Librem: a Laptop Custom-Made For Free/Libre Software

Bunnie Huang's Novena laptop re-invents the laptop with open source (and Free software) in mind, but the hackability that it's built for requires a fair amount of tolerance on a user's part for funky design and visible guts. New submitter dopeghost writes with word of the nearly-funded (via Crowd Supply) Librem laptop, a different kind of Free-software machine using components "specifically selected so that no binary blobs are needed in the Linux kernel that ships with the laptop." Made from high quality components and featuring a MacBook-like design including a choice of HiDPI screen, the Librem might just be the first laptop to ship with a modern Intel CPU that is not locked down to require proprietary firmware.

Richard M. Stallman, president of the FSF, said, "Getting rid of the signature checking is an important step. While it doesn't give us free code for the firmware, it means that users will really have control of the firmware once we get free code for it." Unlike some crowdfunding projects, this one is far from pie-in-the-sky, relying mostly on off-the-shelf components, with a planned shipping date in Spring of this year: "Purism is manufacturing the motherboard, and screen printing the keyboard. Purism is sourcing the case, daughter cards, memory, drives, battery, camera, and screen."

Want one.

[sasparillascott]

I definitely want one. The NSA is workig to be in the BIOS / radio firmware etc., but this is a very good first step, besides looking gorgeous with a replaceable battery and a DVD drive...take me there.

Liberated? What about the hardware?

[unixisc]

This is based on a 4 Core (8 Threads) 3.4GHz Intel i7-4770HQ. So has Intel released the HDL model of that CPU for these Librem guys, in case they wish to change anything inside it? B'cos they make big claims about the kernel, OS, software, freedom and privacy, so it would be interesting to see if they go all the way. Heck, they should start it right from the bottom - make a GPLv3 based CPU (whose HDL models are all publicly available). It would probably have to be a VLIW CPU or something, in order to force the source code to be always available. Not an x86 or an ARM.

Re:Liberated? What about the hardware?

[ssam]

You have to take steps to make progress. You can take something useful and make it more open (like librem) or you could start from scratch and make something very basic that is completely open.

You can take bigger strides towards openness and get something like Novena, but then you make other sacrifices (size, cost, performance).

I guess if you had infinite money you could make a high spec, completely opensource laptop.

Re:

[LuxuryYacht]

The main cost in developing a laptop is the high cost of tooling for the injection molding. http://openlunchbox.com/ [openlunchbox.com] plans on rapidly printing laptop cases to get around this problem and making all the main components as modules. SLA resolution is in the sub-100 micron range vs well over 100 micron for FDM. It's also an order or two of magnitude faster.

Re:

[ClickOnThis]

You have to take steps to make progress. You can take something useful and make it more open (like librem) or you could start from scratch and make something very basic that is completely open.

This. Stallman himself took the former, more pragmatic approach when he began Gnu. He started with an existing proprietary Unix system (Sun OS?) and used it to develop parts of Gnu, with the goal of replacing the entire OS eventually with Gnu.

Re:Liberated? What about the hardware?

[lkcl]

You have to take steps to make progress. You can take something useful and make it more open (like librem) or you could start from scratch and make something very basic that is completely open.

You can take bigger strides towards openness and get something like Novena, but then you make other sacrifices (size, cost, performance).

I guess if you had infinite money you could make a high spec, completely opensource laptop.

interesting that you should say this :) i am taking a different approach. i am also developing a laptop where the goal is to reach FSF-Endorseability *and* high-end specs. i am doing it one phase at a time, as you suggest... however where instead of having infinite money i am instead using creativity and ingenuity (posh words for "persistent bloody-mindedness combined with desperation stroke eye-popping frustration").

