“There’s improved netbook support, including support for the Eee
PC out of the box – this should also be really helpful for
other netbook hardware. At the other end of the scale, the Orion
platform (used in many storage devices) is also now supported and
ARM support is improved with the move to the new Armel port and the
inclusion of tools to produce packages for embedded ARM
systems.“As you may be aware, there were some issues around hardware
support that delayed the release: specifically, there were concerns
about the extent to which the binary ‘blobs’ released by some
firmware manufacturers complied with free software guidelines
(which Debian is fairly strict about).“Binary blobs are bits of microcode that help drive hardware,
and the licences under which the manufacturers release them vary
and aren’t always clear. The eventual decision was to prioritise
getting Lenny out of the door and to avoid any radical reduction in
hardware support that would penalise users.”
Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.
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