Librem 14 laptop by Purism


λ the β-Redex Reducer

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I might have, although I don't see the need to change my old Thinkpad any time soon. Also I don't have the spare cash, tempting though it might be. Not sure how maintainable / modular the Librem are too...
 
Well, I don't trust Intel or AMD. Great that someone has kind of neutralized the ME, but they still leave a part there that can't be removed or the CPU refuses to boot. IF I was Intel I'd code the OTA update functionality just in this unremovable part, so I don't consider it neutralized enough. In any case I don't want to spend money in a CPU that's so stubbornly designed against me. And there's other proprietary and signed bits and pieces necessary for the system to work (even Intel graphics now require signed firmware). So I stay away from intel unless my employer forces me. Not that the market offers very great alternatives.
 
Well, I don't trust Intel or AMD. Great that someone has kind of neutralized the ME, but they still leave a part there that can't be removed or the CPU refuses to boot. IF I was Intel I'd code the OTA update functionality just in this unremovable part, so I don't consider it neutralized enough. In any case I don't want to spend money in a CPU that's so stubbornly designed against me. And there's other proprietary and signed bits and pieces necessary for the system to work (even Intel graphics now require signed firmware). So I stay away from intel unless my employer forces me. Not that the market offers very great alternatives.
What do you use? I do not trust Intel either, but right now I am using an Intel laptop which is likely to have it's IME in fully functional state. It seems that getting the Librem 14 would be a significant improvement from where I am when it comes to security, privacy, and freedom.
 
I can highly recommend the following laptop, it does everything I need and it cost under £100 too. :cool:

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What do you use? I do not trust Intel either, but right now I am using an Intel laptop which is likely to have it's IME in fully functional state. It seems that getting the Librem 14 would be a significant improvement from where I am when it comes to security, privacy, and freedom.
A Talos II (overkill, could also use some SBC) for desktop (no 3D, just the AST GPU), because I got it before the Blackbird came out, which would have been more reasonable for me. And if you need a laptop then some ARM chromebook that can be freed (I have an ASUS C201 - veyron speedy), but that's aging. Maybe a pinebook Pro would be better (some blob required for HDMI ? I think I posted it here sometime but I forget). Now there are also RISC-V boards, like the unmatched, but 'm not sure you can attach a monitor to it. I don't know where the drivers stand for the PCI GPU you'd need to attach. I've not researched whether it has any blobs.
Edit: There's also the MNT Reform laptop, but its i.MX8MQ requires a blob for DDR4 RAM, so that disqualifies it for me. Note that their page says that the Pinebook Pro does also require a blob for DDR4, but I think that has been worked around (not for the Pinebook Pro, for the RockPro64 SBC, but since it's same SOC and same vendor I assumed it's doable)
 
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Too bad for me that NixOS probably would not run on ARM laptops. I am pretty dedicated to having NixOS.

BTW, looks like I was wrong about the Librem 14's IME being neutralised. Their old laptops the Librem 13 and Librem 15 supposedly had that; but they do not get sold by Purism anymore, it seems.
 
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Mph. A little bit out of my knowledge :( Nix is a precursor of Guix but I don't really know how both communities get along. I really don't know these people, but I'll try to play matchmaker. Be aware of the ME as said before, though.
Apparently the Nix and Guix communities get along really well and even have some shared developers/maintainers.

I actually learned about Guix years ago but decided to go with NixOS back then and after that I forgot about Guix. Because you reminded me I checked them out and it looks like they're doing well so I decided to go with Guix this time. NixOS is pretty good for freedom too, but Guix is better. On top of that, I like Scheme. Too bad that my Wifi card probably will not work. But I have an realtek Wifi USB stick that might work. And if not, Guix still allows installing driver blobs.

And I went with a System76 laptop for the specs and the disabled IME. I agree that it cannot be fully trusted because it is still Intel, but at least the IME is disabled. I had to take a gen 10 processor though because the gen 11's do not have IME disabled, not even those from System76. Oh well, at least it is better than what I have now which is Intel in all it's IME glory.
 
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