sooo, i decided to go the "modular" route, but had to first create a decent hardware standard - one that will still be here in 10 years time but is simple enough for the average person (or a 5-year-old, or an 80-year-old) to use. it's based on an old "Memory Card" standard - you may have heard how PCMCIA is no longer being used? well, the case-work is still around :) so, re-using PCMCIA it is. and all the benefits of "Memory Card", you now get "Computer Card".. upgradeable, swappable, saleable, transferrable, storable "Computer" Card. ... but then, of course, because of that, yaay, you now have to design entirely new casework, not just a motherboard. talking to casework suppliers didn't um go so well, so i have to do it. bought a mendel90 6 months ago... ... but mendel90's don't do injection-moulded plastics, they do 3d-printed filament plastics. and when presented with a potential $USD 20,000 cost for creating injection-moulding (you send your STL files off, someone adapts them, CNCs out two steel halves and then a little *team* of chinese people sit there for weeks on end polishing out all the CNC burrs.... then you find out it's *completely wrong* and have *another* $USD 20,000 to pay... no wonder ODMs quote $USD 250,000 for developing laptops!!!) ... anyway so that's all completely insane, so i thought, "hmm, i wonder if you can create reverse-3d-printed moulds to do injection-mould prototyping" and it turns out that you can. so i could at least - on a low budget - make a few runs out of very-low-temperature plastic (so as not to burst the 3d-printed plastic under pressure), hell i could even use plasticine for goodness sake, just to get a proof-of-concept, *then*.... and this is the hilarious bit.... there's a girl who's been doing LostPLA home-grown aluminium casting.... *using 1500W microwave ovens* :)

http://media.ccc.de/browse/con... [media.ccc.de]

so in theory i could quite conceivably even try doing the casting of the inverse-moulds for plastic injection *myself*, out of landfill-designated aluminium bicycle rims. do watch that talk: julia is surprisingly subtly funny, there were lots of jokes that the audience didn't get (not a native english speaking audience), and a few later that they did.

bottom line it *can* be done... if you make the decision, and damn well stick at it until success. if you're interested to follow along, here's the links:

* micro-desktop (launching very soon) which has the first EOMA68 module: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eo... [crowdsupply.com]
* the 7in tablet (due to go to assembly this week) http://rhombus-tech.net/commun... [rhombus-tech.net]
* the 15.6in laptop (currently developing the casework) http://rhombus-tech.net/commun... [rhombus-tech.net]

on the laptop - as yo

Re:

[phantomfive]

Mr Stallman interestingly isn't a huge proponent of open hardware. As long as it's not locked down, so he can run whatever he wants on it, then he's satisfied.

Re:

[unixisc]

My point precisely, in response to Flavianoep. RMS calls those 'circuits', but the advocacy that he does applies to those as well. What if one doesn't like something about the i7 and wishes to change it? He'd need the HDL models to even start. (Of course, it's another thing that he'd need a relationship w/ a fab to even do this). My point is that RMS is fanatical about liberating software, while looking the other way on hardware. Even while he bitches about TiVoization.

Re:

[CastrTroy]

Even if you wanted to change something in the processor, who would you get to manufacture it. This is a 22 nm chip. Not something that any fab in the world can produce. You can change the design all you want, but you're going to be at the mercy of Intel, or perhaps a couple other large multinational corporations to get the thing made.

Re:

[unixisc]

I mentioned that - he'd need a relationship w/ a fab to even start this

Re:

[exomondo]

That's not really the point, the main issue is that for all the pontification about how FOSS is more secure because you can see the code the fact is it is ultimately running on closed proprietary hardware, locking all the windows but leaving the doors open makes you a bit more secure but it's only an illusion of security, and that is even worse.

Re:

[phantomfive]

Oh, I see, you think Stallman should care about open hardware.

Re:

[unixisc]

If he is consistent, yeah!!! Why should only the software vendors be target of his demonstrations? Speaking for myself, I'm supportive of the BSDL model - provide the free open source software, but don't try to force it down the chain. But since Stallman supports copyleft, it should be there for both hardware (the HDL models) and software.

Re:Liberated? What about the hardware?

[phantomfive]

The GPL is the only license practically that lets you dual-license with a proprietary license.

