[Coco] Compaq IA-1 CoCo 3 emulator photos (Roger Taylor)

[Andrew]

Roger,

When I was talking about Debian - I was meaning a stock install 
(downloaded from debian.org), cut down manually (using the installer 
and/or other methods).

However, if Fedora is working for you and you enjoy it, then great. 
Something to realize - with most Debian distros (especially ones that 
pride themselves on the Debian heritage, and talk the Debian talk), they 
don't come out of the box with non-free drivers (ie, most wireless 
drivers and especially nvidia binary drivers). The Debian group of 
people believe in a totally GPL Open Source mindset - anything breaking 
that is looked upon as "lesser", and "tainting". Which is why on a stock 
install you won't find those pieces.

In many Linux distros, the non-free stuff is separated from the free 
stuff deliberately and carefully. Some "blend" things to make it easier 
for the user, but there is a delicate legal balance on all of this, and 
no one knows where "legal" and "illegal" really are (because not much 
has been settled in a court). I am not saying using "non-free" drivers 
is "illegal", just that what they do (in a legal sense) when including 
them in a GPL'd system to that GPL'd system (does it make it non-GPL'd? 
Does it make the driver "Free"? Etc) is a largely unknown idea - the 
courts don't want to tackle that beast, no matter how much various 
groups, including the FSF, has pushed for it.

In many cases, though, you can get and install "non-free" drivers 
through other means. Sometimes, this means getting the binary, getting 
some source interface code, and doing a bit (or a lot) of compiling, 
installing, hacking of install scripts, init files, etc - until it 
works. And no guarantees, I might add. Other times, it is a matter of 
just selecting the right setup options to have the system pull the files 
remotely or whatnot (as sometimes the files aren't included in the main 
US distribution, but are available only overseas - sometimes in a 
non-WIPO country).

Welcome to WIPO (and USA) copyright law. Remember, we're free, citizen!

-- Andrew L. Ayers
    Glendale, Arizona