As you can read already on the start page, ConnochaetOS is a completely free GNU/Linux distribution. ConnochaetOS follows this principle with all its consequences.

Free software is software that grants the user four freedoms.

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

See also http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

We believe that this freedoms are essential for using a computer, to be in control of the computer. Otherwise, if you use a program which is not free, the program controls you. We call such programs non-free software or proprietary software.

There are cases where the software itself is free, but it recommends to install non-free software. See the list at http://libreplanet.org/wiki/List_of_software_that_does_not_respect_the_Free_System_Distribution_Guidelines for such cases. The software in ConnochaetOS does not include such programs. We either replaced them or modified them, so that this issues are resolved.

There are other terms for free software: “Software Libre”, “FOSS”, “FLOSS” and “Open Source” to name a few. We prefer the original term “free software”, since other terms, such as “Open Source”, have been abused by companies, which propagate their proprietary software as “open” but in reality it was just a marketing trick, at a close look their software was non-free as any other proprietary software.

Unfortunately, several vendors still keep parts or all of the firmware closed and ship their hardware only with proprietary and/or binary software. The customer gets an unknown piece of software on the PC without having any insight what this piece is actually doing and without having the chance to modify it – even if there is a severe well-known security problem. To avoid these problems, you must check the availability of free software components before you buy any hardware for your machine. At http://www.h-node.com/ you will find a growing database of hardware which is known to work with completely free system.

Long story short : support the idea of free software by buying your stuff from vendors who follow this principle and avoid those who don't. Here is a list of non-free devices and the reason why it is on the list.