6 ms·

I can't believe this company is still around.

crop_rotation 3y ago
I don't think they will be around for long. Their products went from being the highly anticipated to most trashed for being totally non functional and hostile behaviour towards customers.
- NewJazz 3y ago
  Luckily they have plenty of competition around: FairPhone, PinePhone, SHIFT [1] on the phone side and FrameWork, System76 on the laptop side. [1] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/SHIFT_SHIFT6mq_(shift-axolotl) https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/SHIFT_SHIFT6mq_(shift-axo...
  - fsflover 3y ago
    > PinePhone Not a competitor without a dedicated software developers team: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37914312 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37914312. All others don't offer GNU/Linux phones.
    - eloisant 3y ago
      Fairphone provides a version with a de-Googled Android (/e/OS) and I think that enough for people who care about their privacy and don't want to share their data with Big Tech. Having an actual Linux phone with the same userspace as a Linux Desktop is cool, but it's even more niche.
      - fsflover 3y ago
        It's definitely niche, but the exclusive features can be useful to quite a few people I believe: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Frequently-Asked-Questions#11-why-buy-the-librem-5 https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque...
  - asddubs 3y ago
    As much as I like pine, the pinephone is heavily subsidized by librem who actually hires software devs to make things work. If you like your pinephone, you have librem to thank for it in large parts.
    - bluGill 3y ago
      For years linux people we asking for hardware like pine gives: just let us have it and we will write drivers and make it work. Now that someone delivers they get criticized for it. While Pine isn't perfect, they are filling a niche that I've long wanted.
      - asddubs 3y ago
        I didn't criticize pine, I said they were being subsidized by someone paying for the software work, which is objectively true
    - NewJazz 3y ago
      Yeah they aren't fully equivalent offerings. But you could spend $800 on a donation to the KDE Plasma Mobile, Unity8, SXMO projects, $100-$200 on the hardware itself, and come out even, no? Not everyone uses or wants Phosh/GNOME.
- rodlette 3y ago
  They've had a resurgence in the Linux Mobile community, now that they've caught up with their shipping backlog. Librem 5 is the most suitable/polished/stable daily driver for Linux Mobile at the moment. Purism are funding a lot of the development (Phosh, in particular) that other phones benefit from. Purism's other products don't seem to have as strong an advantage over their competitors though.
  - RussianCow 3y ago
    > Librem 5 is the most suitable/polished/stable daily driver for Linux Mobile at the moment. That's not saying much.
    - fsflover 3y ago
      Please don't post shallow dismissals... A good critical comment teaches us something https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - hutzlibu 3y ago
        I am not sure in this case, is it a stable experience? Linux mobile (non android) does not has the best reputation, which is what this comment is hinting at. Working the best can mean 80%, when users expect 100% of basic functionality, with no regular restart and short battery life. So .. do you know details of the current state?
        fsflover 3y ago
        I'm using Librem 5 as a daily driver. The battery is sufficient for one day, but not more. The experience is definitely not 100% but maybe 95%+. Here is a list of complains, most of which I personally do not have (they are likely connected to older hardware): https://forums.puri.sm/t/l5-items-that-still-need-to-be-polished-mentioned-in-various-other-blogs-oct-2023/21641 https://forums.puri.sm/t/l5-items-that-still-need-to-be-poli... Apart from that, GNU/Linux provides many features that you can't get elsewhere: true convergence, desktop apps (including Firefox with all plugins), full terminal and so on. And no tracking unlike the duopoly: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26639261 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26639261. Also, hardware kill switches and a smartcard are really useful.
- fsflover 3y ago
  > I don't think they will be around for long. I'be been reading such statements on the Internet since their first Librem 5 announcement in 2017, or even earlier.
ge96 3y ago
Software wise they've done good work. Speaking from trying alternative Linux devices eg. Pine64 I'm just done with it. I bought almost all of it eg. both phones, newest arm tablet, laptop, earphones... but yeah end of the day it's just a PITA. I'm done with managing how my ram works or not having suspend. Unfortunately I'm not a god dev like megous to bust out a camera driver. Get an old flagship for same price and get better use. Yeah I pulled out. I wanted it to happen but idk it sucks. I hope in the future there are more options than just Apple/Android. Tangent. I have this "fetish" it seems of low-powered compute. even though I don't need to eg. I have an i9 desktop. But it was cool to dock a phone/use it on a computer... but I guess right now you have to pay for it eg. a Samsung note flagship (even old) so you have enough ram. But it's like intentionally crippling yourself for a fantasy use case (my mindset) eg. writing code while traveling in another country with your phone. "But it would be cool to do". In the future IDX will be there, just login to a dumb terminal but give up your ability for cloud too.

