[Arm-netbook] Side-Topic: Liberating PocketCHIP

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

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crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68


On Thu, May 4, 2017 at 4:13 PM, mike.valk at gmail.com <mike.valk at gmail.com> wrote:

> That is apparently a Allwinner R8 pared with an external rtl8723bs Wifi/BT
> chip.
>
> The R8 is a rebranded A13.
>
> If you look at
> https://getchip.com/pages/chip
>
> You'll see:
> On the left image the RAM (Hynix) and Wifi+BT (Realtek) and Power module
> (Allwinner AXP209)
> On the right the SoC (R8/A13) and NAND (Samsung)
>
> The A13 does not need blob's to run anymore, the WiFi+BT chip does.  AFAIKT

 so that'll be a definitive "No" for the Chip, not because of the
processor but because one of the peripherals (the RTL8723bs) requires
proprietary firmware.

 if they sold a variant that did *not* have the RTL8723bs *then* they
would be able to apply for RYF Certification... assuming that they
didn't try to put MALI onto the OS sold with the product [or any other
proprietary software].

 they'd also need to create a totally separate product page or use
some other method which ensured that "Grandma buying CHIP for little
Tommie" did NOT get the wrong one.  that would mean that the
[hypothetical RTL8723bs-less] CHIP would also need a totally different
product name.

 RYF Certification is really rather involved but makes sense when you
consider all the angles.

l.