How Open Source Projects Handle Binary Blobs in Firmware

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How Open Source Projects Handle Binary Blobs in Firmware

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Episode 75 of Open Source with Fexingo tackles one of the most contentious trade-offs in open-source hardware: binary blobs. Lucas and Luna unpack the recent controversy around the Raspberry Pi 5's VideoCore VII GPU firmware, which ships a closed-source blob on an otherwise open board. They trace the history from coreboot to Purism's Librem laptops, explain why blobs persist in Wi-Fi chips and microcontrollers, and explore community workarounds like coreboot and blob-free firmware initiatives. Specific numbers include the 4.6 megabyte blob size in the Pi 5, and the 10,000-plus driver files in Linux's firmware tree. The episode also covers how the Fedora and Debian projects draw the line on blobs, and why even the Open Source Hardware Association concedes that some blobs may be unavoidable for performance. A grounded, nuanced look at an area where open-source ideals meet hard engineering constraints. #BinaryBlobs #OpenSourceHardware #RaspberryPi #Coreboot #Purism #Librem #LinuxKernel #Firmware #Debian #Fedora #OpenSource #CommunityGovernance #Technology #SoftwareFreedom #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #OpenSourceWithFexingo #Hardware Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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