Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on November 22, 2004 03:26 PM
AFAIK, the aetheros driver is non-free. Since Mepis seems to not be a free software distribution (like Mandrakelinux for example<nobr> <wbr></nobr>...), they include the non-free driver.
Mandrake users can choose to get the non-free driver as well (and working out-the-box), if they choose the non-free version of the distribution.
Many other wireless cards work out-the-box on the commercial versions of popular distros (such as Mandrakelinux) but not on the free software versions, because there are licensing requirements on some files required to make the device work (such as the firmware for the Centrino ipw2100 and ipw2200 chipsets), which are not re-distributeable without a license.
Now, some "free" distros just decide to disregard these licensing requirements, and that is why they are "easier to use" than the free linux distributions which take these issues into account.
I would have thought a Debian-based distro would be aware of these issues<nobr> <wbr></nobr>...
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Non-free driver?
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on November 22, 2004 03:26 PMMandrake users can choose to get the non-free driver as well (and working out-the-box), if they choose the non-free version of the distribution.
Many other wireless cards work out-the-box on the commercial versions of popular distros (such as Mandrakelinux) but not on the free software versions, because there are licensing requirements on some files required to make the device work (such as the firmware for the Centrino ipw2100 and ipw2200 chipsets), which are not re-distributeable without a license.
Now, some "free" distros just decide to disregard these licensing requirements, and that is why they are "easier to use" than the free linux distributions which take these issues into account.
I would have thought a Debian-based distro would be aware of these issues<nobr> <wbr></nobr>...
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