Just one question - how come Trisquel is able to operate without these blobs on PCs that require these binary blobs? If it's because they're using their own drivers, why don't all distros implement them if they're supposedly open-sourced?
Well, these blobs mostly pertain to graphics (GPU firmware), so for PC's that require a blob to operate (nVidia and ATi), if they don't get the proper driver, it falls back to an open source "standard VGA" driver. If you're on Intel graphics (which my PC has besides an nVidia GPU), 3D works because Intel made their entire driver open source.
If a sound chip requires a binary blob, it just won't operate. Same goes with things like wi-fi and bluetooth adapters.
That's the main reason why most GNU/Linux distributions include these proprietary blobs, is because it allows their distribution to be fully used on a much wider range of PC's, whereas with Trisquel, you're sort of limited, and if you end up with a PC that has a component that requires non-free firmware, it won't function to it's full potential. In this case, you can say that Arch would be superior in the fact that it can run on more PC's efficiently due to the help of proprietary blobs, however, Trisquel is superior in freedom, and is therefore superior in the fact that you can modify every aspect of the system, drivers and all.
Also, just a reassurance: I'm not saying that GNU/Linux distributions that contain proprietary things are bad, since they're still a lot better than using Windows (and often more fun too). I still like hearing about people using Linux more often, even if it's Ubuntu, Arch, Gentoo, Linux Mint, anything like that. I'm still looking forward to the day when Linux will be as strong as Windows, but until then, I'm sort of stuck using Windows primarily.
