OS from Redmond>, or some other Linux distro. The switch back to <the OS from Redmond> will come even faster, if refusal to support comes from the OSS community generally. Indeed, if a few of the recent threads on this list are any indication, such a user would be subjected to a great deal of derision, with the occasional suggestion that he should just go buy another (whatever device he bought) from a more Linux-friendly manufacturer, or simply go back to Windows. BTW, does all this disdain for non-GPL device drivers mean that anyone who ever installs a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD into his Linux machine (any distro) will no longer receive support for anything from the OSS community? Because I can assure you, if you will be waiting for open source drivers for either of these, you will be waiting longer than this lifetime. Of course, if you are an absolute purist, like Mr Harris, then you will just boycott those products, and refuse to use them at all -- even past the day when one of them becomes the de facto standard, and the present-day DVD has gone the way of the dinosaur.