On 01/27/2017 03:18 PM, Timothy Pearson wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
On 01/27/2017 01:41 PM, Merlin Büge wrote:
On Fri, 27 Jan 2017 12:26:56 -0600 Timothy Pearson tpearson@raptorengineering.com wrote:
<snip>
Core 2 duo is more than a decade old and I think that it should be good enough for a lot of tasks.
Andrés
Something to think about: have you tried developing modern software on that Core 2 Duo? Are you OK with only having hardware that can consume software (libre or not) that was created (compiled) on more powerful, non-free systems?
I think the need for libre hardware platforms in the range of a Core 2 Duo is as strong as the need for libre platforms capable of compiling big software projects.
Fair enough. I wouldn't even be bringing this up except for the fact that we're in the final stages of losing access to development-class libre systems for "normal people" (non-corporate entities), and this has introduced an interesting philosophical dilemma on the nature of libre software.
As always, I appreciate the insight from this list!
Timothy Pearson Raptor Engineering +1 (415) 727-8645 (direct line) +1 (512) 690-0200 (switchboard) https://www.raptorengineering.com -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1 Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/
iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJYi6sMAAoJEK+E3vEXDOFb88AH/0/ZlhCyVat6WfzN8nNhKY7c hpgi7ZrbWOMePKZI5HS5k0qa9n/8k7Lyelmi0qrnv+/v+6T4Ave/jkZOdlAN/Z6O t1fj003GNvnL4Gks6v7A/wGxibfVLNX6Kk8T/Z6+Vk69b0KAqtJm2e2CB5bhewzC NvkqgWYIGpKJMOLDZ5YCrYXOHZQre55Civreze9Y14LjPZOLXeuEg/ZlijJPpESk nJhU2+G36BgVE/hiS2gAkZVfsRY09iFdc7byDJ16AldESRB+M+eGg5I4OpN//HT/ YlEygkxW1VLSxPU0bnxNO1AfMTQK6LqUfdyZ9jD8crTYFVocS30Qw6cwo9odpFA= =hRin -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
I don't understand why a C2DM is mentioned here, everyone seems to forget about the late gen C2QM's which are good enough for compiling free software on the go - they have IOMMU as well (although it lacks interrupt remapping). The lenovo G505S from 2013 is also an option for a libre laptop, it has a legit IOMMU with IR.
It isn't so much that you can't find user-ownable devices it is just that either they are very underpowered (novena) or they cost a large amount of money (POWER) - it is the hollowing out of the middle that is happening in every market segment where you only have low end and high end absolutely no middle. When I get a job again I will fund the development of a reasonably priced POWER device such as the S812LC, I hope I will not be the only one. (4.5K is reasonable for what you get, KGPE-D16 brand new in 2012 plus processors/ram/etc would be actually cost more money)
The free software community is like a frog in boiling water, they don't notice and or care until one day they can't install linux at all on an x86-64 computer and by then it will be too late - there are so many linux sysadmins and companies that benefit from it, yet so little money put towards free hardware
However in the future as always I am sure there will be useful idiots like Red Hat that will make a sweetheart deal with MS for an "approved" "open source" (but tivo'ized) distro where you can only install pre-compiled software from official repos, that is unless you get a developer account from wintel for the small very reasonable fee of $500. Secure Boot 2.0 doesn't have the owner controllable mandate like 1.0, but of course red-hat has a special pre-compiled signed version of grub to "help" us.