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Disclaimer: I work for Purism. I have received a PinePhone (early "BraveHeart" batch - the regular one doesn't ship yet, mind you) a few days ago. Although the

Disclaimer: I work for Purism. I have received a PinePhone (early "BraveHeart" batch - the regular one doesn't ship yet, mind you) a few days ago. Although the specs seem "slightly lower" on the paper, I think it's important to note that Librem 5 has twice as fast RAM bandwidth and its GPU easily goes rounds around the PinePhone's. The eMMC is also around 30% faster on the Librem 5, and its killswitches are actually usable in everyday scenarios. The difference is quite easily perceivable when using both devices with the same software. It is a pretty neat device, sure, but I think it's important to be honest about how those phones compare to each other. Also, PinePhone requires firmware blobs being stored on your rootfs for WiFi, Bluetooth, and (optionally) camera autofocus. Librem 5 has them stored on separate flash, making the peripherals that need them self-contained as per FSF recommendations. Both devices are pretty FLOSS-friendly in my book, but some people do care about that difference.

ntw1103 7y ago
More information on blobs for the PinePhone https://www.pine64.org/2020/01/24/setting-the-record-straight-pinephone-misconceptions/ https://www.pine64.org/2020/01/24/setting-the-record-straigh... "The WiFi module communicates with the CPU over SDIO and BT is over UART – neither of these connections provide direct access to CPU memory." Also, for the modem, it doesn't have any shared memory with the CPU. Communication is via USB and I2S.
- seba_dos1 7y ago
  Yes; the interfaces are pretty much the same as on Librem 5 - the differences are in WiFi/BT firmware blob loading and the fact that L5 has them on replaceable M.2 cards, while on PinePhone they're soldered to the board. Librem 5 also has a separate GPS module, while PinePhone uses the one integrated to the GSM modem. (PinePhone BraveHeart edition also has some sensors connected via the modem, but AFAIK that's going to change in later revisions)
m4rtink 7y ago
Personally I find the FSF binary firmware recommendations questionable - either you have the source code to the firmware and can modify it and rebuild it or you don't. Playing games about where such source code less binary blob is stored will not change much. Also AFAIK in some cases FSF even recommends storing firmware blobs on a separate ROM, so that they can't be updated. This apparently somehow makes the proprietary fimware an unchanging component of the hardware of the device and thus perfectly fine from the FSF perspective. How this prevents security updates for the firmware or the use of free software firmware if it is developed in the future seems to be less important.
- seba_dos1 7y ago
  To be honest, in hardware you have absolutely no idea whether your components use some non-free firmware inside, and they sit everywhere these days: battery charging controllers, accelerometers, SD cards, even USB-C cables. You can't even be sure that the blob is not updatable either - at best you can only know that the update process is not documented. You simply have to put the line somewhere, and while you can argue whether the place FSF puts their line on is correct, you can't really take the idealistic "no blobs whatsoever" stance there - it just doesn't work this way. Even FSF, of all organizations, is not doing that, and that should be already telling ;)

ntw1103 7y ago

More information on blobs for the PinePhone https://www.pine64.org/2020/01/24/setting-the-record-straight-pinephone-misconceptions/ https://www.pine64.org/2020/01/24/setting-the-record-straigh... "The WiFi module communicates with the CPU over SDIO and BT is over UART – neither of these connections provide direct access to CPU memory." Also, for the modem, it doesn't have any shared memory with the CPU. Communication is via USB and I2S.

seba_dos1 7y ago
Yes; the interfaces are pretty much the same as on Librem 5 - the differences are in WiFi/BT firmware blob loading and the fact that L5 has them on replaceable M.2 cards, while on PinePhone they're soldered to the board. Librem 5 also has a separate GPS module, while PinePhone uses the one integrated to the GSM modem. (PinePhone BraveHeart edition also has some sensors connected via the modem, but AFAIK that's going to change in later revisions)

m4rtink 7y ago

Personally I find the FSF binary firmware recommendations questionable - either you have the source code to the firmware and can modify it and rebuild it or you don't. Playing games about where such source code less binary blob is stored will not change much. Also AFAIK in some cases FSF even recommends storing firmware blobs on a separate ROM, so that they can't be updated. This apparently somehow makes the proprietary fimware an unchanging component of the hardware of the device and thus perfectly fine from the FSF perspective. How this prevents security updates for the firmware or the use of free software firmware if it is developed in the future seems to be less important.

seba_dos1 7y ago
To be honest, in hardware you have absolutely no idea whether your components use some non-free firmware inside, and they sit everywhere these days: battery charging controllers, accelerometers, SD cards, even USB-C cables. You can't even be sure that the blob is not updatable either - at best you can only know that the update process is not documented. You simply have to put the line somewhere, and while you can argue whether the place FSF puts their line on is correct, you can't really take the idealistic "no blobs whatsoever" stance there - it just doesn't work this way. Even FSF, of all organizations, is not doing that, and that should be already telling ;)