You can give it freely to people who want to spread it freely, and you can charge people who want to close it. That way, you get a return on your investment either way.

Re:

[unixisc]

The same argument applies to software - how many people are programmers who'd know how to change the kernel, or the device drivers, or other things in the computer beyond what can be easily accessed under settings in any application? How many people can go in and remove systemd from their Linux copy, if they don't like it? Or get Razor-qt working under NetBSD, or get a WiFi driver working? Unless one is one of the people who built the OS, not many. Yet, we have RMS campaigning aggressively for liberated

Re:

[znrt]

it does good to have systems that are public. open and free peering of qualified individuals can give a society a far better chance at influence and awareness. this already sort of works for sw, but then writing sw involves basically a brain, time, a computer and network access. it would work for chip production too if you somehow sort out the practical implications. currently only megacorps can do that so i'd say it falls out of the current scope. but there's really no need to build a free communal hi-tech

Re:

[phantomfive]

I don't know actually, where? Intel?

Re:

[reikae]

Donations?

Re:

[unixisc]

Actually, this is a good point. What if the evillll bogeyman the NSA, knowing that these type of systems can be made, decided to get Intel to embed some spyware within the CPU itself, so that even a workstation that has Coreboot and Trisquel and emacs cannot escape it? That's where it would be just as theoretically useful for a CPU's HDL models to be published, so that anyone who can determine such intrusive sections of the CPU can approach, let's say, a much smaller fab, get it removed, albeit compromisi

Maybe we don't name a project

[jpellino]

after the sort of prayer you use when things hit the fan?

When things hit the fan

[QuasiSteve]

When things hit the fan, at least it will be relatively easy to clean out.

Kudos to them for making the fan semi-easily accessible. You have to remove the entire back panel - but that seems to apply for access to HDD and RAM as well anyway. Hopefully it tilts and slides right away from the fins as well and you don't have to unscrew and lift those off (potentially putting stress on the CPU/GPU).

( Also yay for keeping the speakers away from the top / not using a fine mesh grille that just gets gunked up with d

Trackpad with no keys = useless for CAD

[blind biker]

Most CAD applications are usable only with two-button mice and trackpads - although 3 button mice and trackpads are better.

(besides, I personally prefer the tackpoint (AKA "clit") to the trackpad, but I can't even hope to have such open-source laptop to have that option - that's asking too much, I guess)

Re:

[jellomizer]

Are their serious OpenSource CAD Programs for Linux?
If they are not Open Source then you shouldn't worry about having a fully open source laptop.

Re:

[Coren22]

If you want a mouse, just plug one in. No one stops you from using CAD level hardware with this laptop.

The trackpoint is owned by Lenovo currently, feel free to approach them for an open spec, but expect to be laughed at.

Re:

[unixisc]

Nowadays, the 2 buttons are actually buried beneath the single trackpad, so that it's 1 piece. I don't really like it, but that's what it is. What's worse - previous generation laptops would have a separate button that would disable them, but that's gone from current models, so that one needs touchfreeze, or disabling the trackpad from the control panel

Connectivity

[darkain]

"One Pop-Down RJ45 Network port" ??? Pop-down? Does that mean it isn't just a normal port you plug in, but is one of those spring loaded ports that pop out? Ya'know, the things horrible notorious for breaking?

I guess it doesn't matter. Googled the chipset, first result: "Realtek r8169 not working in CentOS" - Sounds good to me!

"Three USB 3.0 ports" - I would seriously pay MORE for more USB ports, even if they are 2.0 ports. I hate having to travel with a USB hub just because manufactures don't want to shove

Re:

[danbob999]

r8169 works well in most cases. I'm sure the particular chipset used in that laptop has been tested.

Re:

[unixisc]

Can't you just connect one of the ports to another USB hub, and use that to connect to your other peripherals? And use the primary ports just for low speed USB devices, like keyboards, mice, et al?

