[talk] puri.sm laptops - Too good to be true?

Sat Oct 14 14:09:09 EDT 2017

On Thu, Oct 5, 2017 at 2:42 PM, Isaac (.ike) Levy <ike at blackskyresearch.net>
wrote:

> Word,
>
> On Thu, Oct 5, 2017, at 02:25 PM, Charles Sprickman wrote:
> >
> > > On Oct 5, 2017, at 2:11 PM, Isaac (.ike) Levy <
> ike at blackskyresearch.net> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Thu, Oct 5, 2017, at 01:05 PM, Brian Cully wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> On 5-Oct-2017, at 11:40, Isaac (.ike) Levy <ike at blackskyresearch.net>
> wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>> Hey All,
> > >>>
> > >>> Has anyone heard anything good/bad about the laptops from Purism
> > >>> <http://puri.sm>?
> > >>>
> > >>> I can't believe my eyes they look too cool.  Like nearly every
> aspect of
> > >>> the laptop design.
> > >>
> > >>    And not too pricey. If I hadn’t just bought a new laptop, I’d be
> eyeing one of these seriously.
> > >>
> > >>> Big scary question marks for use as a *BSD laptop: Sleep/Resume?
> > >>> graphics not sucking? etc...
> > >>
> > >>    My experience with Intel HD graphics on FreeBSD has not been
> particularly good, even with TrueOS, whereas it works pretty flawlessly on
> Ubuntu. The other thing is the usage of the Atheros WiFi chipset, which was
> super bad for me over USB, although this at least is PCI, and my
> understanding is that the support there is a lot better.
> > >>
> > >>    One last thing, for me at least, would be just how bad the
> touchpad is. I’ve never had a good touchpad outside of the Mac laptop lines.
> > >>
> > >>    Thanks for the heads-up, though. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye
> on this.
> > >>
> > >> -bjc
> > >
> > > This fella, Eric McCorkle, seems to have been using one for FreeBSD
> last
> > > summer:
> > >
> > > https://ericmccorkleblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/16/
> freebsd-librem-update/
> > >
> > > Some year old comments on the trackpad etc...  nothing damning.  Boy
> I'd
> > > love one in my hands for a day to scope the reality of the hardware
> > > before I bought one…
> >
> > There seems to be lots of controversy about the claims this company has
> > made.
> >
> > Are the points in this older article now moot or not?
> >
> > https://www.pcworld.com/article/2960524/laptop-computers/why-linux-
> enthusiasts-are-arguing-over-purisms-sleek-idealistic-librem-laptops.html
> > <https://www.pcworld.com/article/2960524/laptop-computers/why-linux-
> enthusiasts-are-arguing-over-purisms-sleek-idealistic-librem-laptops.html>
> > https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Purism-
> Librem-Still-Blobbed
> > <https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=
> Purism-Librem-Still-Blobbed>
> >
> > And having to go back to 2008 for true Stallman-approved FreeDom:
> >
> > https://www.pcworld.com/article/2879086/the-free-
> software-foundation-loves-this-laptop-but-you-wont.html
> > <https://www.pcworld.com/article/2879086/the-free-
> software-foundation-loves-this-laptop-but-you-wont.html>
>
> Fascinating.  For me, not sure I care about FSF stamp of approval, (the
> *BSD's don't have that, so...)
>
> The other bits about proprietary components, well, reality strikes.
> I think these older claims about 100% open hardware are indeed not quite
> possible right now.  Yet, compared to what I've been looking at lately,
> this gear seems *way* saner - and I'm just excited that their Linux
> distro is all about no-binary-blobs.  Very encouraging for solid *BSD
> support!
>
> Will I ever "100% trust" my hardware?  Never have.  Unless I make it all
> from scratch, (mine the ore for the copper), no.
>
> >
> > There is a rant out there somewhere that I read recently that without
> > ditching proprietary BIOS/UEFI/blobs, this laptop is no more secure than
> > anything else on the market.
> >
> > Hey, have you considered a MBP? :)
>
> I'll assume you are kidding :P
> http://www.nycbug.org/index.cgi?action=view&id=10356
> Since that talk, I've happily switched from OpenBSD to FreeBSD for my
> primary personal rig- and *love it*.
>
> Why I don't want a MBP (was given a shiny new one at work):
> - I no longer want anything to do with Mac OS.
> - USBc, *nothing but USBc*.  That blows for so many reasons.
> - USBc - requires data exchange just to *charge the rig*
> - Bag full of adapters and peripherals.
>   - Apple USBc mixed up wth thunderbolt, and bang DMA!!!  What could go
>   wrong!
> - Simply not interested in running anything but OSX on this hardware.
>
> Other Lenovo/Dell-XPS models I've been angling for:
> - USBc charging
> - Lots more proprietary hardware
> - More dependence on bluetooth and gimmiky crapola
> - Most of them: HDD/RAM soldered down, Particularly the HDD, that bugs
> me!
>
> So, with that tip-of-the-iceberg ranting done, this Purism rig seems
> almost too good to be true- *for me* :)
>

So a couple of observations - these are all intel which should be widely
supported in the *BSD's, from graphics to what-not; maybe not the latest
acceleration released like 2 minutes ago, but close. I do primarily follow
one BSD, and at least hot new graphics to suspend/sleep/resume work with
minimal regression, if any, once in-play for a few weeks.

I curious what proprietary crap you all are running into. The main issue
tends to revolve around wireless chipsets.

Granted, I've yet to run into the annoyances of usbc and soldered down
disks. But really, this is all commodity hardware and it's that how we use
our portable devices today anyway?

Random thoughts is all :)

Yeah, I do like the look at least of these 2 vendors...

Best,
> .ike
>
>
> >
> > Charles
> >
> > >
> > > Rocket-
> > > .ike
> > >
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