From fc0da7144f973f7c07d0f85920136b84e1780e25 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Francis Rowe <info@gluglug.org.uk> Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2015 18:28:15 -0400 Subject: docs/hcl/c201.html: Make it more useful to read --- (limited to 'docs/hcl') diff --git a/docs/hcl/c201.html b/docs/hcl/c201.html index b3c24b9..3da373e 100644 --- a/docs/hcl/c201.html +++ b/docs/hcl/c201.html @@ -52,42 +52,123 @@ </div> <div class="section"> - <h1 id="ec">EC firmware</h1> + <h1 id="videoblobs">Caution: Video acceleration requires a blob. Do not install it. Use software rendering.</h1> <p> - It's free software. Google provides the source. Build scripts will be added later, with EC sources - provided in libreboot, and builds of the EC firmware. + The lima driver source code for the onboard Mali GPU is not released. The developer withheld it for personal reasons. + Until that is released, the only way to use video on this laptop is to not have video acceleration, by + making sure not to install the relevant blob. Most tasks can still be performed without video acceleration, without + any noticeable performance penalty. + </p> + <p> + In practise, this means that certain things like games, blender and GNOME shell (or other fancy desktops) won't work well. + The libreboot project recommends a lightweight desktop which does not need video acceleration, such as <i>LXDE</i>. + </p> + <p> + <a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>. </p> </div> - <div class="section"> - <h1 id="depthcharge">Depthcharge</h1> + <h1 id="wifiblobs">Caution: WiFi needs a blob. Do not install it. Use a USB dongle.</h1> <p> - These systems do not use the GRUB payload. Instead, they use a payload called depthcharge, - which is common on Chromebooks. + These laptops have non-removeable (soldered on) WiFi chips, which require non-free firmware in the Linux kernel + in order to work. + </p> + <p> + The libreboot project recommends that you use an external USB wifi dongle that works + with free software. See <a href="index.html#recommended_wifi">index.html#recommended_wifi</a>. + </p> + <p> + There are 2 companies (endorsed by the Free Software Foundation, under their <i>Respects your Freedom</i> + guidelines, that sell USB WiFi dongles guaranteed to work with free software (i.e. linux-libre kernel): + </p> + <ul> + <li><a href="https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-usb-adapter-gnu-linux-tpe-n150usb">ThinkPenguin sells them</a> (company based in USA)</li> + <li><a href="https://tehnoetic.com/tehnoetic-wireless-adapter-gnu-linux-libre-tet-n150">Tehnoetic sells them</a> (company based in Europe)</li> + </ul> + <p> + These wifi dongles are the Unex DNUA-93F, which uses the AR9271 (atheros) chipset, supported by + the free <i>ath9k_htc</i> driver in the Linux kernel. They work in <i>linux-libre</i> too. </p> </div> <div class="section"> - <h1 id="issues">Issues</h1> + <h1 id="ec">EC firmware is free software!</h1> <p> - Non-free drivers needed in linux kernel for video acceleration; - it's possible to use it without video acceleration. + It's free software. Google provides the source. Build scripts will be added later, with EC sources + provided in libreboot, and builds of the EC firmware. </p> <p> - Non-free drivers needed for built-in (soldered) wifi; it's possible - to use an external USB wifi dongle. Check <a href="index.html#recommended_wifi">index.html#recommended_wifi</a>. + This is unlike the other current libreboot laptops (Intel based). In practise, you can + (if you do without the video/wifi blobs) be more free when using one of these laptops. </p> + </div> + + <div class="section"> + <h1 id="os">Replace ChromeOS immediately!</h1> <p> - Comes preinstalled (from the factory) with Google ChromeOS. This is a GNU/Linux distribution, but it's not general purpose - and it comes with proprietary software. It's designed for <i><a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.en.html">SaaSS</a></i>. Libreboot recommends that all users of this laptop - replace ChromeOS with Debian or Fedora. No FSF-endorsed distribution is available yet, but Guix and Trisquel might be easy - enough to port. + This laptop comes preinstalled (from the factory) with Google ChromeOS. This is a GNU/Linux distribution, but it's not general purpose + and it comes with proprietary software. It's designed for <i><a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.en.html">SaaSS</a></i>. Libreboot recommends that all users of this laptop replace it with another distribution. </p> + <h2>No FSF-endorsed distros available</h2> + <p> + The FSF has a <a href="https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html">list of distributions</a> that are 100% free software. None of these + are confirmed to work on ARM chromebooks yet. Parabola looks hopeful: + <a href="https://www.parabola.nu/news/parabola-supports-armv7/">https://www.parabola.nu/news/parabola-supports-armv7/</a> + </p> + <p> + The libreboot project would like to see all FSF-endorsed distro projects port to these laptops. This includes Trisquel, GuixSD and others. + And ProteanOS. Maybe even LibreCMC. The more the merrier. We need them, badly. + </p> + <h2>What can be done meanwhile?</h2> + <p> + There are some other distributions, which are not freedom-friendly, but can be with some tweaking. + </p> + <p> + There isn't much choice, but we can recommend these distributions for the time being: + </p> + <h3>Debian GNU/Linux</h3> + <p> + The FSF details the problems with Debian: + <a href="https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html#Debian">https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html#Debian</a> + </p> + <p> + You can actually run Debian without any proprietary software. The default installation comes without any proprietary software, + and although the project does have proprietary software, its only in a separate repository which isn't enabled by default. + The Debian project has a strict policy of keeping proprietary software out of the main repository, and moving it to a separate repository; + this repository is called <i>non-free</i>, with supplementary packages that require it in <i>contrib</i>, also not enabled by default. + If you install Debian and replace the kernel with <a href="http://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/selibre/linux-libre/">linux-libre</a>, + you can be reasonably certain not to install any proprietary software. However, make sure to exercise caution, since this isn't + endorsed at all, and mistakes can happen. + </p> + <p> + <b>Note that this does not mean Debian is ok! Far from it! Institutionally, Debian is rotten because it distributes proprietary software, + even if it's optional and not included by default.</b> + </p> + <h3>Fedora GNU/Linux</h3> + <p> + Unlike Debian, Fedora (to the best of our knowledge) only distributes proprietary software in the form of firmware blobs for the Linux kernel. + There are repositories for Fedora that contain proprietary software, but none of these are official and have to be added. So just don't add them. + Then, delete <i>linux</i> and replace it with <a href="http://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/selibre/linux-libre/">linux-libre</a>. + </p> + <p> + <b>Note that this does not mean Fedora is ok! Far from it! Institutionally, Fedora is rotten because it distributes proprietary software, + even if it's easy to remove.</b> + </p> + <h3>We need libre distributions to be ported.</h3> + <p> + As soon as possible, the libreboot project would like to remove mention of Fedora and Debian. + We find such distributions ethically repugnant. + </p> <p> - If you go with Debian, make sure to <b><i>not</i></b> enable the <i>non-free</i> and <i>contrib</i> repositories. + <a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>. </p> + </div> + + <div class="section"> + <h1 id="depthcharge">Depthcharge</h1> <p> - If you go with Fedora, make sure to <i>delete</i> Linux and replace it with Linux-libre. + These systems do not use the GRUB payload. Instead, they use a payload called depthcharge, + which is common on Chromebooks. </p> </div> -- cgit v0.9.1