14 DAY TRIAL // The Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the Debian Project are partnering up to provide a database for hardware products that don't need any proprietary drivers to work.
The Free Software Foundation does a lot of things, and one of them is to promote products that are completely free. That means that it will frown upon, for example, distributions that have proprietary drivers in their repositories, even if they aren’t available by default.
In fact, one of the reasons Debian is not on the list of "approved" Linux distros is exactly this. The two projects partnering up might also signify a change in this direction for Debian, but it's unlikely.
How is something completely free?
It's not enough to provide something for free in order to comply with the rules set forth by The Free Software Foundation. Companies like NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and so on will never be able to qualify because they build devices and processors that need proprietary firmware and drivers to work.
Some people in the Linux community value their freedom above anything else and they don't want to have anything to do with the commercial and proprietary side of things. The companies mentioned above have drivers that are freeware and respect the rules, but they are built by the community and not by the companies themselves.
"While other databases list hardware that is technically compatible with GNU/Linux, h-node lists hardware as compatible only if it does not require any proprietary software or firmware. Information about hardware that flunks this test is also included, so users know what to avoid. The database lists individual components, like WiFi and video cards, as well as complete notebook systems. The compatibility information comes from users testing hardware on systems running only free software," reads the official announcement.
Why is Debian involved?
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has admitted that Debian didn’t make the cut for their list of free distros, but the foundation recognizes the fact that the default installation and repositories provided are completely free.
This is why new products that will be added to the h-node database can now be tested on Debian systems, making the job of the people cataloging this hardware much easier.
The final goal of this database is to provide a comprehensive list of products (GPUs, laptops, entire PCs, you name it) that are completely compliant with The Free Software Foundation’s rules.