Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> :
[...]
> I just confirmed that building it as a module works

I have just tried a non-modular build and it worked without firmware.

However:
[    3.508989] scsi2 : pata_sis
[    3.515602] scsi3 : pata_sis
[    3.522815] ata3: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0xffa0 irq 14
[    3.537408] ata4: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0xffa8 irq 15
[    3.552204] Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
[    3.559902] r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.3LK-NAPI loaded
[    3.571875] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKE] enabled at IRQ 5
[    3.583869] PCI: setting IRQ 5 as level-triggered
[    3.583877] r8169 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LNKE] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
[    3.600399] r8169 0000:02:00.0: enabling Mem-Wr-Inval
[    3.600440] r8169 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[    3.600453] r8169 0000:02:00.0: no MSI. Back to INTx.
[    3.611416] r8169 0000:02:00.0: eth0: RTL8168d/8111d at 0xf87ea000, 00:e0:4c:68:00:2c, XID 083000c0 IRQ 5

No firmware warning message ? 

[    3.842642] ata1: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
[    4.172056] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
[    4.192318] ata2.00: ATA-7: SAMSUNG HD250HJ, FH100-05, max UDMA7
[    4.205162] ata2.00: 488397168 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32)
[    4.240311] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/133
[    4.249869] scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      SAMSUNG HD250HJ  FH10 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[    4.267151] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/232 GiB)
[    4.283199] sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[    4.295028] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[    4.305610] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[    4.305637] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[    4.334873]  sda: sda1
[    4.340876] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[   63.968081] r8169 0000:02:00.0: eth0: unable to apply firmware patch

It's here. After a 60 seconds black-out.

-- 
Ueimor