Re:

[unixisc]

Correction: I meant use the connected USB for low speed peripherals, like keyboards, while using the primary USB ports for things like printers, USB drives, et al

Re:

[rahvin112]

Some of the newer laptops are too thin for a RJ-45 jack. The bottom part of the jack folds down a few MM (my wife's laptop has this "feature") so you can get the RJ-45 into the slot. I haven't noticed too much of an issue with it, I believe it's going to be common now that laptops are thinner than the RJ-45 jack because otherwise you can't have a RJ-45 without a bulge in the case.

Why HDMI?

[ArhcAngel]

If they were going for free wouldn't DisplyPort [displayport.org] have been a better option? I mean HDMI is at its roots video DRM. With DisplyPort you can opt to output to almost every modern video connection available including HDMI.

Re:

[ArhcAngel]

HDMI is less capable but MORE useful than DisplayPort? Is that a form of fuzzy logic?

Re:

[danbob999]

Why not? There are more monitors and TVs out there with an HDMI port than with a display port. Therefore you have more chances of needing an adapter or special cable if you have DP on your laptop than HDMI.

Weirdly schizophrenic

[Solandri]

Some key specs on this thing:

3.4GHz Intel i7-4770HQ
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
375 x 244 x 22mm 2.0Kg
14 x 9.6 x 0.86" 4.4lbs
48 Wh lithium polymer battery
Up to 8 hours usage

That battery life is a pipe dream. The Macbook Pro 15 (which is much better optimized for battery life than Windows) w/o discrete graphics gets 8 hours under light use on the same CPU using a 95 Wh battery. This thing is more likely to get 4 hours best case, probably closer to 2-3 hours since most open source software won't be optimized for power savings on this exact hardware. (Yes I've tested this, when I put together my NAS/VM server. I plugged it into a Kill-a-Watt and measured power draw from a variety of OSes. Windows came in best at 30 Watts idle. The best default install of a Linux distro was 35 Watts idle. The worst 55 Watts idle. All were right around 105 Watts under load.)

Most of the Windows laptops with an quad core i7 (without Iris Pro graphics) managing 4 hours under light use have a 60+ Wh battery. The two with 52/54 Wh batteries (Lenovo Y50, MSI GS60) come in at 3-4 hours battery life in reviews. An 8 hour battery life in this thing is going to be attainable only in the useless "I leave the laptop sitting there powered on, but doing nothing" case (where BTW the MBP 15 hits 14 hours due to its gargantuan battery, and the 60+ Wh Windows laptops manage about 8 hours).

Which brings us to the weight. Given the short battery life, why not increase the weight to put in a bigger battery? Obviously they're trying to match the Macbook Pro 15. But if you can't match it, sacrificing battery size to keep the weight low is probably the worst compromise you can make. As it is, this thing is going to be an super-light (for a 15" notebook) ultra-portable laptop that has to sit on the desk plugged into AC power most of the time. People who buy ultra-portable laptops buy them so they can take it with them and use it away from the desk and power outlet. People who don't mind short battery life don't mind it because their laptop usually sits on a desk plugged into AC power, and thus weight doesn't matter as much. Pick one or the other.

Why can't I buy an aftermarket chassis?

[dcooper_db9]

Just yesterday I was reading about the Novena and a couple of similar and related projects. It struck me that all of these projects are tackiling this from the ground up. It seems to me that more people could contribute if different projects could focus on separate modules. That way I could maybe buy an open hardware video adapter to fix a laptop screen. Or an open hardware disk controller to restore a burnt HDD controller. Having open hardware components available would make it cheaper to repair computers. I'd love to be able to stock a single drive controller card and flash the firmware to match the drive it's controlling. Right now I have a complete laptop with a broken hinge and damaged power port. I'd love to be able to take all the parts out and put them into an aftermarket case. I don't mean a replacement case from the original model. I mean a standardized case that would allow me to swap out parts. Why does no such case exist? Why do I have to order an exact match when the case is just molded plastic and each component is pretty much the same size and shape?

