Re: FSF continuously harms Free Hardware

[Richard Stallman]

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  > In fact, access to schematics, boardviews, datasheets and any other
  > documentation is *critical* to software freedom.

I didn't realize that circuit diagrams were important for developing
free replacement code -- I expected that documentation would take care
of that job, or else reverse engineering of nonfree software.

So you've convinced me on this point.

However, it would be confusing to use the term "free hardware" to mean
that the hardware comes with documentation.  What if it comes with a
schematic which has no license and therefore is not free?  Is that
"free hardware"?

The problem is that, different purposes lead to different ideas
of what "free" should concretely mean.

When you say "schematics", which ones do you mean?
For boards?  For the inside of chips?

  > > Free hardware designs are desirable, and may be necessary in a
  > > possible distant future, but not very soon.

  > On the contrary, free hardware is possible *now*.
  >  See: RISCV and SiFive.

It's not contrary.  You changed to a different question.  That
statement of yours may be true (depending on what one means by "free
hardware"); what I said is also true.

You're pushing for hyperbroad generalizations, while I am making
careful distinctions.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)