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You can build a laptop out of open source components if you want a bad laptop

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Re: You can build a laptop out of open source components if you want a bad laptop

#31

Post by LukeShu »

chriswarbo wrote: post #15
photologbook wrote: post #12

Second hand Laptops and notepads cheap now anyway, £60 or less for second hand notepad and around £100 maybe less for Laptop

How does that have any relation to being open source? I'm currently using a second-hand laptop, but I specifically paid more for it because it is "Respects Your Freedom" certified (from https://minifree.org )

While I certainly don't want to take business away from Minifree: If you are up for refurbishing the laptop yourself, you can substantially beat Minifree's prices. Especially for older models (that Minifree no longer sells) like the X60 that are easy to install Libreboot on compared to newer models that require a separate SPI programmer.

Also, FWIW, Minifree no longer seeks the RYF certification nor advertises it on existing products. I don't expect them to respect your freedom any less, but because of the FSF/Libreboot conflict they no longer seek the cert.

Re: You can build a laptop out of open source components if you want a bad laptop

#32

Post by chriswarbo »

LukeShu wrote: post #31
chriswarbo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does that have any relation to being open source? I'm currently using a second-hand laptop, but I specifically paid more for it because it is "Respects Your Freedom" certified (from https://minifree.org )

While I certainly don't want to take business away from Minifree: If you are up for refurbishing the laptop yourself, you can substantially beat Minifree's prices. Especially for older models (that Minifree no longer sells) like the X60 that are easy to install Libreboot on compared to newer models that require a separate SPI programmer. Also, FWIW, Minifree no longer seeks the RYF certification nor advertises it on…

Yeah, I got this machine before the current drama; in fact it's an X60, which I bought as soon as it was announced (when minifree was "gluglug"); mostly to avoid installing libreboot myself, since I don't trust myself not to brick things :P

Re: You can build a laptop out of open source components if you want a bad laptop

#33

Post by chriswarbo »

naranana wrote: post #17
chriswarbo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"if you want a bad laptop" is insulting for two reasons: - Nobody "wants" a bad laptop, since that contradicts the definition of badness. A more accurate, less insulting phrasing would be "if you can put up with a bad laptop", i.e. there's an associated cost which you may or may not consider worth it. - The laptop's clearly not "bad" in some objective sense, since nobody would have put in the effort if it were. It's…

>The laptop's clearly not "bad" in some objective sense 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, an Allwinner A64 ARM Cortex-A53 quad-core processor with Mali-400MP2 graphics, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of eMMC storage Everything about that is objectively bad. Those are the regular specs any piece of consumer hardware would have over ten years ago. I'm sure an ancient Pentium 4 would simply crush that processor. >It's probably subj…

> 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, an Allwinner A64 ARM Cortex-A53 quad-core processor with Mali-400MP2 graphics, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of eMMC storage

Nothing about that affects what I said.

> What kind of a public would this laptop have?

Before getting my current libreboot X60, my workhorse was an OLPC XO-1: 7.5" screen @ 1200x900, 433MHz AMD Geode CPU with integrated graphics, 256MB RAM and 1GB onboard storage. That sounds like a similar sort of spec, and it served me very well for many years; the battery life and sunlight-readable screen were especially nice, as I could use it while sat in the local park.

> With those specs you can barely run a web browser.

Web browsers have been around for decades; I'm sure it's fine for accessing information (the original intent of the Web). Maybe it can't run the latest bloatware, or support spying/ad platforms like Facebook, but I'd count that as a feature ;)

Re: You can build a laptop out of open source components if you want a bad laptop

#34

Post by Dylan16807 »

kmichaels wrote: post #26
naranana wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The laptop's clearly not "bad" in some objective sense 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, an Allwinner A64 ARM Cortex-A53 quad-core processor with Mali-400MP2 graphics, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of eMMC storage Everything about that is objectively bad. Those are the regular specs any piece of consumer hardware would have over ten years ago. I'm sure an ancient Pentium 4 would simply crush that processor. >It's probably subj…

So fundamentally what the author is saying is that this laptop is bad is a way that it was never meant to be good. And that's what makes the title click bait because the author is clearly aware of this. Clearly it was never meant to be as good as a MacBook Pro. It was meant to be good as an open source laptop (which it is, as one of the few open laptop designs that exists).

It's not clickbait to say "bad" to mean "bad in all other ways".

Re: You can build a laptop out of open source components if you want a bad laptop

#35

Post by cguess »

brudgers wrote: post #27
cguess wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't spend a lot of time traveling do you? I upgraded my Macbook about a year ago, and shaving off those 1.5 or 2 pounds saved my back so much. When you're moving cities every few days, walking through massive airports and hiking windy side streets to find the hotel your colleague booked that was "right on the main drag" but is actually 200m up the hill you learn to really love even that little extra weight bein…

Most people don't spend a lot of time traveling. Some people do. There are different use cases. I spend a fair amount of time processing images. My laptop has 1.7 teraflops and 4GB of Quadro GPU. It's also not a typical use case. That's the difference between a ThinkPad X1 and a Thinkpad P. As I mentioned, in the early 1990's the magically light laptop for Simpsoning through airports was 6+ pounds and 2" thick. What'…

I'll say that a lot more people spend time with their laptops on their shoulders (every person in NYC, SF, London, Hong Kong, Chicago, Paris, etc.) than use their laptop for large render projects. A Macbook Air can handle even large still photos without breaking a sweat (I've done 1GB photoshop files while playing Spotify no problem). If you're doing 4K video it's another story.
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