Question on Technoethical Laptop and proprietary firmware.

linustalman · 04-09-2018, 02:30 PM

Hi.

What's your opinion on the 'Technoethical T400s Laptop with Libreboot and GNU/Linux-libre' laptop?

Would this still require the proprietary package 'intel-microcode' to be fully functional?

Thanks.

jefro · 04-09-2018, 05:40 PM

Every product has some amount of commercial code in it somewhere. There are plenty of "firmware" devices in every motherboard.

This in my opinion is a sales gimmick. However anyone is free to use what they wish to use.

ZT13 · 04-10-2018, 05:13 AM

Hi linustalman,

First, a short disclaimer: I am one of the members of the Technoethical project.

Quote:

Originally Posted by linustalman

What's your opinion on the 'Technoethical T400s Laptop with Libreboot and GNU/Linux-libre' laptop?

Its BIOS is fully free software, according to our website and FSF's.

The Technoethical T400s is as freedom-respecting as the other Libreboot-compatible laptops (like the X200, X200s, X200T, T400, and T500), all recommended by FSF as part of their RYF programme:

https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/end.../technoethical

Quote:

Would this still require the proprietary package 'intel-microcode' to be fully functional?

No CPU microcode updates are needed.

Stallman uses the Technoethical T400s too: https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html

Happy hacking!

linustalman · 04-11-2018, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZT13

Hi linustalman,

First, a short disclaimer: I am one of the members of the Technoethical project.

Its BIOS is fully free software, according to our website and FSF's.

The Technoethical T400s is as freedom-respecting as the other Libreboot-compatible laptops (like the X200, X200s, X200T, T400, and T500), all recommended by FSF as part of their RYF programme:

https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/end.../technoethical

No CPU microcode updates are needed.

Stallman uses the Technoethical T400s too: https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html

Happy hacking!

Hi ZT13.

Thanks for the info.

Happy Computing!

dugan · 04-11-2018, 06:02 PM

The T400 is an excellent machine and an excellent Linux machine. I used to have one, and so did at least two notable contributors to the Slackware community.

The reason I replaced it is because I needed a machine with OpenGL 3 support.

linustalman · 04-28-2018, 07:58 AM

I like the Technoethical laptops but alas they are so old now.

linustalman · 05-10-2018, 02:06 PM

Another downside to the laptops that I see is they have a 1.8" HDD - that's limited to 320 GB. I'd need a 1 to 2 TB 2.5" HDD.