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Comment by 3r8Oltr0ziouVDM | Hacker News Reader

Keep in mind that both Purism and System76 still use proprietary CPUs (at least) so their machines are not completely open. There is a backdoor in every Intel and AMD chip that has full control over your computer. If you want 100% open hardware, there is https://www.raptorcs.com/.

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I believe both these companies go to lengths to disable Intel ME & co (where possible). Raptor is a cool option if you have the money and want a desktop approach, but if you're after a laptop you're ultimately playing the game of "how much can I deal with binary blobs and proprietary bits".

Hell, for Purism's laptops it's not uncommon for people to shove in a different wifi card to get modern speeds - the card they use is used for being able to run with only open source drivers, which are old at this point.

More details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Management_Engine#Commer....

Yes… the wireless card on the Librem 15 has given me some grief due to sticky roaming. I’ll have to look into this!

Good to know about this, had not heard of Raptor Computing Systems.

The complete open hardware model seems to require DIY chip fabrication at some level as a backstop. Will look for more opportunities to encourage this.

I wonder if System76 has considered Raptor processors for their desktops. What is their roadmap towards more open hardware? Here goes my first recommendation to their customer support. I would consider a mini-desktop with Talos by System76 even though I'm primarily a laptop user.

Intel ME is apparently disabled and not connected to the network interface in the Librem 13/15 if I remember correctly.

Disabled and neutralized [0], but there are still some blobs in it [1].

[0] https://puri.sm/projects/coreboot/

[1] https://puri.sm/learn/software-freedom-in-perspective/

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