@nico198x @Linux AMD is worse, as less things are free software.

There is no free VBIOS init or free peripheral software for AMD or ATI cards and you can only use such cards without proprietary peripheral software with nasty hacks that leave you with no 3D acceleration or no ACPI S3 suspend (while 3D accel without proprietary periphery software even on handcuffed nvidia cards works via Nouveau).


Half of AMDGPU is in Linux, the other half runs as proprietary peripheral under a proprietary license that states; "No reverse engineering, decompilation, or disassembly of this Software is permitted." (you're not allowed to find the malware).

AMD also offers the proprietary "AMDGPU-PRO" driver, which has an even more DEGENERATELY PROPRIETARY license that explicitly denies all 4 freedoms (https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html#four-freedoms);
"You may not:
...
1. modify or create derivative works of the Software;
2. distribute, assign or otherwise transfer the Software;
3. decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise reduce the Software
to a human-perceivable form (except as allowed by applicable law);
...
6. use, modify and/or distribute any of the Software so that any part becomes
subject to a Free Software License."

As far as I'm aware, even nvidia isn't so depraved to deny freedom as hard as trying to deny the user the ability to write free software while using a graphics driver.


As far as I'm aware, AMD cards up to the rx 580 don't handcuff the peripheral software or VBIOS, but the later cards do.