Re:Why can't I buy an aftermarket chassis?

[LuxuryYacht]

This is what we are working on now. http://openlunchbox.com/ [openlunchbox.com]

Standard modules that anyone can make and cases printed on demand.

Why a custom OS?

[danbob999]

What was wrong with standard Linux distributions such as Debian / Ubuntu / whatever?

Re:

[jandrese]

Those Custom OSes that hardware manufacturers like to use are almost always rebranded and slightly modified versions of existing distros. I wouldn't be surprised at all if their Linux distro is just Debian with their logo image bundled in. Maybe a few tweaks to make it a little more battery efficient, which it's going to need if they want to get 8 hours of runtime on a 48WH battery and a Core i7.

Re:

[danbob999]

And these OS are never maintained / updated so are worthless.

Re:

[unixisc]

What was wrong with standard Linux distributions such as Debian / Ubuntu / whatever?

The FSF explains that here [gnu.org]

Re:

[danbob999]

Just do enable the non-free and contrib repositories on Debian and you are fine then.

Will it run Linux?

[DickBreath]

Or will it only run GNU/Linux?

Re:

[unixisc]

This will be a question similar to the one about running Linux on a MacBook the other day. If you wanna run something like Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Mageia or Fedora, then why would you get something like this? When you can get an off the shelf laptop from, say, Dell, and then run Linux.

TFA

[unixisc]

15.6" display in either 1920x1080 or 3840x2160

4 Core (8 Threads) 3.4GHz Intel i7-4770HQ

Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200

375 x 244 x 22mm 2.0Kg

14 x 9.6 x 0.86" 4.4lbs

4GB Mem (up to 32GB)

500GB HD (up to 1TB HD or 1TB SSD)

CD/DVD ROM Drive (or extra drive bay)

48 Wh lithium polymer battery

65W power adapter

Up to 8 hours usage

Three USB 3.0 ports

One HDMI port

One Pop-Down RJ45 Network port (r8169)

802.11n WiFi (ath9k)

720p camera

HD Audio

Mini-TOSLINK optical fiber connector

Full-size keyboard in a variety of languages

Aluminum enclosure body

SDXC card slot

Purism GNU/Linux 64-bit Operating System (Trisquel based)

375mm x 244mm x 22mm (14" x 9.6" x 0.86")

2.0kg (4.4lbs)

ExFAT

[tepples]

SDXC card slot

How will that work? The SDXC spec requires the use of ExFAT operating system, which is patented software. Or will these laptops not be available in Slashdot's home country?

Re:

[unixisc]

Or do they plan to format the SD cards w/ ext2? Is that even possible?

UID mismatches with removable media

[tepples]

In theory, you can use the Linux extended file system (Ext2-4) on removable media. But it shares one drawback with NTFS: user IDs generally don't match from one machine to another. So when you mount a file system on another machine, you won't have privileges to read or write files. FAT, by contrast, doesn't store owner or group IDs, instead assuming that all files belong to the user who mounted the file system. UDF supports the same feature [ortolo.eu], reserving UID -1 to mean "bearer" in this sense [stackexchange.com]. UDF works on SDXC cards, but I was under the impression that any licensed SDXC writer had to support exFAT.

Still not globally unique

[tepples]

Someone who's the second user of one computer and the first user of another computer would encounter such a UID mismatch when trying to sneakernet large files between the two. UDF works around this by reserving a UID to mean "bearer".

Re:

[gerddie]

Better use F2FS [wikipedia.org].

Re:

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

It is possible, any but the most broken SD cards are reasonably well behaved block devices under the abstractions provided by readers; but the trouble is compatibility with embedded devices. You can format an SD card, or an SDHC card, or an SDXC card, in any FS you want; but if you pop it into a camera, don't expect the camera to do anything other than ask if you want to format the card.

Re:

[CronoCloud]

[code]
yum install exfat-utils fuse-exfat
[/code]

You assume more restrictions than what is actually available or possible.

