[Arm-netbook] [libreplanet-discuss] EOMA68 and freedom in digital technology

[Elena ``of Valhalla'']

On 2016-09-10 at 20:38:34 +0100, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
> you're also aware that with the sole exception of
> the olimex laptop's PCBs the only thing that they provide is
> auto-generated PDFs *from* the schematics source code... not the
> actual schematics and certainly not the PCB design files?

That's false: for the boards marked with the OSHW logo (which include
the olinuxino boards and a number of microcontroller based ones, but not
the SOM ones) schematics are provided, either as a zip file in the
product page or in a github repository:

https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO

It is true that most of those schematics are in Eagle format, and thus
can't be opened with Free Software (which is the reason I didn't
actually open them), and they are only moving on to using Kicad for the
later boards, but that's definitely not the same as not providing
schematics at all.


> [...]
>  you're aware that olimex operates as a criminal cartel, from shipping
> GPL-violating A10 bootloaders and kernels provided by Allwinner, back
> around 2011/2012?   
> [...]
> now, whilst tsevtan is making money selling you hardware that requires
> non-free components to operate basic functions, i've put my foot down
> and said NO, i will NOT sell GPL-violating product.

While it's true that you are not violating the GPL yourself
(thankfully!) by not using Allwinner-provided code, if (and that's a
HUGE if) violating a civil law (copyright) turns a company into a
criminal cartel then you are working with a criminal cartel yourself,
since Allwinner is still violating the GPL with their new processors.

-- 
Elena ``of Valhalla''