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> As some one else said, every spare dollar I have is going to fund a company that values open source hardware, open source software, right to repair and own.
by flyinglizard 6y ago
> As some one else said, every spare dollar I have is going to fund a company that values open source hardware, open source software, right to repair and own.
What is this whimsical company, and how exactly does it make money?
> You know why open source hardware is expensive for lower quality? Because Apple pays the premium on the premium quality stuff. But I'm that process they also drive up the prices.
Apple is not even in contention over the same stuff. Nothing open sourced can fund the development process of a 5nm IC, as the tooling alone would be tens of millions if not more. The total cost of an IC would be in the hundreds of millions (making something of the M1 class is billions).
Open source is lower quality unless there is a commercial sponsor. This is almost universally true for software and hardware. This is because people, naturally, have less resources to invest in something with zero to no financial return.
- wizzwizz4 6y ago> What is this whimsical company, and how exactly does it make money? I mean, Olimex isn't exactly poor. https://www.olimex.com/ https://www.olimex.com/
- flyinglizard 6y agoOlimex makes low end development tools, not consumer products; and it’s not a large company by any means.
- fsflover 6y ago> What is this whimsical company, and how exactly does it make money? https://puri.sm/products https://puri.sm/products
- flyinglizard 6y agoIs their hardware really open source? Are they making money? Is a $799 phone with hardware that dates 5 years back considered a "viable consumer product", or is this a niche device that just shows how open source fails to produce viable consumer products?
- fsflover 6y agoSee my reply above and check the FAQ: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Frequently-Asked-Questions https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque.... > Is their hardware really open source? The phone is going to get Respects Your Freedom certification by the FSF.
- flyinglizard 6y agoCan I download a zip file which contains all of the phone’s engineering information, which I can then submit to Foxconn and manufacture millions?
- fsflover 6y agohttps://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Frequently-Asked-Questions#19-is-the-librem-5-freeopen-hardware https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque...
- flyinglizard 6y agoSo the answer is a resounding “no”: >> Purism published the KiCAD schematics files for the DevKit, which was entirely designed with free software tools. However, Purism has not released the CAD files or the Gerber files for the Librem 5, in order to prevent the creation of clones. CEO Todd Weaver says that Purism needs to recover its development costs before releasing the Gerber files, which they are “thinking about releasing in a time capsule” of “3 years, 5 years, something like that.” Not to mention the plastic CAD files, tooling, etc.
- fsflover 6y agoYour "resounding no" is the very definition of FUD. In fact, it is more "yes" than "no". Name me any other company which publishes x-rays, schematics and promises to publish KiCAD files for their hardware.
- simonh 6y agoWhat is the point of having the right to repair a phone that, 3 years after it's crowd funding campaign, now has 5 year old hardware, still can't reliably make calls and has a sub 2 hour battery life?
- cbozeman 6y agoWhat's the point? You own it. You control it. YOU have the power. That's the damn point.
- flyinglizard 6y agoYou have all the power but none of the utility.
- fsflover 6y agoYou are spreading FUD. The phone can do almost everything, including 3D-games.
- bzzzt 6y agoFine, so you can port tuxracer to it. If you want to play an actual game people care about and think there are game companies building those for PureOS you're delusional.
- fsflover 6y agoDepending what you call "actual game", you can play some of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_HXQJkWjUQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_HXQJkWjUQ. Concerning "game companies", this is a typical problem of new hardware and is quite expected (in the beginning). The difference however is that you do not have to rewrite anything, just recompile for Debian ARM and make it fit the screen. Potentially thousands of games should run well after quick adjustments.
- fsflover 6y ago