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The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has awarded its Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the Taurinus X200 laptop sold by Libiquity.
This is the first product of Libiquity to achieve RYF certification. The Taurinus X200 has the same architecture and certified software as the Libreboot X200, which was certified in January 2015. The Taurinus X200 can be purchased from Libiquity at https://shop.libiquity.com/product/taurinus-x200.
The Taurinus X200 is a refurbished and updated laptop based on the Lenovo ThinkPad X200, with all of the original low-level firmware and operating system software replaced. It runs the FSF-endorsed Trisquel GNU/Linux operating system and the free software boot system, Libreboot. Perhaps most importantly, all of Intel's Management Engine (ME) firmware and software has been removed from this laptop.
The RYF certification mark means that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy. The Taurinus X200 comes with the fast and secure Libreboot firmware and the FSF-endorsed Trisquel GNU/Linux operating system. Importantly, Intel's Management Engine (ME) firmware with its applications like AMT (remote out-of-band management/backdoor system, part of "vPro") and PAVP (audio/video DRM) have been removed from this laptop.
The laptop ships within the USA and may be purchased from the Libiquity Store.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 01 2015, @08:22PM
Unfortunately, it's not looking possible for Todd Weaver & Purism to provide a laptop a that is as free as what the Libreboot project has achieved. At least not the first generation; what will be shipped in 3 weeks. This is disappointing for me to say since I'm a backer and have the best hopes for him and his company to provide a RYF certified system with modern specs.
The problem is with Intel's ME, which is a huge hunk of code that can control the PC and be remotely accessed even if the computer is turned off. This code can not be removed or replaced, because without this signed blob of code from Intel, the system will not boot.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday October 01 2015, @09:09PM
Are there analogous problems with AMD?
-- hendrik
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 01 2015, @09:49PM
Yes, AMD has something similar called DASH. Like Intel, AMD has additional processors (SMU and IMC) that operate separate from rest of the system too.
There's more information available about Intel's ME and vulnerabilities have been discovered which is probably why Intel gets most of the blame in these discussions. I should start including AMD's because your question is common.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday October 01 2015, @11:08PM
Any hope for any ARM processors? Are there any other processor manufacturers still in the running for freedom?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 03 2015, @03:56PM
Yes, ARM is so far clear of these remote management features so they look like a good replacement for free systems. From what I understand, many (but not all) do require proprietary code to boot. Requiring proprietary code to boot would disqualify any device from RYF status and should be taken into consideration even if you're not Stallman on the freedom scale.
I believe software availability may be a restriction on ARM too. I'm not familiar with what it takes to get software compiled for use on an ARM device over x86. They're not as powerful either, so it's not a adequate replacement for anything that runs high-end applications or servers.
There is no real good, silver-bullet alternative at this time but a lot of interesting discussion in the Libreboot camp. If you're interested in this you should look at signing up for the mailing list (if there is one) or hang out in the Libreboot IRC channel where I've gotten a lot of information. Those guys are way more informed than I am and could better answer questions too.