Re:

[unixisc]

Since this is Trisquel, which is Ubuntu i.e. Debian based, make that apt get....

Technical or political restrictions

[tepples]

yum install exfat-utils fuse-exfat

For others trying this: exfat-utils [rpmfusion.org] and fuse-exfat [rpmfusion.org] are in RPM Fusion because patent issues block their inclusion with Fedora [fedoraproject.org].

You assume more restrictions than what is actually available or possible.

I agree that there is no technical restriction. But political restrictions can still be relevant, especially when it comes to bringing the required parts through United States customs. The MGM v. Grokster decision enshrined secondary liability through inducement in U.S. case law, and including the SDXC marking could be seen as inducement to infringe a patent by installing the exFAT pa

Re:

[CronoCloud]

For others trying this: exfat-utils and fuse-exfat are in RPM Fusion

yup. I would say the vast majority of Fedora users use the RPMfusion repository, especially if they have an Nvidia card.

including the SDXC marking could be seen as inducement to infringe a patent by installing the exFAT packages.

you read too much into things.

Re:

[danbob999]

They just won't be allowed to put a SDXC logo sticker on the laptop. Nothing stops you from bundling a SDXC controller in hardware without the software support for exFAT.

Re:

[unixisc]

That laptop shell is absolutely clean - has no stickers on it, not even Intel. That may be a part of the reason for its high price

Re:

[guises]

Given what they're charging for components, $100 for 4 GB RAM, $150 for a 250 GB SSD (plus the cost of the HD that it replaces), I have trouble giving them that kind of a pass. I bought a 240 GB SSD just a few weeks ago for $80.

I'll grant that it's pretty unreasonable to expect some little independent group to get by on the 5% profit margins that Dell does, but that isn't what we're talking about here: these are Apple prices. This feels exploitative.

Re:

[unixisc]

They do mention in their site that they'll source and manufacture the highest quality hardware. In short, they're going for a one-size-fits-all, given that this is a limited market to start with.

Re:

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I can think of two possible options:

Option 1: the plan is to include one of the card-reader modules that connects to the USB bus and encapsulates the card neatly behind the abstraction of a mass storage class device. The user then either reformats an ExFAT card, or quietly obtains a Free-but-patent-infringing filesystem implementation. This seems less likely; because that's just one more blob of code(in the SD/USB translation chip) that the user can't see in any real sense).

Option 2: The necessary I/O

Re:

[tepples]

An SDXC card is a block device.... ExFAT is a filesystem

However, the license for said block device interface can require compliant hosts to be capable of said file system.

which can be accessed with this open source code

As far as I can tell, this software is "open source" with respect to copyrights only, not patents. For example, that's why the software you mentioned is packaged in RPM Fusion, not Fedora.

Sure the spec may specify it but that doesn't mean you can't use something else.

But in order to carry the SDXC logo, the device must be capable of reading and writing the patented file system.

Re:

[AC-x]

But in order to carry the SDXC logo, the device must be capable of reading and writing the patented file system.

That makes sense for self-contained devices like cameras, but for card readers (especially add-on readers) there must be an exception because the reader itself can't read ExFAT (or any other filesystem for that matter), it's the host OS that does.

Re:

[TWX]

I'll be amazed if they manage to get all of that into 4.4lb with the presence of the optical drive.

My wife's Thinkpad X301 is ~3.25lb, designed to be as absolutely light-weight as possible while being durable, with an optical drive.

Her new Thinkpad Yoga 12 with the i7 is a hair over 3.5lb, also designed to be as light-weight as possible while being durable with a convertible 2-in-1 setup, without an optical drive.

If they succeed I'll consider getting one, but I'm still wondering what the catch is.

Re:

[by (1706743)]

Sadly, it doesn't look like it has a TrackPoint-style mouse -- something I've grown rather fond of (just to preempt the oblig replies: http://xkcd.com/243/ [xkcd.com]).

