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It isn't going to happen, at least not through the use of Libreboot [0], which is what the X200 in the parent article relies on for their firmware replacement.

It isn't going to happen, at least not through the use of Libreboot [0], which is what the X200 in the parent article relies on for their firmware replacement. The X200 is one of the latest support ThinkPad models, as the newer ones also use Intel Management Extensions. Without replacing these binary blobs with free software you won't be able to get the FSF certification. [1] Or would it fall under the "secondary embedded processor" exception? >Will the Purism Librem laptops be supported? >Probably not. There are several privacy, security and freedom issues with these laptops, due to the Intel chipsets that they use. See #intel. There are signed proprietary blobs which cannot be replaced (e.g. Intel Management Engine and CPU microcode updates). It uses the proprietary Intel FSP blob for the entire hardware initialization, which Intel won't provide the source code for. The Video BIOS (initialization firmware for the graphics hardware) is also proprietary. >It will likely take many years to replace even one of these blobs, let alone all of them. Some of them (ME firmware and microcode) can't even be replaced, which immediately disqualifies these laptops from being added to libreboot. [0] http://libreboot.org/faq/#librem http://libreboot.org/faq/#librem [1] https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/criteria https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/criteria

ploxiln 11y ago
Purism claims to have gotten access to intel CPUs specially fused to run unsigned Management Engine firmware, and it claims to have made progress on a minimal replacement for the ME firmware. The plan for the microcode is to just not ship any updates, either in the bios or the default distro. The other parts will indeed take a lot more time, but it isn't hopeless. https://puri.sm/posts/pioneering-cpu-efforts-to-liberate-laptop-hardware/ https://puri.sm/posts/pioneering-cpu-efforts-to-liberate-lap... https://puri.sm/posts/weekly-update-on-librem-production-2015-10-02/ https://puri.sm/posts/weekly-update-on-librem-production-201...
- garrettgrimsley 11y ago
  Wow, I wonder how they pulled that off. It's certainly a good start, but since it will be shipping with non-Free (though replaceable) BIOS binaries it would still fall short of the Respects Your Freedom hardware certification requirements. I did some digging since I have little knowledge of the Purism project. The Purism project offers an estimate of one year for replacing the non-Free blobs in the firmware. The Libreboot FAQ says that it could take years to replace the Intel FSP or Video BIOS, much less both. Given that a Coreboot developer has expressed doubts [0, 1] about the bold claims the Purism project has made in the past I'm inclined to take the word of the folks working on Libreboot. If by the time, if ever, a truly Libre product ships from Purism will it be any less dated than the X200 we have now? [0] http://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2015/08/09/the-truth-about-purism-behind-the-coreboot-scenes/ http://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2015/08/09/the-truth-about-pu... [1] http://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2015/02/23/the-truth-about-purism-why-librem-is-not-the-same-as-libre/ http://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2015/02/23/the-truth-about-pu...

ploxiln 11y ago

Purism claims to have gotten access to intel CPUs specially fused to run unsigned Management Engine firmware, and it claims to have made progress on a minimal replacement for the ME firmware. The plan for the microcode is to just not ship any updates, either in the bios or the default distro. The other parts will indeed take a lot more time, but it isn't hopeless. https://puri.sm/posts/pioneering-cpu-efforts-to-liberate-laptop-hardware/ https://puri.sm/posts/pioneering-cpu-efforts-to-liberate-lap... https://puri.sm/posts/weekly-update-on-librem-production-2015-10-02/ https://puri.sm/posts/weekly-update-on-librem-production-201...

garrettgrimsley 11y ago
Wow, I wonder how they pulled that off. It's certainly a good start, but since it will be shipping with non-Free (though replaceable) BIOS binaries it would still fall short of the Respects Your Freedom hardware certification requirements. I did some digging since I have little knowledge of the Purism project. The Purism project offers an estimate of one year for replacing the non-Free blobs in the firmware. The Libreboot FAQ says that it could take years to replace the Intel FSP or Video BIOS, much less both. Given that a Coreboot developer has expressed doubts [0, 1] about the bold claims the Purism project has made in the past I'm inclined to take the word of the folks working on Libreboot. If by the time, if ever, a truly Libre product ships from Purism will it be any less dated than the X200 we have now? [0] http://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2015/08/09/the-truth-about-purism-behind-the-coreboot-scenes/ http://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2015/08/09/the-truth-about-pu... [1] http://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2015/02/23/the-truth-about-purism-why-librem-is-not-the-same-as-libre/ http://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2015/02/23/the-truth-about-pu...