Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Broadcom Releases Source Code For Drivers

Posted by timothy on from the they-sure-get-my-goodwill dept.

I'm Not There (1956) writes "Broadcom, the world's largest manufacturer of Wi-Fi transceivers, open sources its Linux device drivers. This is a big win for Linux users, as there are a lot of users that face Wi-Fi problems when they use Linux on their laptops. With these device drivers now open source, distributions can ship them out-of-the-box, and that means no Linux Wi-Fi problems for new devices and upcoming distributions at all."

5 of 350 comments (clear)

  1. Hahahahahaha by JonJ · · Score: -1, Troll

    and that means no Linux Wi-Fi problem for new devices and upcoming distributions at all.

    Yeah, because the drivers with source code always works flawlessly. What a bunch of bullshit.

    --
    -- Linux user #369862
    1. Re:Hahahahahaha by JonJ · · Score: -1, Troll

      It's not agressive, it's the truth. I didn't wrap it up in fancy words or diplomatic blurb. It's bullshit, and it's hyperbolic bullshit. But apparantly all the 12 year olds with Ubuntu has mod points today, and I probably offended their religion. So it's not that big of a deal, but it's annoying to see how little it takes to get modded down when it's only the truth. I guess the truth hurts.

      --
      -- Linux user #369862
  2. Re:Holy overstatement by JonJ · · Score: 0, Troll

    Fuck no, don't say that. You'll get modded troll and flamebait. Because the open drivers always work and never fail. Ever. It just works(tm).(See what I did there?)

    --
    -- Linux user #369862
  3. Like AMD by codewarren · · Score: -1, Troll

    Now we'll have drivers for wi-fi that are just as flawless as those ATI drivers we have now. Yay.

  4. IP and DRM by tepples · · Score: -1, Troll

    And even that almost-from-scratch rewrite has to pass through a fairly serious legal review to make sure they're not revealing too much IP.

    "IP" meaning anything other than Internet Protocol is confusing. Did you mean copyright, patent, or trade secret?

    Most of the shit in the graphics drivers is caused by DRM though, they can't release any low-level stuff or you would be able to see the DRM'd bits being moved around and decrypted, even if you don't know the DRM bits.

    What complication would a Direct Rendering Manager introduce? *beat* Oh, you meant digital restrictions management.