Free/Libre GNU/Linux distributions always talk about how to avoid non-free binary blobs when using Wi-Fi cards which pretty much means using only Atheros chipsets.What about other devices like hard drives, wired Ethernet cards, DVD ROMs.. Don't they mind using them even if they contain proprietary firmwares?The only difference I know between the devices above and Wi-Fi cards, is that usually, the Wi-Fi card device driver needs to push the firmware to the Wi-Fi chipset RAM at load time. For the other devices, the firmware is just burned into their ROM.
Why do free/libre software advocates tolerate proprietary firmwares in just about every computer components except Wi-Fi cards?
philosophy
The Free Software Foundation has said that if you can't install software on it, it's not a computer:The ethical issues of free software arise because users obtain programs and install them in computers; they don't really apply to hidden embedded computers, or the BIOS burned in a ROM, or the microcode inside a processor chip, or the firmware that is wired into a processor in an I/O device. In aspects that relate to their design, those things are software; but as regards copying and modification, they may as well be hardware. The BIOS in ROM was, indeed, not a problem.