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The Gluglug – GNU/Linux laptop with libreboot firmware

shop.gluglug.org.uk

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Re: The Gluglug – GNU/Linux laptop with libreboot firmware

#91

Post by Narishma »

tinco wrote: post #74
pgeorgi wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intel started embedding a processor in the chipset called the Management Engine. In vPro systems it powers the AMT features (remote control, McAfee virus scanner outside the OS control, various other things), but it's around everywhere. The X200 contains the last chipset where this processor was optional - if it comes with no firmware, it simply disables itself. Newer chipsets sometimes feature a recovery/service mod…

It's been a long time since I've built a computer myself, but back in the day the Intel chipsets weren't the only ones that could boot Intel processors unless I'm mistaken there were always 1 or 2 alternatives. Or is this not the case for laptop systems? And what about AMD, do they do the same thing? http://shop.amd.com/en-us/business/notebook/20DE001RUS They do have laptops with AMD chipsets.

That hasn't been the case for a long time (a decade?). Nowadays you can only use Intel chipsets, even in desktop systems. I believe it's the same for AMD.

Re: The Gluglug – GNU/Linux laptop with libreboot firmware

#92

Post by fierarul »

voltagex_ wrote: post #40
verusfossa wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using a C720 Chromebook with custom SeaBios firmware and running Linux. While not a beast, a Haswell i3 with 4GB isn't bad at the ~$300 price point. Throw in a 128GB ssd and it's good to go. It's been my daily driver as I'm unfortunately content with 'open enough' given the market. http://www.amazon.com/Acer-C720-3404-11-6-Inch-Chromebook-Gr... https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/faq/

Do you have any idea whether there's a model with more RAM? I'm sick of my X1 Carbon but 4GB of RAM hasn't been enough. Edit: The Chromebook Pixel might do but it's not particularly Free.

The original Acer C7 (now back-called C710 I guess) supports up to 16GB: http://normcf.net/~john/chromebook/Acer/acerC7ChromebookUpgr...

You could even put Coreboot on it.

People praise the C720 a lot but it has no upgradeable RAM which makes it a regression in my book.

Re: The Gluglug – GNU/Linux laptop with libreboot firmware

#93

Post by mbrock »

fixermark wrote: post #90
mbrock wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by ideology? You mean they care about ideals and ethics related to software? Is that a bad thing? Even to people who don't care about ideology, ideology matters because they are affected by the dominant ideology. Actually that's how ideology mostly tends to operate, through the quiet complicity of the people who don't care. So when you talk about software without talking about licensing, freedom to r…

... and as a result, I end up with reliable, light, somewhat costly machines(1) that come from one or two vendors and provide a consistent if inflexible experience. This is not the lose-lose that some people seem to think it is. One of the reasons closed-source few-vendor is a dominant ideology is that it actually satisfies the use-case for an awful lot of users. Meanwhile, in 2015, I still can't get a reliable basic…

If the default audio setups of several different distributions fail to work, that's unfortunate. In my case, Dell's preinstalled Ubuntu had working audio, and when I replaced that with a custom NixOS installation, all I had to do was enable PulseAudio with a oneliner. Is your audio hardware supported by the Linux kernel?

Hardware companies keep specs secret and sabotage the development of free software drivers. That's feasible because they only need to collaborate with Microsoft and Apple to support a big market share. If consumers don't care, then apparently this is what happens. But it's not just a question of the competence of free software developers.

Re: The Gluglug – GNU/Linux laptop with libreboot firmware

#94

Post by ewzimm »

tracker1 wrote: post #41
ekianjo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what? Specs are not everything that counts.

I would think that power vs battery life would be pretty high on the list of priorities for technically inclined users. I current-gen core i3 (like the 5010U) packs quite a bit of performance vs. the power it requires. For me, first and foremost are the parts that I interact with... namely the screen, keyboard and mouse. TBH, I have yet to try a laptop keyboard I like... I use a model-m style keyboard from Unicomp (1…

Trisquel is as easy to use as Ubuntu. It's built from Ubuntu LTS with all the proprietary parts removed. The default desktop environment is a customized GNOME 3 meant to operate more like GNOME 2, but it supports everything Ubuntu supports, including standard tools like aptitude.

Re: The Gluglug – GNU/Linux laptop with libreboot firmware

#95

Post by fixermark »

mbrock wrote: post #93
fixermark wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... and as a result, I end up with reliable, light, somewhat costly machines(1) that come from one or two vendors and provide a consistent if inflexible experience. This is not the lose-lose that some people seem to think it is. One of the reasons closed-source few-vendor is a dominant ideology is that it actually satisfies the use-case for an awful lot of users. Meanwhile, in 2015, I still can't get a reliable basic…

If the default audio setups of several different distributions fail to work, that's unfortunate. In my case, Dell's preinstalled Ubuntu had working audio, and when I replaced that with a custom NixOS installation, all I had to do was enable PulseAudio with a oneliner. Is your audio hardware supported by the Linux kernel? Hardware companies keep specs secret and sabotage the development of free software drivers. That'…

My hardware is ostensibly supported, but I often have to killall pulseaudio or restart the machine to get audio playing on Flash in Chrome.

