Quoting: EzequielWhile I do like the work System76 does, It's wrong to call this laptop's firmware open source. It is not.
They are using Coreboot as a wrapper for Intel's binary blob. The blob is what ultimately controls the system, and it still enables the Intel Management Engine.
Source for this? The very same repo linked in the article. It uses Intel's FSP binaries as a dependency.
https://github.com/intel/FSP/tree/c80123384aa74ee0a0b011ad4e8a0afc533c8195

What is the benefit of this? You get your own custom and fine grained firmware control for all the laptop internal capabilities, from fanspeed to power states, ram settings and cpu clocks. Yet we are still running proprietary code on a CPU controlled by the management engine, which has network, storage, cpu and ram access.

Can the IME be mitigated by this firmware? Yes, it can be halted by doing some editing, yet we are still running the proprietary code, and "trusting" that we actually stoped the IME.

I'd prefer if this articles talked about this, Purism does this as well, there are very few real Open Source Firmware projects out there.

I wasn't aware of this, thanks for sharing the info!

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The original was great, maybe give this one a go too!

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I wonder how long it'll take for other companies to start releasing powerful SoC ARM based laptops if the M1 takes off. Not particularly interested in it for my gaming rig, but as a work laptop I could do with one. And if it has detachable keyboard like the PineTab even better.

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Quoting: mcphailI'm currently about 12 hours into Arcanum (via WINE) and 3 hours into Pathfinder: Kingmaker. So far, I can recommend both. Plenty of fun to be had in this sale!

Fun fact: Arcanum, and Fallout: New Vegas are the only 2 RPGs I know of that can be finished without fighting a single time.

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Quoting: LinuxerJust for the record: "Odin" is a fabricated term in the times of our forefathers' time "new normal" after some known conquests to north. The original is Oden, and Oden means the sun. Not a person to begin with.

I thought Oden was Greg, and played for the Blazers and the Heat, not the Suns. But maybe I'm mixing things around... :D

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Things Valve could do:

1. Temporary % reduction Valve gets for games released natively on Linux.
2. Longer, or bigger, % reduction for games released natively on Linux exclusively.
3. Gamescope production ready.
4. Continue work on Proton.
5. Find a big ally from the Linux world to use as a base/partner for SteamOS (RedHat, Suse, Ubuntu...)*
6. Release some 1st party temporary exclusives.
7. Hire me, if only for the lulz.

* In order of preference.

As many others, I don't see the USB stick as a solution, nor appealing.

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Quoting: The_Aquabat

Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: DorritValve's work for Linux can't be praised highly enough.
I have few doubts that soon, this year probably, we'll have a financial/economic crisis of epic proportions; something to make the Great Depression feel like an appetizer. It'll be interesting to see how it affects the software landscape.

Dunno about this year. These things always come slower than you expect.

the future is an imperfect tense right now "would", let's just live the present perfect simple for now.

(I was going to reply with a rather longish post about my opinion on the world economy but this is not the place for that)

Maybe not this article comments section, but we can always open a forum post. It's a delight to read comments very well articulated like the ones from kimyrielle and Purple Library Guy, and I'd also be interested in knowing more about fellow linuxers. As long as it doesn't turn into constant fight and gets disrespectful, of course.

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Quoting: drlamb

Quoting: ArehandoroI'd be more than interested in building a mini server with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800U 8C/16T Up to 4.4 / 1.9 GHz 20MB Cache and 15 DP Watts. Trying to reduce my energy footprint while still enjoying most of the new features, but I guess there won't be a generic (mini itx) MoBo for that kind of mobile CPU :(

You and I share similar goals. I've seen the ASUS PN50 barebones units with the 4300U/4500U/4700U/4800U with price ranges between $300-$600 but even that is out of my budget for my use case for such a system AND that's without storage/ram. It's easy to believe newer and similar units will come with the 5000 series.


I lucked out and found a DFI industrial itx board on ebay for $100. The Dual core 15W R1505G isn't going to win any awards but it's still Ryzen and serves just fine as an always-on machine. Currently rocking 20GBs of ram and a 500GB NVMe + a 1TB Sata ssd. It's the control plane (master) of my cluster.


The 8 core 35W 4750GE enticed me but I cannot find one for sale at a reasonable price. I'd likely have put such a CPU in an itx board or the Asrock Desk Mini. Right now I'm hoping some Atari VCS's will end up on ebay so that I can have more (hopefully cheap) ryzen machines to cluster.

Frantastic! Thanks for the info, will look at them and put them in my cart for a future shop frenzy :D

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I'd be more than interested in building a mini server with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800U 8C/16T Up to 4.4 / 1.9 GHz 20MB Cache and 15 DP Watts. Trying to reduce my energy footprint while still enjoying most of the new features, but I guess there won't be a generic (mini itx) MoBo for that kind of mobile CPU :(

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Quoting: Boldos

Quoting: KithopAh, okay - that makes sense. I don't know much about them, but Tuxedo Computers appears to be based out of Germany, and at first glance sounds like kind of the same idea?

Quoting: 3zekiel

Quoting: KithopAh, okay - that makes sense. I don't know much about them, but Tuxedo Computers appears to be based out of Germany, and at first glance sounds like kind of the same idea?

For Tuxedo, we do use their computer at Office, and they have AMD options. Quite solid laptops for now. Roughly the same models, but with some adjustments: they tend to use lower power screen, so slightly less brightness, but better battery life, and much much more keyboard options. They also seem to use lightweight magnesium for more models than System76 last time I checked.
And of course, VAT is included and no custom fees.

Thanks guys. Yes, this is a very tempting alternative for the EU; I will be definitely checking with them, once I need a new laptop. Nevertheless, I was also interested about System76's oss firmware, which - AFAIK - nobody else provides.

You can also check slimbook, they seem to have pretty decent laptops with AMD

Quoting: 3zekielI somehow hope they could manage to work together with system76, also for OS side. I think that would be very productive move for both, and anyway, considering custom fee + VAT for system76 as it stands, I don't think they'll get many european customers ... So better cooperate together and try to improve to face bigger players like dell and co with a truly different offer and more world coverage.

That's a pretty cool idea.

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