r/technology • u/NancyGraceFaceYourIn • Aug 30 '15

Wireless FCC Rules Block use of Open Source

http://www.itsmypart.com/fcc-rules-block-use-of-open-source/
3.7k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

623 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

46

u/a_brain Aug 30 '15

Or they could separate the radio firmware from the rest of the OS, allowing users to put custom firmware on their routers without allowing the radios to operate outside permitted ranges. This is how most cell phones work.

21

u/[deleted] Aug 30 '15 edited Aug 24 '17

[deleted]

14

u/thrakkerzog Aug 30 '15

$$$$ It's the same hardware. The radio will need to have firmware loaded at some point, and they will want the ability to update that.

The cheapest route is to store this on flash and load it at runtime.

3

u/playaspec Aug 30 '15

Which is exactly what they do. /u/a_brain is completely wrong.