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Foxconn deliberately sabotaging their BIOS to destroy Linux ACPI
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| Complained to the Federal Trade Commission
|
| http://www.ftc.gov
|
| Foxconn
| 458 E. Lambert Road Fullerton
| Fullerton, CA
| 92835
|
| FOXCONN PHONE NUMBER: 714-871-9968
|
| Company sold me a computer motherboard, model G33M-S, claiming that it was
| compliant with ACPI versions 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.
|
| Linux and FreeBSD do not work with this motherboard due to it's ACPI
| configuration, using a disassembler program, I have found that it detects
| Linux specifically and points it to bad DSDT tables, thereby corrupting it's
| hardware support, changing this and setting the system to override the BIOS
| ACPI DSDT tables with a customized version that passes the Windows versions
| to Linux gives Linux ACPI support stated on the box, I am complaining because
| I feel this violates an anti-trust provision in the Microsoft settlement, I
| further believe that Microsoft is giving Foxconn incentives to cripple their
| motherboards if you try to boot to a non-Windows OS.
|
| We have received your complaint.
|
| Thank you for contacting the FTC. Your complaint has been entered into
| Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database available to thousands of civil
| and criminal law enforcement agencies worldwide. Your reference number is:
| 19642372
|
| [...]
|
| They detect Linux, give it a bad DSDT table, one that looks ok at a glance,
| but broken in subtle ways so that some of it works, but not correctly.
|
| You call them to ask why their board won't run Linux.
|
| They tell you to buy Vista.
|
| They're basically rubbing Microsoft's back.
`----
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=869249
Related:
,----[ Quote ]
| From: Bill Gates
| Sent: Sunday, January 24, 1999 8:41 AM
| To: Jeff Westorinen; Ben Fathi
| Cc: Carl Stork (Exchange); Nathan Myhrvold; Eric Rudder
| Subject: ACPI extensions
|
| One thing I find myself wondering about is whether we shouldn't try
| and make the "ACPI" extensions...
|
| It seems unfortunate if we do this work and get our partners to do the
| work and the results is that Linux...
|
| Maybe there is no way to avoid this problem but it does bother me.
|
| Maybe we could define the APIs so that they work well with NT and not
| the others even if they are open.
|
| Or maybe we could patent something related to this.
`----
http://edge-op.org/iowa/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/3000/px03020.pdf
http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/3000/PX03020.pdf
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