I don't think they will be around for long. Their products went from being the highly anticipated to most trashed for being totally non functional and hostile behaviour towards customers.

NewJazz 3y ago
Luckily they have plenty of competition around: FairPhone, PinePhone, SHIFT [1] on the phone side and FrameWork, System76 on the laptop side. [1] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/SHIFT_SHIFT6mq_(shift-axolotl) https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/SHIFT_SHIFT6mq_(shift-axo...
- fsflover 3y ago
  > PinePhone Not a competitor without a dedicated software developers team: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37914312 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37914312. All others don't offer GNU/Linux phones.
  - eloisant 3y ago
    Fairphone provides a version with a de-Googled Android (/e/OS) and I think that enough for people who care about their privacy and don't want to share their data with Big Tech. Having an actual Linux phone with the same userspace as a Linux Desktop is cool, but it's even more niche.
    - fsflover 3y ago
      It's definitely niche, but the exclusive features can be useful to quite a few people I believe: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Frequently-Asked-Questions#11-why-buy-the-librem-5 https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque...
- asddubs 3y ago
  As much as I like pine, the pinephone is heavily subsidized by librem who actually hires software devs to make things work. If you like your pinephone, you have librem to thank for it in large parts.
  - bluGill 3y ago
    For years linux people we asking for hardware like pine gives: just let us have it and we will write drivers and make it work. Now that someone delivers they get criticized for it. While Pine isn't perfect, they are filling a niche that I've long wanted.
    - asddubs 3y ago
      I didn't criticize pine, I said they were being subsidized by someone paying for the software work, which is objectively true
  - NewJazz 3y ago
    Yeah they aren't fully equivalent offerings. But you could spend $800 on a donation to the KDE Plasma Mobile, Unity8, SXMO projects, $100-$200 on the hardware itself, and come out even, no? Not everyone uses or wants Phosh/GNOME.
rodlette 3y ago
They've had a resurgence in the Linux Mobile community, now that they've caught up with their shipping backlog. Librem 5 is the most suitable/polished/stable daily driver for Linux Mobile at the moment. Purism are funding a lot of the development (Phosh, in particular) that other phones benefit from. Purism's other products don't seem to have as strong an advantage over their competitors though.
- RussianCow 3y ago
  > Librem 5 is the most suitable/polished/stable daily driver for Linux Mobile at the moment. That's not saying much.
  - fsflover 3y ago
    Please don't post shallow dismissals... A good critical comment teaches us something https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - hutzlibu 3y ago
      I am not sure in this case, is it a stable experience? Linux mobile (non android) does not has the best reputation, which is what this comment is hinting at. Working the best can mean 80%, when users expect 100% of basic functionality, with no regular restart and short battery life. So .. do you know details of the current state?
      - fsflover 3y ago
        I'm using Librem 5 as a daily driver. The battery is sufficient for one day, but not more. The experience is definitely not 100% but maybe 95%+. Here is a list of complains, most of which I personally do not have (they are likely connected to older hardware): https://forums.puri.sm/t/l5-items-that-still-need-to-be-polished-mentioned-in-various-other-blogs-oct-2023/21641 https://forums.puri.sm/t/l5-items-that-still-need-to-be-poli... Apart from that, GNU/Linux provides many features that you can't get elsewhere: true convergence, desktop apps (including Firefox with all plugins), full terminal and so on. And no tracking unlike the duopoly: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26639261 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26639261. Also, hardware kill switches and a smartcard are really useful.
fsflover 3y ago
> I don't think they will be around for long. I'be been reading such statements on the Internet since their first Librem 5 announcement in 2017, or even earlier.

ge96 3y ago

Software wise they've done good work. Speaking from trying alternative Linux devices eg. Pine64 I'm just done with it. I bought almost all of it eg. both phones, newest arm tablet, laptop, earphones... but yeah end of the day it's just a PITA. I'm done with managing how my ram works or not having suspend. Unfortunately I'm not a god dev like megous to bust out a camera driver. Get an old flagship for same price and get better use. Yeah I pulled out. I wanted it to happen but idk it sucks. I hope in the future there are more options than just Apple/Android. Tangent. I have this "fetish" it seems of low-powered compute. even though I don't need to eg. I have an i9 desktop. But it was cool to dock a phone/use it on a computer... but I guess right now you have to pay for it eg. a Samsung note flagship (even old) so you have enough ram. But it's like intentionally crippling yourself for a fantasy use case (my mindset) eg. writing code while traveling in another country with your phone. "But it would be cool to do". In the future IDX will be there, just login to a dumb terminal but give up your ability for cloud too.