A lot of effort has gone into trying to make a laptop equipped exclusively with free and open source software. This means that not only the operating system and all user applications should be 100% free and open source software, but also the firmware for the CPU and all other components that require firmware. Unfortunately, most modern processors contain proprietary binary blobs (like Intel’s Management Engine) that can be sometimes partially deactivated but not removed completely. Also, other components, like GPUs and Wi-Fi adaptors contain proprietary firmware. The only solution that some users found was to buy refurbished old ThinkPad laptops like the X200 model, with free and open source initialization firmware, like GNU Boot (the truly libre Libreboot, which is itself a version of Coreboot). However, such laptops have limited resources and are not good enough for modern computing.
The only laptop that comes close to what is desired is Pinebook Pro, a 14.1″ laptop powered by a system on a chip (SoC) containing 4 x ARM Cortex A53 cores @ 1.4GHz + 2 x ARM Cortex A72 cores @ 1.8 GHz.
It is lightweight, it has a full-sized keyboard and large multi-touch trackpad, it runs numerous mainline Linux distributions as well as BSD. However, both the Quad-Core MALI T-860 GPU and the chip for Wi-Fi + Bluetooth require proprietary firmare to function. If you install a FOSS operating system like Debian and you don’t install the proprietary firmware for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but instead you use the FSF certified Wi-Fi USB adaptor Penguin Wireless N USB Adapter, you will still be using the proprietary firmware required by the GPU.
There are indeed many other laptops that are described as freedom and privacy friendly, built for Linux, etc., like those offered by Purism, System76 and Tuxedo Computers, but on closer inspection, it becomes clear that their firmware is not 100% free and open source software. This means that you still don’t have total control over them and you don’t have the ultimate guarantee that they don’t contain some malicious features.
On the desktop scene things are similar. In principle, you could build a desktop computer with a mainboard like Technoethical D16, which was certified by the Free Software Foundation to comply with all free software principles:
It’s a refurbished Asus KGPE-D16 mainboard. Although it has good specifications, it’s an old model and many users had issues with RAM initialization.
Double Bastion has no affiliation with Pine Store Limited (Pine64), the company that produces Pinebook, or with any other company mentioned above.
The conclusion is that there’s still a long way to go until we have a fully FOSS, affordable laptop/desktop that can be used for all types of real-life tasks.
