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System76 Continues Advancing Coreboot Support, Adding UI For Firmware Updates

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  • #11
    I think it makes sense for them to do their own firmware. Dell, Lenovo, or whoever don't have their ass on the line making sure their computers work on Linux. Trusting some limey gnome developer at redhat to keep your firmware updated is an extra link in the chain that can break. I see no reason why they shouldn't do it in house. The tools are open. If they have the people and bandwidth to handle the work, then who GAF. Let'em do it.

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    • #12
      I was surprised to come across a review for a Thelio here recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTN1c1j6V1s

      And even more surprised that the conclusions were largely positive from that reviewer. The spec and build quality of that machine was... as appealing as the price was high. :P

      I don't buy prebuilts, but I wish System 76 all the best regardless.
      Last edited by Teggs; 02 July 2019, 05:35 PM.

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      • #13
        I do follow System76 offerings, and yes, AMD variant of laptops please.
        They are a bit pricey, buy hey, they give proof of their investment in opensource ! I hope they bring motherboard and display swap to laptops for future upgrades.

        Would really want to have all binary blobs removed like how raptor is going. Perhaps reach AMD and Intel and try to have a deal for totally opensource firmwares ? Else, just move to RISC-V cpu and add a APU as a co-processor (and run demanding applications as a container on the APU, would enable base station acceleration by moving the container to a more powerful CPU+GPU in desktop mode).

        Coreboot should have been something available for more than 20 years ! I wish that there would be laws forcing companies that don't update their firmware to opensource them after 5-10 years (for security reasons).

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        • #14
          I purchased a System76 Laptop (Darter Pro 2019) and I really love it. I was previously using an Dell XPS 9575 and my primary machine, and I got tired of Dells firmware updates causing problems. The last firmware update broke the trackpad in GDM.

          Overall you are paying a bit more, but you're also supporting a company that puts Linux first, and tests very thoroughly on all their hardware. For me, having switched to Linux full time in 2016, it was worth the little bit of extra money to better consistency with Linux as my primary OS.

          In addition, they provide excellent built in tools for updating the system's firmware (not Coreboot yet, but easy to do nonetheless), and overall I really like Pop_OS. It's Ubuntu, with a more sane default install, first-class flatpak support, a really nice consistent UI, and some nice quality of life features if you use a system with a Nvidia GPU.

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          • #15
            Originally posted by ElectricPrism View Post

            Fantastic, these kinds of business strategies really keeps System76 devices on my radar as highly desirable devices.

            I hope to someday see a decent AMD CPU / AMD GPU offering since AMD have been killing it making AMD+Linux a smooth experience out of box and update wise.
            I agree, although I really wish they'd offer a trackpoint on a 13-14" laptop. And shift the design a bit more towards old school Thinkpads. Make a device similar to a Thinkpad from the IBM days with good trackpoint, thinklight, and keyboard and they'd fly off the shelf, even at $1500+ I bet.

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            • #16
              please find a sale partner in Australia,
              and if you don't want to get rid of Nvidia at least offer AMD graphics

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              • #17
                Originally posted by mmstick View Post

                That's because we have our own firmware delivery method that works really well.
                Oh hey! I recognize your username from r/rust (I'm kwhali, not hugely active there so I doubt you'd recognize me back)

                You work at System76 too? That's cool!

                Originally posted by isantop View Post

                The firmware update tool is not proprietary. All code we produce in-house is available under an open source license.
                Can either of you answer how much is lost or transferable, feature/compatibility wise from Pop_OS if I were to buy the hardware and do my own install(eg KDE on Manjaro with my own partition/filesystem choices, etc)?

                I take it that by doing such I lose support and while all the benefits/extras that Pop_OS brings may be available open-source they might not be straight-forward easy to carry over into a different install(and in addition to that maintain)?

                Is the graphics switching feature different in some way from what other distros / packages offer? Is it a hardware specific thing similar to Optimus in Windows laptops?(which last I recall required more explicit switching from the user, and then there was a Gnome based auto-detection/whitelist launcher thing that could do it implicitly)

                I know that it's probably not as common/important for regular hardware shops, but since you're serving a specific kind of customer base, is it reasonable to assume we might be a bit more interested in the hardware details? Your specs don't touch on lanes(which are presumably PCIe 3.0) for M.2(x2, x4) or ThunderBolt 3(which can be 1x2, 2x2, 1x4), USB host controllers, motherboard chipset(helpful for considering for VFIO, IOMMU groups would be nice too but I don't expect it), etc. Nor brands of the hardware for memory or storage(are these at all replaceable/upgradeable afterwards?(there doesn't appear to be a none option for either so I'm not sure if it's possible to BYO). 1x4 for TB3 controller(1 port with x4 PCIe 3.0 lanes) is important if you want a light laptop but eGPU support for offloading compute when not on the go, along with flexibility to switch the GPU.

                The site is nice, although not as quick to see which products have what I'm interested in as there isn't a filter. Assuming the laptops body is able to accommodate smaller internals from the lighter/cheaper lineup, is there a reason 17" displays are only for the dGPU products? Are there plans(or is it cost prohibitive) to make the display a swappable/upgradeable part that can be purchased separately?(I know you can choose between some sizes presently, but that's at purchase where they might be pre-built or not easy to detach/attach at a later date by the consumer) Dropping the webcam and bezel would be nice if possible(like the Huawei Matebook lineup has)

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                • #18
                  i prefer to building computers myself. but i'd like to buy modern motherboard with coreboot at a premium. and with lvfs
                  Last edited by pal666; 27 June 2019, 09:52 PM.

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                  • #19
                    Originally posted by mmstick View Post
                    That's because we have our own firmware delivery method that works really well.
                    what can work better than gnome software?

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                    • #20
                      Originally posted by ThoreauHD View Post
                      I think it makes sense for them to do their own firmware.
                      that's because your thoughts are garbage
                      Originally posted by ThoreauHD View Post
                      Dell, Lenovo, or whoever don't have their ass on the line making sure their computers work on Linux.
                      actually they have when they sell them with linux
                      Originally posted by ThoreauHD View Post
                      Trusting some limey gnome developer at redhat to keep your firmware updated is an extra link in the chain that can break.
                      lvfs is linux foundation project and firmware is updated by firmware vendors, not by someone else. why so many idiots are butthurt by redhat?
                      Originally posted by ThoreauHD View Post
                      I see no reason why they shouldn't do it in house.
                      i see no reason to use some other tool than gnome software which already works with lvfs
                      Originally posted by ThoreauHD View Post
                      The tools are open. If they have the people and bandwidth to handle the work, then who GAF. Let'em do it.
                      they can do all they want, but i will not use it. see how it works?
                      Last edited by pal666; 27 June 2019, 09:49 PM.

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