[sf-lug] Fwd: Why buy a Libreboot X200 laptop?

jim jim at well.com
Fri Jul 31 05:19:32 PDT 2015 

     I, Jim (Mr. Stockford) have little to say, mainly because I am not
keeping up with new, modern layers added to our beloved Linux.
     BIOS could certainly be better: better-written code, some additional
features....
     Oh well....


 From below:
     From: Free Software Foundation <info at fsf.org>
     Date: Thursday, February 5, 2015
     Subject: Why buy a Libreboot X200 laptop?
     To: free software supporter <maestro415 at gmail.com>

"Here are three reasons to purchase the Libreboot X200 sold by Gluglug, the
latest product to be awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification:
RYF means that this laptop meets the FSF's standards in regard to users'
freedom, control over the product, and privacy."
__JS : generally admirable, but to what extent practical--depends on the 
user.

1. "The Libreboot X200 offers many improvements over the Libreboot X60,
including a faster CPU, faster graphics, 64-bit GNU/Linux support (on all
models), support for more RAM, higher screen resolution, and more. Not to
mention it comes installed with the FSF-endorsed Trisquel GNU/Linux distro
and the GNOME desktop."
__JS : improvements are usually good, though not always.

2. "This is the first laptop sold in which Intel's Management Engine 
(ME) and
Active Management Technology (AMT) have been completely removed and
replaced with free firmware, including Libreboot and GNU GRUB 2!"
__JS : Good that components can be removed and replaced with other 
components;
this strikes me a a strong point to pay attention to the Libreboot 
community;
they have some valuable skills and have proved it.

3. "This is the first laptop sold in which Intel's Management Engine 
(ME) and
Active Management Technology (AMT) have been completely removed and
replaced with free firmware, including Libreboot and GNU GRUB 2!"
__JS : seems to qualify point 2 more than it stands as a separate point 3.

"The FSF has previously written about Intel's ME and AMT, calling attention
to how this proprietary software introduces a fundamental security flaw—a
back door—into a person's machine, allowing a perpetrator to remotely
access the computer over a network. It enables powering the computer on and
off, configuring and upgrading the BIOS, wiping the hard drives,
reinstalling the operating system, and more."
__JS : This strikes me as a potentially wonderful feature rather than a
bad security-threatening bug. Assuming someone can power-on the Libreboot
200 box remotely, such a person with competence and good intentions can
provide some valuable help in updating or standardizing BIOS or the OS or
some application software feature set, accessing the file systems for a
variety of good purposes, reinstalling an OS (which I assume permits p
patching, updating, adding and removing packages, and being able to 
re-purpose
a host for some other application area for which the re-purposed box is
stripped of any unneeded, unrelated software and loaded with only the
software needed for its new purpose.

"I know that hackers like Francis and the Libreboot team, and the many
contributors to the upstream Coreboot project, would rather create new
features and functionality in free software than spend their time figuring
out how to remove proprietary software and gain control of the basic
functionality of their computers."
__JS : I'm not well-sold on the value of adding features. Such a push
may run counter to the Unix design rule of writing software that does
one thing and does it well. There's the term "bloatware", which suggests
a software set that has everything but the kitchen sink to the point
that it may intimidate users with the prospect of understanding why
and how to use a wealth of features; there's a possible implication that
users use a tiny percent of the feature set. Seems possibly demoralizing,
which is not good for team morale. :Spending time to learn how to remove
proprietary features seems a noble and practical mission, certainly better
than working on some new features. Break out the various features as
stand-alone modules or routines..., and think out a real core, if such
is needed, to work as a traffic manager for the various, now independent
features. And separating features as separate library functions or separate
programs or extensions of object classes suggests the possibility of
more robust QA as well as fewer bugs to track along with easier 
maintenance.

"To learn more about the Respects Your Freedom hardware certification,
including details on the certification of the Libreboot X200, visit
http://www.fsf.org/ryf. If you know of a hardware seller out there that you
think can achieve RYF certification, then please let us know by emailing
licensing at fsf.org."
__JS : this seems a useful focus.




