Minifree Libreboot X200 Tablet FSF RYF Certified

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11 points·jasonkostempski··6 comments

I'd love to see Libreboot desktop/server motherboard packages, not a big fan of laptop/tablets myself, mostly because of the dependency on proprietary batteries that only last a few years and eventually become impossible to find.

As a thought, if you take apart a laptop battery pack they often seem to use fairly standard looking batteries (AA sized form factor) but with plain packaging.

These individual cells generally have basic info printed on the side of the package. Seems like manufacturer model number maybe (unsure).

It'd be interesting to see if these battery cells can be identified easily enough and replacements found. Kind of thinking it shouldn't be too hard. :)

Battery packs typically use 18650 Lithium cells which are a bit bigger than AA sized. You can easily replace them in older battery packs (and there are many tutorials online on how to do so) but newer laptops have circuitry inside which tracks the number of charge cycles and disables the battery regardless of if it has new cells.

Ahhh. So it'd be more a matter to figuring out which chip holds the info and somehow replicating that?

I'd consider a laptop if it can run plugged in without the battery attached. I think some laptops will, some won't, not sure about the ones they sell. But another thing I don't like is the custom plugs, those are easier to find alternatives for though. In short, I want my hardware to be standard and my software libre :)

I am always happy to see old ThinkPads on the cutting edge of open source.

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