System76 Continues Advancing Coreboot Support, Adding UI For Firmware Updates

[isantop]

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)?

This will depend a lot on the specific OS you install. Some will be easier. That said, a lot of the work spent on systems is done at the firmware level to ensure maximum compatibility with Linux. That work will translate over to any distro, at least as long as it has a relatively recent kernel; at or newer than Ubuntu's kernel is generally a safe bet.

One thing you won't lose is technical support; while our techs are specifically versed in Ubuntu and Pop, they won't turn you away just because you installed a different distro. All of theme are also Linux enthusiasts and have run a wide variety of OSs, so they should be able to help out with problems even on a different distro.

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)

It's somewhat similar, although it definitely differs in implementation compared to prime-select on Ubuntu.

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)

Hardware questions are definitely model-specific and vary based on which system you're looking at. I'd get in contact with our sales team for answers to these types of questions. https://system76.com/contact

[Britoid]

lvfs is linux foundation project and firmware is updated by firmware vendors, not by someone else. why so many idiots are butthurt by redhat?

Jealousy that Red Hat makes money?

See Ubuntu and Flatpak, only hurts users.

[pgeorgi]

On hand System76 propagates its free firmware and open source friendliness, but on the other they will sell you a Nvidia GPU that propagates no openness at all, this really doesn't fit together for me!

It's called "choosing your battles": For a long time System76 was criticized for not pursuing free firmware, but they weren't ready to do that. Instead of risking the company over something they (felt they) can't influence, they stuck with the proprietary stuff they had - until they found a way to do better.

Same for using nVidia GPUs: It's a known quantity in their platforms while using a different GPU means starting from scratch in lots of places (beginning with vendor relations which is a huge legal pain until all contracts are set up). I suspect S76 will get there at some point, but I'd prefer they sort out the active issues rather than tackling the next batch early and spreading themselves thin.

Same for Purism by the way: the only criticism I had with them was that they tended to over-promise because they wished that things are easier than they were. The big PC vendors are extremely delicate systems with lots of parts and these upstarts are rebuilding all that from scratch: that will take time and the only way to do that without a _huge_ upfront $$$ infusion (that typically comes with strings attached) is to start somewhere sub-optimal and swap out parts in-flight as resources allow.

[R41N3R]

It is really interesting to get hardware with coreboot. As far as I remember there have been issuse with fwupd for open source firmware upgrades.
On hand System76 propagates its free firmware and open source friendliness, but on the other they will sell you a Nvidia GPU that propagates no openness at all, this really doesn't fit together for me!

[pal666]

I think it makes sense for them to do their own firmware.

that's because your thoughts are garbage

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

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?

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

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?

[pal666]

That's because we have our own firmware delivery method that works really well.

what can work better than gnome software?

[pal666]

i prefer to building computers myself. but i'd like to buy modern motherboard with coreboot at a premium. and with lvfs

[polarathene]

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!

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)

[horizonbrave]

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

[Drizzt321]

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.