On 07/30/2015 04:42 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
>
>
> On 07/30/2015 07:47 AM, maestro wrote:
>> This is from last Feb. ...
>> Any positive feedback?...
>>
>> Mr. Stockford,
>> You & I have had conversations about BIOS in the distant past I'd 
>> like to
>> hear your input...
>>
>> Ms. Sellers,
>> You struggle with hardware compatibility issues regularly (it seems).
>> This may be attractive to you...
>
>     Well your understanding of my problems is not quite correct.
> But the LibreBook X200 while a step toward easier use is rather
> backward on hardware specifications.  Particularly on the display
> screen resolution but also on ram capacity and processor.
>     I on the other hand want something a bit more powerful and with
> at least 16 GiB of ram and higher than usual resolution in the
> display.
>
>     Basically i have problems because I try out a lot of different 
> distributions on my notebook.   Some distros seem to have the 
> capability of affecting my hardware like shutting off the WiFi.
> But because I have had problems I have learned and you have
> taught me some ways of dealing with the network card
> that is not working.
>
>     As for BIOS versus U/EFI it should be re-programmable to use the
> the freeware version or even the Protean OS but reading the services
> the installation of the Libreboot software is limited to the Lenovo
> products and not all of them.   Protean OS is a fall back, very small 
> that fits in the rom but the system comes with Trisquel GNU/Linux
> which is pretty closed mouth about its components.
> GUGLUG does include source for all its alteration on the hard disk/SSD.
>
>     If you needed repairs you would have to send the X200
> Librebook internationally to get your work done,
>
>     So the Libreboot X200 notebook is a refurbished Lenovo
> You can read more about the process at Linux Weekly News.
> <https://lwn.net/Articles/631697/>
>
> or at Phoronix.
> <http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Libreboot-X200-Gluglug> 
>
>
>     bliss
>>
>> Interesting in the article 'they' make no mention of phones present 
>> day or
>> future.
>>
>> Anyone have one of these X200's?
>>
>>
>> Message ends.
>> _________________
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Free Software Foundation <info at fsf.org>
>> Date: Thursday, February 5, 2015
>> Subject: Why buy a Libreboot X200 laptop?
>> To: free software supporter <maestro415 at gmail.com>
>>
>>
>> <
>> https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/nB2JbvN-wogU-_kldijp9IkNa_RAnOizs1CgEPsTYDmjqADXOgm1Rs4VRS9ivGK_nUdUyNlEp56ycOl9PkXTP4tUrNc=s0-d-e1-ft#https://static.fsf.org/common/img/logo-new.png 
>>
>> Here are three reasons to purchase the Libreboot X200 sold by 
>> Gluglug, the
>> latest product to be awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification:
>>
>> The FSF's RYF certification mark means that this laptop meets the FSF's
>> standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and
>> privacy. This is only the second laptop to achieve RYF certification, 
>> the
>> first being the Libreboot X60.
>>
>> The Libreboot X200 offers many improvements over the Libreboot X60,
>> including a faster CPU, faster graphics, 64-bit GNU/Linux support (on 
>> all
>> models), support for more RAM, higher screen resolution, and more. 
>> Not to
>> mention it comes installed with the FSF-endorsed Trisquel GNU/Linux 
>> distro
>> and the GNOME desktop.
>>
>> This is the first laptop sold in which Intel's Management Engine (ME) 
>> and
>> Active Management Technology (AMT) have been completely removed and
>> replaced with free firmware, including Libreboot and GNU GRUB 2!
>>
>> The FSF has previously written about Intel's ME and AMT, calling 
>> attention
>> to how this proprietary software introduces a fundamental security 
>> flaw—a
>> back door—into a person's machine, allowing a perpetrator to remotely
>> access the computer over a network. It enables powering the computer 
>> on and
>> off, configuring and upgrading the BIOS, wiping the hard drives,
>> reinstalling the operating system, and more. While there is a BIOS 
>> option
>> to ostensibly disable AMT, because the BIOS itself is proprietary, 
>> the user
>> has no means to verify whether it is actually sufficient. Further, the
>> functionality provided by the ME/AMT could be a useful security and
>> recovery measure, but only if the user has control over the software and
>> the ability to install modified versions of it. Perhaps worst of all, as
>> Francis Rowe, founder of Gluglug, told me, "On most systems the ME is
>> extremely difficult to remove, and nearly impossible to replace." But
>> fortunately for us, he also said, "The Libreboot X200 is the first 
>> system
>> where it has actually been removed, permanently."
>>
>> This is a huge accomplishment, but unfortunately, it is not known if the
>> Libreboot developers' efforts to remove the ME and AMT from this device
>> will be applicable to newer Intel-based laptops. It is a wretched 
>> state of
>> affairs when users can't uninstall proprietary software and replace 
>> it with
>> free software simply because a hardware maker wishes to make it 
>> difficult
>> to do so. That's why we are calling on Intel to work with us to enable
>> removal of ME and AMT for users who don't want it on their machines!
>>
>> Personally, I find it incredibly frustrating to think that free software
>> developers may have to invest even more time and energy figuring out 
>> how to
>> remove proprietary firmware without rendering the hardware 
>> nonfunctional. I
>> know that hackers like Francis and the Libreboot team, and the many
>> contributors to the upstream Coreboot project, would rather create new
>> features and functionality in free software than spend their time 
>> figuring
>> out how to remove proprietary software and gain control of the basic
>> functionality of their computers. But I am also thankful that Gluglug 
>> and
>> Libreboot have stepped up to do this work and have made it easy for 
>> me to
>> purchase a laptop that respects my freedom.
>>
>> To learn more about the Respects Your Freedom hardware certification,
>> including details on the certification of the Libreboot X200, visit
>> http://www.fsf.org/ryf. If you know of a hardware seller out there 
>> that you
>> think can achieve RYF certification, then please let us know by emailing
>> licensing at fsf.org.
>>
>> Joshua Gay
>> Licensing & Compliance Manager
>>
>> Follow us on GNU social | Subscribe to our blogs via RSS | Join us as an
>> associate member
>>
>> Sent from the Free Software Foundation,
>>
>> 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor
>> Boston, Massachusetts 02110-1335
>> United States
>>
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>
>
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