>The Ben Nanonote looks ideal, but I can't actually find a >source from which
to buy one. The wiki says that as of 2015 >only IDA Systems sells it, and it
appears that now they don't >sell it either.
Indeed- the domain has changed hands at some point, and the original owner
appears to have gone out of business. Sigh... the Nanonote was so beautiful,
and free to boot!
>The DragonBox Pyra looks like a good alternative. The GPU >may or may not be
nonfree. I can't find any recent >information on that. However, since I don't
plan to use the >device for games I might be able to avoid using the GPU
>even if it is nonfree.
>The Pandora, which is the predecessor to the Pyra is less >expensive and
sufficient for my needs, but I find it even >more difficult to find
information on any freedom issues.
Both are addressed in
https://trisquel.info/en/forum/some-info-open-pandora-pyra-pandora-game-console#comment-92758;
the original source for the question on the Pyra was at
https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/threads/how-close-does-the-pyras-design-come-to-respecting-your-freedom.76105/.
For the Pandora, do you know where units are for sale? I'd be interested in
one myself if they're still around.
>I also found this tutorial on creating a mini computer >using a Raspberry
Pi, but if this is up-to-date then is >sounds like the Raspberry Pi is
nonfree.
Unfortunately, the Pi is still not freed- booting goes via the GPU first, for
some reason, which requires loading the proprietary GPU blob. Work has been
done on this (https://github.com/christinaa/rpi-open-firmware), but there's a
little way to go before it's usable. I *do* hope somebody can complete it- it
would be a wonderful thing to have.
>Can anyone share knowledge about any of these devices or >others that might
work?
As happy_gnu said, a Replicant device without a SIM card would also serve
well. There's also the PocketChip, which seems rather similar to the Pandora
freedom- and spec-wise.
>Also, obviously WiFi will be necessary for how I plan to >use this. Is it
likely that I should be okay with any >device with a USB port for a
ThinkPengiun WiFi adpater >assuming I can install the driver?
Yes- as long as the firmware/driver is installed, any wi-fi adapter will
work.
