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Finally, Richard Stallman can have a laptop that's GPL down to the CPU. Will an 8088 run emacs?
by wannacboatmovie 3y ago
Finally, Richard Stallman can have a laptop that's GPL down to the CPU. Will an 8088 run emacs?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- userbinator 3y agoThis is just the BIOS, not the CPU nor the rest of the hardware. For a GPL BIOS, Coreboot/Libreboot has already existed for a while.
- mjg59 3y agoEh kind of? Coreboot effectively provides the hardware initialisation layer - if you want runtime firmware you're going to need a payload like SeaBIOS (which is GPLed, but which isn't really intended to bring up real hardware from scratch)
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y agoI won't say what it was intended for per se, but IIRC coreboot+seabios boots a lot of chromebooks just fine.
- mjg59 3y agoYes, Coreboot does the hardware bringup and then hands off to SeaBIOS. SeaBIOS can't do that on its own.
- kjs3 3y agoFor a GPL BIOS, Coreboot/Libreboot has already existed for a while. For, what, a handful of old laptops? It's not a general solution for libre booting.
- codys 3y agoEvery single modern x86 chromebook has coreboot support. That said: most if not all of them require some proprietary bits to initialize ram timings and to run the security coprocessors (Amd PSP, Intel ME). Older intel based systems (like the Lenovo x200) have coreboot support that can work without the ME firmware (but still requiring the EC firmware). A list of many of the google devices with coreboot support (note: they're all codenames, not marketing names): https://doc.coreboot.org/security/vboot/list_vboot.html#google https://doc.coreboot.org/security/vboot/list_vboot.html#goog...
- kjs3 3y agoSo that means, what, 0.1% of machines, not 0.001% of machines have coreboot support? Well that makes all the difference in the world...
- codys 3y agoI don't know what the percent of existing machines are chromebooks. But that wasn't the question posed, it was: > For, what, a handful of old laptops? And the answer there is "no".
- kjs3 3y agoThe point (that is, the thing that matters, which admittedly you would have to actually read the thread for understanding) is that libreboot isn't available on enough platforms to be a free alternative to proprietary boot methods for most people. And that's even including all the chromebooks in the world. But Someone Is Wrong On The Internet, so I guess you can claim to have fixed that.
- m463 3y agoI thought he already had a laptop. EDIT: https://www.stallman.org/stallman-computing.html https://www.stallman.org/stallman-computing.html "As of 2022 I use a Thinkpad x200 computer..." (followed by detailed explanation)
- dehrmann 3y agoLooks like those are from 2008?
- m463 3y agoI think you're right: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X_series#X200_and_X200s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X_series#X200_and_X20... Wonder what he would think of: https://puri.sm https://puri.sm though honestly thinkpad keyboards are pretty nice. EDIT: hmmm... none certified: https://ryf.fsf.org/products https://ryf.fsf.org/products
- kjs3 3y agoMicroEmacs runs on DOS (and CP/M-86, I think). Not the whole GNU environment, but at least you get the keybindings.
- WalterBright 3y agoMicroEmacs doesn't include a Lisp interpreter.
- kjs3 3y agoI didn't feel the need to enumerate everything a DOS emacs doesn't have that GNU emacs does.
- rnd0 3y agoI'm sure there's an Emacs that does but the canonical emacs? I doubt that would even run on a 286, much less an 8088...
- WalterBright 3y agoIt will run MicroEmacs :-)