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Purism Offers Free (as in Freedom) Laptops (Video)
Purism uses its own OS, PureOS, which is a Debian derivative by way of Ubuntu and other members of the Debian-derivative family, but with no taint of proprietary code. Now imagine all the binaries stripped out of the Linux kernel, making it closer to the FSF ideal of a 100% free operating system than the Linux kernel in use almost everywhere else.
They're still using a proprietary BIOS, but have people working on a Free one. The main thing, though, is that Purism is working to give you all the privacy and freedom they can -- with more coming as they keep working to replace proprietary bits of the OS, BIOS, and hardware drivers with Free Software. Best of all, even if you don't need a new laptop right now, you can download PureOS and run it on any compatible hardware you already own.
They're still using a proprietary BIOS, but have people working on a Free one. The main thing, though, is that Purism is working to give you all the privacy and freedom they can -- with more coming as they keep working to replace proprietary bits of the OS, BIOS, and hardware drivers with Free Software. Best of all, even if you don't need a new laptop right now, you can download PureOS and run it on any compatible hardware you already own.
Todd, the founder of Purism, had defrauded hundreds of people out of hard earned money. He's pulled numerous scams and is STILL bilking people who don't know better out of money. Despite the fact that numerous respectable developers and other leaders in the Linux and free software community pointing this out the message hasn't gotten through. He's a fraud! His claims are nothing more than nonsensical and contradictory. He's a back-peddling thief.
Todd is what you would call a confidence king. This is where someone convinces you there doing something good and takes your money without delivering on there promises. Purism does not have the Free Software Foundation's endorsement, nor can he get it. There are critical proprietary pieces that can't be freed in modern Intel/AMD computers. Intel is licensing pieces from a third party which it does not have the rights to free.
The 500 or so computers Todd has arranged to have manufactured is nowhere near enough to get Intel to cooperate. A sales rep does not have the authority to release code and this is the extent of Todds talks with Intel. Google with its millions of Chromebooks has been unable to get this code released. The Coreboot developers have stated this much numerous times:
http://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2015/02/23/the-truth-about-purism-why-librem-is-not-the-same-as-libre/
Despite the claims Todd did not ship the Librem 15 with CoreBoot (which itself isn't free) and if he had it would not have made the laptop any more free as it would merely have been a payload. The reality is the Librem 15 shipped with a stock proprietary AMI BIOS. If it were even possible to free the BIOS Todd would have needed to use LibreBoot. Not CoreBoot.
He's badmouthing other companies who actually have pushed things forward, specifically ThinkPenguin, Gluglug, and others who have worked with companies to free chipsets, free coreboot, actually begin to design laptops, and not just building off stock reference designs. These companies have actual products out the door which are Respect Your Freedom certified. Something that Todds laptop will never be. It was originally so badly designed that he was including chipsets that only had proprietary graphics driver support. The NVIDIA graphics chip he was including had zero (not even rudimentary) support from the free nouveau driver, not even had he gone with the prior version of the chip!
Here are some of the stories from leading coreboot developers and other free software activists:
Purism Librem Laptops Remain Blobbed Up, Less Than Interesting
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Purism-Librem-Still-Blobbed
Libreboot exposes the purism librem as fraud
http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/3ew6pz/libreboot_exposes_the_purism_librem_as_fraud/
The truth about Purism: Why Librem is not the same as libre
http://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2015/02/23/the-truth-about-purism-why-librem-is-not-the-same-as-libre/
I'm sick of these bastards ripping us off. Rubén Rodríguez has spent significant amount of time over the years to produce a distribution for which he's gotten little to no credit for and Todd comes in, grabs all this publicity, and it's nothing more than a re-compile with slightly different logos. Just cut it out.