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System76 and LVFS

blog.system76.com

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Re: System76 and LVFS

#61

Post by confounded »

acomjean wrote: post #51
iel99 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hyperbole Dozens of projects have gone this way and the open source community still exists It’s almost as if the notion of one size fits all is a utilitarian idea to simplify production of physical goods We need to maybe look at why we keep trynna force that on more ephemeral ideas I’m not obliged to speak English any one why. Why bother with making sure everyone runs the same code or manages only one or two key proj…

Linux is great. But even with a strong personality leading there are just too many options for the average consumer. Software and operating systems are a feedback loop. The more software for a OS the more people use that OS which drives more and better software. As a Mac user in the 90s we suffered from a lack quality software and almost the demise of that platform. It’s always the year of the Linux desktop, but it c…

The lastest Ubuntu LTS has been the 'standard' at least since 12.04. Others (like me) have favorites because we're free to do so, and we're nerds. It solves all of the questions that you have above very reasonably, and it runs on almost anything.

The main gripes with it are that it's 'bloated' (in Linux terms, yes, but it's way lighter than Windows/MacOS), or that it encourages the installation of proprietary binaries to make things work (also way less than Windows/MacOS).

Re: System76 and LVFS

#62

Post by jackpot51 »

monocasa wrote: post #31
jackpot51 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SPI is easy, and well understood. For firmware editing I often use an external flasher for updating the ROM, and use flashrom to do so. Accessing the SPI bus on the Intel chipset, from the computer itself, is undocumented and usually requires reverse engineering.

Which chipset? It was documented (albeit not super well) in the handful of Intel chipsets I've had to support for firmware updates.

Kaby Lake and Kaby Lake R, for example

Re: System76 and LVFS

#63

Post by robotbikes »

ams6110 wrote: post #53
BadassFractal wrote: post #42

I personally dislike their hardware (I've owned Clevo / Sager for close to 15 years now, they've always felt cheap and plasticky), but I think their PPA and support are great. The problem is that it's not clear what exactly is better out there for Linux enthusiasts who want a MacBook Pro-like experience out of the box. They're the least worst solution on the market as far as I can tell.

> Linux enthusiasts who want a MacBook Pro-like experience out of the box. How big a group is this? Most enthusiasts like the ceremony of installing and configuring their favorite distros to their likings. Or am I misunderstanding what you mean by "enthusiast?"

Well considering before I switched to my System76 laptop I had to deal with trying to get a proprietary video chipset working that also controlled my CPU fan. It was not any fun and the result was a machine that would just plain overheat when I ran Linux (also did it on Windows). On the other hand when I had issues with my System76 machine I bought second-hand I was able to get excellent support and the drivers all worked out of the box. So yeah I'd rather buy a machine that has working drivers out of the box than waste more hours of my life trying to troubleshoot getting some kind of proprietary chips working.

Re: System76 and LVFS

#64

Post by nvr219 »

chewbacha wrote: post #48
acomjean wrote: post #14

This is the whole open source community destroying (edit: maybe better term would be "damaging") itself. Basically it starts civilly about finding the one best way to do something. They agree to disagree. Then there 2 standards...Then 4, then 8 all not having the effort exerted to make each solution great. Then one party writes something like "don't buy this it not free/ doesn't do this". And in the end 99+% of peopl…

Reminds me of: https://xkcd.com/927/

good to see the auto-downvote-xkcd-links bots are still operational

Re: System76 and LVFS

#65

Post by monocasa »

jackpot51 wrote: post #62
monocasa wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which chipset? It was documented (albeit not super well) in the handful of Intel chipsets I've had to support for firmware updates.

Kaby Lake and Kaby Lake R, for example

OK, neat, it looks like they haven't changed it in eons. It's PCI device 00:1f.5 and is documented in all of the PCH docs (so Vol 1 for overview, Vol 2 for registers). Sometimes it's disabled by firmware as a sort of 'security' mechanism.

Yeah, there's not a whole lot there in the docs, but it's PIO SPI that handles most of the flash addressing for you, so it's not the most complex thing in the world to begin with. More "fill the buffer and go" sort of deal.

Re: System76 and LVFS

#66

Post by nvr219 »

JepZ wrote: post #22

Btw. regarding the Dell XPS advice found in the original post: Three years ago I bought an Dell XPS 15. After a few month the touchscreen was broken (did not respond to any input). As I didn't really need it, it took me a few weeks before I contacted Dell. Their support tried to fix the devices remotely for nearly an hour (flashing firmware updates), the touchscreen was still broken. So they send a technician who tri…

I've been using xps15 for about 6 months and by far the biggest complaint I have is the webcam placement. Hopefully I won't have these other battery swelling/screen issues.

Re: System76 and LVFS

#67

Post by BadassFractal »

ams6110 wrote: post #53
BadassFractal wrote: post #42

I personally dislike their hardware (I've owned Clevo / Sager for close to 15 years now, they've always felt cheap and plasticky), but I think their PPA and support are great. The problem is that it's not clear what exactly is better out there for Linux enthusiasts who want a MacBook Pro-like experience out of the box. They're the least worst solution on the market as far as I can tell.

> Linux enthusiasts who want a MacBook Pro-like experience out of the box. How big a group is this? Most enthusiasts like the ceremony of installing and configuring their favorite distros to their likings. Or am I misunderstanding what you mean by "enthusiast?"

That's fair, I should have said "professional" more than "enthusiast".

I'm in the category where I use Linux for a living, but I also don't want to spend a week debugging why WiFi keeps dropping at random intervals instead of actually getting my job done.

Re: System76 and LVFS

#68

Post by BadassFractal »

robotbikes wrote: post #63
ams6110 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux enthusiasts who want a MacBook Pro-like experience out of the box. How big a group is this? Most enthusiasts like the ceremony of installing and configuring their favorite distros to their likings. Or am I misunderstanding what you mean by "enthusiast?"

Well considering before I switched to my System76 laptop I had to deal with trying to get a proprietary video chipset working that also controlled my CPU fan. It was not any fun and the result was a machine that would just plain overheat when I ran Linux (also did it on Windows). On the other hand when I had issues with my System76 machine I bought second-hand I was able to get excellent support and the drivers all w…

Right. I like Linux, but my company pays me to produce results, not to tweak my machine all day just to make it work.

Re: System76 and LVFS

#69

Post by confiq »

acomjean wrote: post #14

This is the whole open source community destroying (edit: maybe better term would be "damaging") itself. Basically it starts civilly about finding the one best way to do something. They agree to disagree. Then there 2 standards...Then 4, then 8 all not having the effort exerted to make each solution great. Then one party writes something like "don't buy this it not free/ doesn't do this". And in the end 99+% of peopl…

I still think that Richard is kinda irritating in this case.

Re: System76 and LVFS

#70

Post by vec »

busterarm wrote: post #36
craftyguy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, there's Purism ( https://puri.sm ), who actually take security and build quality seriously. Edit: looks like the system76 downvote brigade is hitting this discussion.

> looks like the system76 downvote brigade is hitting this discussion. Tbh, I'm fairly convinced and have been for some time now that someone involved with that group is part of a voting ring on HN.

As far as I know, the only three System76 employees who are active on HN are myself, jackpot51, and cassidyjames.
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