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kb9,

For embedded and laptop devices, are there power devices or other options for truly free firmware?

The desktop price point on current boxes are still high, do you foresee those prices dropping in the future?

Will newer POWER architectures create a large workload for you or is it more simple?

- cal

1 comments

Laptop is a large problem still -- mainly due to GPUs. With desktop, we don't have to deal with the issues associated with a soldered-down non-free GPU; the mainboard works blob-free if desired but the user already expects to install a discrete GPU if they need one. With laptops, the GPU has to be integrated, and there are no GPUs in production today that don't require signed firmware (this is due to the DRM contracts for Netflix and Disney+, that kind of thing).

Price point is not likely to drop until we reach a largely self sufficient critical mass of users, developers, and software. Only x86 has crossed that threshold right now, so it's clearly a high bar. Still, the more users we have, the more possibility for pricing drops in the future!

New POWER is near seamless from a software perspective, just like on x86. Upgrade kernel, keep using your existing software installs. And since POWER is now an open ISA, that software will basically keep working forever -- if you needed to reimplement it on a 22nd century FPGA due to lack of hardware, you're legally able to do so. This is not the case for x86 or ARM.

If you don't mind me asking, do you use a laptop for work/personally? And if you do, what do you use?

I've been looking for one and I have the same concerns you do, and right now the only thing I realistically see if I want completely open is a thinkpad x200/t400 flashed with libreboot.

I've actually given up on using laptops for now. I still have an old x201 and t400 but they don't get out much due to the Intel silicon vulnerabilities.

Nothing I do with secure data hard-requires that level of portability, and for insecure (tracked, DRMed, closed + signed firmware) mobile use a Lineage smartphone is good enough for what I do. A laptop with closed / signed firmware simply doesn't gain me anything worth having over the phone.

My personal desktop is a Blackbird. The couple of old x86 apps I can't easily ditch (because they are open source but need MVC APIs and I'm too lazy to write the shim layer) I just forward X over SSH to an old corebooted Opteron box.

Thanks for the thoughtful (and quick) response! That was sadly what I was afraid of. Normally I wouldn't bother but I'm going back to school, and sadly the Novena I have just isn't supported anymore (I tried updating u-boot/kernel myself for a while, ended up not being worth the hassle).

My best recommendation might be a bit odd, but here goes...

Can you put a POWER "base station" of sorts in your dorm / apartment and use a low power secure terminal, like a corebooted C201, to access it over an encrypted link?

I've done something like this when I had to travel last -- was able to maintain a stable link back to one of my POWER machines so the lack of local computing power on the laptop didn't matter. Really hate that Chromebook touchpad though. ;)

Heh, that's an interesting idea! I'll have to look into finding a C201. Finding a POWER base station shouldn't be too hard to find.

What OS do you run on the Blackbird?

I run Debian Buster.

Are ISAs patented or copyrighted?

IANAL, but this is what I've been told:

Both. Copyright applies to some aspects, patents to others, and then you also get into trademark rights. With the US having embraced effectively permanent copyright, ISAs will not be freely able to be implemented unless their owner expressly allows it (my understanding is that the Oracle vs. Google case solidified this thinking).

Fundamentally, that means you get to pick from RISC-V, POWER, or SPARC when selecting a well known ISA for your new device, or start signing licensing agreements (which always come with restrictions and oftentimes significant royalties).

The Oracle vs Google case was not precedent setting, it was a patent court deciding the copyright applied, that is not something that causes a precedent to be set.