On 1/22/12 12:43 AM, ch...@thinkpenguin.com wrote:
No. Unfortunately there is no way to produce a completely free
computer. There will never be a completely free X86 system. It may be
possible to design a non-x86 computer to be completely free although
so far it appears there aren't any. The most recent version of a
netbook that Stallman uses appears to include at least a graphics card
dependent on non-free firmware. There isn't a propritary BIOS from my
understanding.
We offer the closest thing to 'completely free' you can get at the
moment with X86 though. All of the critical chipsets (wifi, graphics,
and similar) have drivers available which make that compatible with
free software operating systems.
None of our systems ship with a free BIOS however. We would like to
ship with a free BIOS although that isn't likely to happen any time
soon. Unfortunately porting coreboot (the free BIOS) is a non-trivial
task. It has been done once for a laptop with government finances
behind it. A few other models which had non-free dependencies have
also had ports to them. Again- these weren't ideal for those using
only free software.
Right now this is as good as it gets. And for better or worse it is a
huge improvment over what was available just a few short years ago.
Thanks for the clarification - not a deal breaker, I was just curious.
I just got a new laptop, but may check out the net-top you have... look
forward to it! :)
