[Arm-netbook] Olimex is making an "open-source" laptop...

[Paul Boddie]

On Sunday 5. February 2017 20.25.42 Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
> 
> On Sun, Feb 5, 2017 at 7:11 PM, Christopher Havel <laserhawk64 at gmail.com> 
wrote:
> >
> > Basically, I'm saying, it might not be the whole journey to a truly
> > open-source system -- but it's a step in the right direction and should
> > be recognized and (to an extent) applauded as such. At least they're
> > /trying/.
> 
>  he's being supported (financially) by people who also don't quite
> fully understand the ethical consequences of their decisions and
> actions.  and that's fine.  collectively they're perfectly entitled to
> "explore that space".

I actually thought I'd ask about the software in the comments on their blog 
post:

https://olimex.wordpress.com/2017/02/01/teres-i-do-it-yourself-open-source-
hardware-and-software-hackers-friendly-laptop-is-complete/#comment-24787

I'm guessing that Thomas, the guy responding, might be the guy from Free 
Electrons, but maybe it isn't. Nevertheless, he seems knowledgeable about the 
state of play with the A64. (Not that you'd get a particularly coherent 
message by looking at the linux-sunxi wiki.)

I guess that the sticking point is arguably the "software isn't our problem" 
attitude, which allows people to claim that something is "open source" (or 
"software hacker's [sic] friendly" in this case) and then retreat from 
substantiating the claim. It will be interesting to see if Olimex supplies SD 
cards with images on them and what kind of source code you can get. They 
appear to provide such cards for their other products.

Given the post-sales problems with various SoCs and boards, actually 
delivering a top-to-bottom Free Software distribution should be the minimum 
just to demonstrate any particular device's credentials in the "openness" 
department. That's not just an ideological requirement but very much a 
practical one: no-one wants to have to troubleshoot, say, an overheating 
system because the software support involves proprietary pixie dust that may 
or may not be available.

Anyway, look after yourself out there, Luke!

Paul