Pointer devices

[unixisc]

The touchpad - I've had issues w/ it even under Windows, so I dread what it might be under Trisquel. In my PC-BSD laptop, even though the trackpad is there, PC-BSD doesn't recognize it, which is good, and I've attached a separate mouse. Last thing I need is my palm touch to disorient the cursor when I am typing. I know that touchfreeze is FOSS, but even in Windows, I've had trouble w/ it at times.

Re:

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I'm guessing that usability will depend on whether the lack of vendor drivers causes it to fail into 'keep it simple, stupid' mode(in which case it'll be just fine, possibly even better than the more unpleasant Windows experiences; but the mac users will be displeased), or whether it will take a stab at being clever, as trackpad vendors have lately had the nasty habit of doing, mostly to everyone's regret and shame; but without even the minimal level of polish provided by the vendor. That would be a cluster

Re:

[unixisc]

KISS for touchpads would be what they used to do earlier - have a separate switch to turn off the touchpad whenever needed. Unfortunately, some genius at one of the OEMs had the bright idea of losing them

Re:

[unixisc]

What's a chiklet keyboard? The keyboard on this looks like the one I have on my Inspiron 17 - a separate numeric keypad, which ain't there on most laptops

Re:

[ikhider]

It runs an Intel CPU, you're fugged.

Re:

[unixisc]

As I mentioned in my previous post above, One Pop-Down RJ45 Network port (r8169) for ethernet, and one 802.11n WiFi (ath9k) - suggesting Realtek and Atheros.

Re:

[unixisc]

I wonder whether it tops his Lemote Yeedong?

Re:

[unixisc]

He switched? Didn't try to get another from Lemote?

Re:

[unixisc]

Freed from the owner. RMS once wrote an essay 'Why software should not have owners'. The thief in this case shared RMS' idea w/ a twist - 'Why computers should not have owners' ;-)

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

If Snowden's revelations haven't gotten you to care about software freedom, I guess nothing will.

Re:

[unixisc]

Yeah, I'm sure that the NSA has legions of assembly language programers who infiltrate every part of a system - BIOS, kernel, OS, DEs and everything else around it!

Re:

[qpqp]

They don't need legions, and they have *lots* of cash to buy the ones at the source.

Re:

[unixisc]

Yeah, b'cos price wasn't their goal - liberation was, and they say so plainly on the site:

All other companies, when they sit down at the negotiation table, negotiate first for price, mean time between failure, quality, warranty, availability, then revisit price again. We on the other hand negotiate for users’ rights to free software, then quality, then price. Most manufacturers just need to be made aware that it matters to users, and then we get into how best to make that happen. This is where you come in, by showing you support Purism, that gives us the leverage we need to push upstream to the manufacturers of component parts. We are here to fight for your rights - please help us do that by supporting this campaign!

Re:

[Torp]

Actually it's more expensive than a retina macbook pro with the same specs. $2359 "earlier bird" price vs $1999 for a rMBP, if you configure the Librem with a 250 Gb SSD, 16 G ram and the hi res display. The CPU seems to be the same. You do get an optical drive, if you care about those things.
The 'normal' price if you miss all "early-ish" bird discounts is $2609 for the same configuration.

But considering they're only doing a 500 unit run as opposed to a few million for Apple, i think it's a pretty good pric

Re:

[qpqp]

You do get an optical drive, if you care about those things.

Much more importantly, you get a potentially empty bay for another drive!

Re:

[jandrese]

Surprisingly, selecting an empty bay actually increases the cost of the laptop.

Re:

[Torp]

I guess they come with the optical drive from the factory, and removing it is extra labor. Also, now they have to store a drive nobody wants :)

Re:

[jeffb (2.718)]

Freedom isn't free!

Re:

[GameboyRMH]

No there's a hefty fuckin' fee,
And if you don't throw in your two grand stack who will?
Oooh, two grand stack,
Freedom costs a two grand stack.