Part of my point, though, is it's not a question of the competence of free software developers.

It's a question of the capacity of free software developers in the long-standing market / legal ecosystem to deliver a reliable solution at all. The roadblock may be entirely structural and completely unfair; doesn't matter. As the end-user (speaking with the Queen's "end-user"), we don't care why it doesn't work; we care that if we buy this computer / OS it works, and if we install that OS on that computer it doesn't. So of course we buy this computer / OS; we have work to do, and "Make the ecosystem fair for hackers to implement a working and reliable pulseaudio" isn't that work.

Knuth, when faced with a world where he didn't have a typesetting solution to print his book, wrote TeX. Most people just put up with the crappy existing solution, because their goal is to write a book.

Re: The Gluglug – GNU/Linux laptop with libreboot firmware

#96

Post by mbrock »

fixermark wrote: post #95
mbrock wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the default audio setups of several different distributions fail to work, that's unfortunate. In my case, Dell's preinstalled Ubuntu had working audio, and when I replaced that with a custom NixOS installation, all I had to do was enable PulseAudio with a oneliner. Is your audio hardware supported by the Linux kernel? Hardware companies keep specs secret and sabotage the development of free software drivers. That'…

My hardware is ostensibly supported, but I often have to killall pulseaudio or restart the machine to get audio playing on Flash in Chrome. Part of my point, though, is it's not a question of the competence of free software developers. It's a question of the capacity of free software developers in the long-standing market / legal ecosystem to deliver a reliable solution at all. The roadblock may be entirely structura…

Well, Flash is a proprietary bundle, right? Who knows what it's doing? It may not be PulseAudio's fault.

Of course there's some causal reason why many are stuck using proprietary software. That doesn't invalidate the free software cause, and is not a reason to snark about how "they don't care about software, only ideology." That distinction is itself ideological.

Re: The Gluglug – GNU/Linux laptop with libreboot firmware

#97

Post by verusfossa »

riek42 wrote: post #81
verusfossa wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using a C720 Chromebook with custom SeaBios firmware and running Linux. While not a beast, a Haswell i3 with 4GB isn't bad at the ~$300 price point. Throw in a 128GB ssd and it's good to go. It's been my daily driver as I'm unfortunately content with 'open enough' given the market. http://www.amazon.com/Acer-C720-3404-11-6-Inch-Chromebook-Gr... https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/faq/

My wifes old netbook is about to die. Unfortunately I only upgraded it with a 2.5" SSD less than a year ago. I was thinking about buying a chromebook for her but was hesitant, because I'd really like to reuse that SSD. Does the C720 come with standard 2.5" SATA SSD or is it mSATA/m.2?

It's an m.2 unfortunately.

Re: The Gluglug – GNU/Linux laptop with libreboot firmware

#98

Post by [deleted] »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #87
technomancy wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using my X200 since I got it. Not only has it survived multiple falls from a 1.8m standing desk, it's still perfectly serviceable for everything I've needed it for. Most Thinkpads released since then are markedly worse, plagued with low-resolution or glossy screens. They've also removed the LED indicator that tells you whether the AC adapter is plugged in and when the battery level is critical. tl;dr: sure…

I am thinking of buying a Gluglug, mostly as a political statement. Is it easy to replace the battery, memory, disk, etc. on the X200? BTW, I appreciate the work you did in the Clojure community!

[deleted]

Re: The Gluglug – GNU/Linux laptop with libreboot firmware

#99

Post by madez »

pgeorgi wrote: post #72
na85 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Physical write jumpers would solve 99% of firmware security issues and significantly reduce the attack surface of modern computers. APTs can't really manifest unless they come pre-installed. Then again, NSA and other state actors wouldn't be able to implant malware into those areas without physical access. I wonder why we don't have physical jumpers.

Firmware these days requires more non-volatile memory in early init than is available outside flash. So with a write protect switch, RAM init couldn't store the actual memory configuration (~2kb of data), so wakeup from suspend to RAM doesn't work. In case of UEFI, its variables are also stored in flash, so that also doesn't work. Since everything optimizes for UEFI (as far as firmware matters are concerned), that ju…

I see here a _big_ security argument for libreboot. With free firmware and free kernel you can arrange suspend to RAM with write protected firmware memory.

Re: The Gluglug – GNU/Linux laptop with libreboot firmware

#100

Post by acid__ »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #87
technomancy wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using my X200 since I got it. Not only has it survived multiple falls from a 1.8m standing desk, it's still perfectly serviceable for everything I've needed it for. Most Thinkpads released since then are markedly worse, plagued with low-resolution or glossy screens. They've also removed the LED indicator that tells you whether the AC adapter is plugged in and when the battery level is critical. tl;dr: sure…

I am thinking of buying a Gluglug, mostly as a political statement. Is it easy to replace the battery, memory, disk, etc. on the X200? BTW, I appreciate the work you did in the Clojure community!

I don't know about the X200 specifically but older ThinkPads tend to be really good with that. I have an X220 and it is easily the most serviceable laptop I have ever owned. It was super easy to upgrade the memory and add an extra disk. The battery is replaceable without opening the machine up and so it's easy to swap batteries if you use your machine for very extended periods of time.
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