[kwlug-disc] FSF Warns Us To Stay Away From Various Companies

[Doug Moen]

Ditto. I sympathize with the general sentiment but I don't like any of their suggestions. My choices follow.

Phone: I chose a Pixel running GrapheneOS. The base install is FOSS and fully degoogled, and is more secure and private and "just works" than Replicant. Replicant supports only Galaxy phones, which raises a red flag. The GrapheneOS people say they don't support Galaxy because they can't support all of the hardware in the phone, and the Replicant FAQ warns they don't support all of the hardware in the phones they support.

Laptop: I have a Thinkpad T14 running Mint. The X200 is unacceptable to me for obvious reasons. FSF promotes the idea that the proprietary firmware inside the X200 is fine, since there is no way to upgrade it. Once closed source firmware is upgradeable, the hardware no longer "respects your freedom", so modern CPUs with upgradeable microcode are not RYF. I think this is just wrong. Obviously, if you can upgrade the firmware, you have more freedom, not less. You can still choose not to exercise this freedom.

Router: I run OpenWRT in a Linksys E8450, since OpenWRT seems to be the most actively maintained FOSS router software, and works on modern hardware. I never heard of libreCMC before, but it is a fork of OpenWRT that strips out hardware support and support for optional packages that the FSF doesn't approve of. All the supported hardware seems to be ancient; I don't see anything that supports Wifi more recent than 802.11n (2009). The hardware support page mentions "nonfree wifi cards" so I guess that modern wifi hardware doesn't RYF? IDK maybe the firmware is too updatable?

You can't avoid proprietary firmware in any current mass market computing device. It's embedded cores all the way down <https://www.gwern.net/Computers>. The only recent computing devices I know of with fully open source and auditable hardware are projects from Bunnie Huang like the Precursor: https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=5921

More about open source hardware activism and the real problems that need to be addressed: https://www.bunniestudios.com/

Doug.

On Sat, Dec 24, 2022, at 9:14 PM, Ron Singh wrote:
> Yikes, heavy-handed messaging I think  -- I mean most all folks can make it down the stairs undamaged hence we can make our own decisions as to what is unacceptable for our own sensibilities and what's not acceptable. As a suggestion, workable alternative platforms to those maligned by FSF would be so very welcome. 
> 
> Sigh, a nice year-end gift would be a celebratory message from the FSF showcasing alternatives to these thuggish nasties mentioned in their post other than a 13yo X200 laptop and FOSS USB wrls dongles that can be a hazard when shoving your laptop into a knapsack.
> 
> A warm Christmas Eve, a kind Christmas and best for the holidays to everyone!
> 
> 
> Ron S.
> (listening to a cover band playing Queen, Guns 'n Roses while sucking back a mojito here in Cancun)
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Dec 24, 2022 at 7:14 PM CrankyOldBugger <crankyoldbugger at gmail.com> wrote:
>> a bit different approach to their tech gift giving guide this year:
>> 
>> https://news.slashdot.org/story/22/12/24/2013214/fsf-warns-stay-away-from-iphones-amazon-netflix-and-music-steaming-services
>> 
>> 
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