Re:

[TWX]

A new business-grade laptop is at least $1500 for a fully-loaded model, this really isn't a whole lot more assuming that they can deliver on everything they've promised.

Re:

[Hognoxious]

If you try to board a flight with a new business-grade laptop the TSA might steal it.

If you try to board a flight with this thing they'll definitely shoot you.

Re:

[qpqp]

Put some stickers on it and they wouldn't be able to discern it from a MBP.

Re:

[serviscope_minor]

Yeah I'd buy one if I was rich, but the basic spec is $1900, and it's just slightly better than my current laptop which I bought for $500 in 2009.

$1900 might be a bit on the expensive side but what on earth did you get in 2009 for $500 which matches this spec??

Re:

[GameboyRMH]

It doesn't match the spec, it has less processing power and an older video adapter, and the screen resolution is lower and the hard drive is smaller. But the size is the same, the RAM capacity is the same, the wifi adapter is the same, the optical drive is the same, and for everyday computing the greater processing power, better video card, larger storage and higher screen resolution wouldn't help much - that's why I don't value these advantages too much in a laptop. A computer from 2009 will still perform

Re:

[jandrese]

The Intel 5200 Pro graphics are the biggest drawback to using this thing as a gaming laptop.

Re:

[qpqp]

You forget that some people don't give a fuck, and/or live in a country where they can get away with not giving a fuck, and/or can go as fast as they want for other reasons.

So... What BIOS is running on it?

[naturaverl]

Before I get modded to oblivion... From TFA: In addition to enabling as above the development of free BIOS firmware, we are also working with Intel to allow us to scrub, release, and maintain the source for the FSP, but havenÃ(TM)t finalized that yet. We are devoted to freeing this binary. You can read here about the current state of our efforts to free the BIOS. (http://puri.sm/posts/bios-freedom-status/) The point I was trying to make is that UNTIL every layer of the operational stack really is Free & Open Source, the product as a whole isn't REALLY libre.

Re:

[unixisc]

What's the state of Coreboot?

Re:

[exomondo]

Coreboot is fine, but FSP is still required so it isn't "free".

Good news!

[Lord_Byron]

You can replace the SSD in the current Macbook Pro: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/M... [ifixit.com]

I suppose you could in theory upgrade the RAM though, but I don't count any Mac upgrade solution that requires re-soldering anything.

Re:

[hackertourist]

Interesting, didn't know that.

Re:

[Holi]

>You can replace the SSD in the current Macbook Pro and replace it with what? It's got a proprietary connector, and I don't think there any 3rd party drives out for the current models.

Re:

[qpqp]

This is useless for me without TB2 on Skylake, and/or a decent GPU. Otherwise great gear.

Re:

[Holi]

Skylake? really? it's useless because it doesn't use a processor that hasn't even launched? I can understand the thunderbolt and the gpu but really to complain about the lack of a processor that doesn't exist is truly nitpicking to the extreme. especially one that may be delayed.

Re:

[qpqp]

it's useless because it doesn't use a processor that hasn't even launched?

It's useless for me. What am I supposed to do with a friggin Iris? Fuck that, I want a real numbercruncher, even if I have to wait.
So, I'm not complaining, they've got a great lappy, just not quite what I imagined for myself, so I'll hold out.

I can't find the link, but there was something about TB2 not being connected directly to the CP lanes.
Ah, there it is:

Intel has never allowed motherboard vendors to hang the Thunderbolt silicon / add-in card off the CPU's PCIe lanes. [...] It would have been great to have a new version of Thunderbolt with PCIe 3.0 along with the X99 launch. But, we already know it is not going to be the case till Skylake [extremetech.com] launches.

From: http://www.anandtech.com/show/... [anandtech.com]
So that seems the single most important update we've had in years, IMHO.

Hopefully I'll be able to get myself

Re:

[Holi]

Better build quality? you know this how?

Re:

[BarbaraHudson]

What does frequent contributor Bennett Hasleton think of this laptop?

Does it run Windows?