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How better to work on Open Source projects than to use a Libre computing device? But that's a hard goal to accomplish. If you're using a desktop computer, Libre software is easily achievable, though keeping your entire software stack free of closed source binary blobs might require a little extra work. But if you want a laptop, your options are few indeed. Lucky for us, there may be another device in the mix soon, because [Lukas Hartmann] has just about finalized the MNT Reform.
Since we started eagerly watching the Reform a couple years ago the hardware world has kept turning, and the Reform has improved accordingly. The i.MX6 series CPU is looking a little peaky now that it's approaching end of life, and the device has switched to a considerably more capable – but no less free – i.MX8M paired with 4 GB of DDR4 on a SODIMM-shaped System-On-Module. This particular SOM is notable because the manufacturer freely provides the module schematics, making it easy to upgrade or replace in the future. The screen has been bumped up to a 12.5″ 1080p panel and steps have been taken to make sure it can be driven without blobs in the graphics pipeline.
What has Soylentils' experience with open hardware been?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DavePolaschek on Wednesday January 22 2020, @01:15PM (4 children)
I’ll be writing up a journal entry, but I bought a PineBook Pro to try and get a non-ChipZilla laptop (aiming to install OpenBSD on it). So far, my experience has been... mixed. It’s got a decent keyboard for a $250 computer. It feels more solid than equivalently priced ChromeBooks. BUT the default install on it is unable to connect via http to github. Or github-debug. Or openbsd.org. Or a handful of other useful sites. Works fine on google properties, though. And on my same network, my iPad can get to all those sites. Very puzzling, and I’m suspecting some weird ipv6 vs. Comcast conflict or something equally weird.
The major reason I need to get to github is that the keyboard / trackpad driver on the PineBook Pro has a bug which makes typing difficult, and the updater lives on github. No response from the Pine64 people, who have moved on and are busy flogging the PinePhone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 22 2020, @05:50PM (3 children)
I haven't had those problems at all (typing this on my Pinebook Pro). I got rid of the default debian and replaced it with Manjaro pretty quickly though. Check #ip a and see if you're not getting an IPv4 address? Try resetting your router in that case. Maybe it's the network you're using? I've seen cases of hotspots blocking OpenBSD.org and github both in particular.
(Score: 2) by DavePolaschek on Thursday January 23 2020, @12:23AM (2 children)
It’s my home network. The same sites work fine from my iPhone or iPad. Far as I can tell, I just got a turd.
I’ll install OprnBSD on it one of these days, but I can’t install Manjaro because I can’t get to THAT, either.
There’s better things to do with my time for now.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday January 24 2020, @08:25PM (1 child)
Perhaps someone could snail-mail you a USB stick or a CD/DVD with an installer?
(Score: 2) by DavePolaschek on Saturday January 25 2020, @12:37AM
Probably, but I can just download whatever I need on my RPi (on the same network) and transfer it around using my media server. At this point, I’m disgusted enough with the PineBook Pro that it’ll just sit in the corner for a while. We’re supposed to have beautiful weather this weekend too, so the sad computer can wait (at least) until it snows on Tuesday.