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LVFS – Linux Vendor Firmware Service

fwupd.org

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41–50 of 67 posts

Re: LVFS – Linux Vendor Firmware Service

#41

Post by hypothesis »

wtallis wrote: post #39
jeffbee wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh no "leaking telemetry". Heavens. I think what yesterday's SSD discussion revealed is that an open database of "leaked" SMART data would be of immense value to users and should have happened years ago. It sucks that privacy derangement vetoes the development of things of real value.

> privacy derangement Are you using this to refer to the attitude of companies that want to collect as much data as possible whether or not they have a clear and good use for it, or the attitude of users who are no longer willing to trust large-scale data collection efforts?

Chances are high that lots of people here are in fact working for said companies, delivering data collection tools, so there is that…

Re: LVFS – Linux Vendor Firmware Service

#42

Post by wtallis »

hypothesis wrote: post #41
wtallis wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> privacy derangement Are you using this to refer to the attitude of companies that want to collect as much data as possible whether or not they have a clear and good use for it, or the attitude of users who are no longer willing to trust large-scale data collection efforts?

Chances are high that lots of people here are in fact working for said companies, delivering data collection tools, so there is that…

He works (or worked) for Google, and the experience gives many of his comments a warped perspective. Which is why I'm genuinely unsure where he's trying to lay the blame for the status quo that even well-meaning telemetry efforts cannot be trusted.

Re: LVFS – Linux Vendor Firmware Service

#43

Post by jeffbee »

wtallis wrote: post #42
hypothesis wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chances are high that lots of people here are in fact working for said companies, delivering data collection tools, so there is that…

He works (or worked) for Google, and the experience gives many of his comments a warped perspective. Which is why I'm genuinely unsure where he's trying to lay the blame for the status quo that even well-meaning telemetry efforts cannot be trusted.

I don't really get where you think the well has been poisoned by Google or any others. Telemetry projects that I am familiar with at that company, like chromeos-wide profiling, are conducted with best in the industry privacy, and they result in a significantly improved experience for users.

Big Tech does not want your stupid private data. It is in all objective respects toxic waste. But they do want to know if your CPU is overheating, or your SSD is failing early, or if your programs run slowly. Telemetry is good and valuable.

Re: LVFS – Linux Vendor Firmware Service

#44

Post by wtallis »

jeffbee wrote: post #43
wtallis wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He works (or worked) for Google, and the experience gives many of his comments a warped perspective. Which is why I'm genuinely unsure where he's trying to lay the blame for the status quo that even well-meaning telemetry efforts cannot be trusted.

I don't really get where you think the well has been poisoned by Google or any others. Telemetry projects that I am familiar with at that company, like chromeos-wide profiling, are conducted with best in the industry privacy, and they result in a significantly improved experience for users. Big Tech does not want your stupid private data. It is in all objective respects toxic waste. But they do want to know if your C…

> Big Tech does not want your stupid private data. It is in all objective respects toxic waste.

This is so obviously contradicted by the actual behavior of Google and most other tech companies, big and small. From the inside, you may see a clear distinction between telemetry and the truly creepy amount of personal data collection happening in other parts of the company. But you should have no trouble understanding how end users are less able to draw that distinction, especially when they are not offered the choice to only opt-in to some of the data collection and "personalization".

So, do you really think that a user being suspicious of large-scale data collection means they're deranged?

Re: LVFS – Linux Vendor Firmware Service

#45

Post by mixmastamyk »

wtallis wrote: post #44
jeffbee wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really get where you think the well has been poisoned by Google or any others. Telemetry projects that I am familiar with at that company, like chromeos-wide profiling, are conducted with best in the industry privacy, and they result in a significantly improved experience for users. Big Tech does not want your stupid private data. It is in all objective respects toxic waste. But they do want to know if your C…

> Big Tech does not want your stupid private data. It is in all objective respects toxic waste. This is so obviously contradicted by the actual behavior of Google and most other tech companies, big and small. From the inside, you may see a clear distinction between telemetry and the truly creepy amount of personal data collection happening in other parts of the company. But you should have no trouble understanding ho…

Hate to trot out the Upton Sinclair quote again, but it's a bullseye here.

Re: LVFS – Linux Vendor Firmware Service

#46

Post by vondur »

mesebrec wrote: post #27

Amazing project! It's incredibly well engineered, imo. It's really nice to read the author's blogposts describing how he forces hardware vendors to get their shit together and either use a standardized update mechanism or create a thoroughly tested open source plugin. I remember the first time I got a Dell laptop and put Ubuntu on it, GNOME Software immediately prompted me to install a firmware update. I was so amaze…

Firmware for Dell computers are also offered via the Windows update software. It’s still cool that it works with Linux too.

Re: LVFS – Linux Vendor Firmware Service

#47

Post by bombcar »

mesebrec wrote: post #27

Amazing project! It's incredibly well engineered, imo. It's really nice to read the author's blogposts describing how he forces hardware vendors to get their shit together and either use a standardized update mechanism or create a thoroughly tested open source plugin. I remember the first time I got a Dell laptop and put Ubuntu on it, GNOME Software immediately prompted me to install a firmware update. I was so amaze…

Some firmware they may only have reduced redistribution rights to. A modern computer is a giant ball of firmware from many different vendors.

Hence things like Linux firmware updaters that just download the windows firmware file (which they have rights to) and extracting the firmware blob (which they know exactly where it is) so they can avoid the question if they can distribute the blob directly.

Re: LVFS – Linux Vendor Firmware Service

#49

Post by pxc »

bitwize wrote: post #11
jmclnx wrote: post #4

As mentioned, I did not know this exists either, but I wonder what they consider a "Major Linux Distro" ? > This site is used by all major Linux distributions to provide metadata for clients such as fwupdmgr and GNOME Software. Based upon that statement and the fact fwupdmgr does not come with Slackware, maybe major equates to GNOME Based ? But with some extra work, looks like this could be useful for non-GNOME distr…

"Major" = RHEL, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, perhaps also Arch. Slackware is niche, sorry.

fwupd is available on quite a few niche distros, including NixOS, GuixSD, Void Linux, Gentoo, and also, of course, Slackware.

Also I feel that openSUSE qualifies as a major distro despite not appearing on that list!

Re: LVFS – Linux Vendor Firmware Service

#50

Post by pxc »

LVFS is one of those things that makes modern Linux feel so civilized. Browsing around for images (or God forbid, images distributed as Windows executables) to burn to external media for firmware updates feel downright prehistoric in comparison!
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