Work in progress

Looks like we need some things that are on wikipedia mediawiki [1] but not here or default in 1.12 [2] for this to look good. I'm copying a lot of syntax from this wikipedia article [3].

Specifically this syntax is not working:

Footnote / reference syntax

<ref name="coreboot-on-dbe61c-usb">http://wiki.thincan.org/DBE61#Caveats states that "USB boot is not possible without highly experimental code."</ref>

Example: ^[1]

Template syntax

{{yes}}
{{no}}
{{rh}}

Example: style="background: #90ff90; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-yes"|Yes

Please help

Please add to this list, and speak up if you see something that you know is non-free!

Desktops

Definition

These systems at minimum should have:

The ability to work stand-alone - no reliance on other computers being available
Libre boot firmware (BIOS)
No components that can not be replaced by a person with a screwdriver that require drivers with binary blobs to function
- Usually wifi adapters and graphics adapters are the issues here - you can help with this if you are a hacker with appropriate skills...
Not make an insane amount of noise or have a form factor that is aimed at the server market

Comparison: Basic properties

	Release year	Approx System Price	Architecture	Boot firmware	Wifi chipset	Video chipset	Links
BeagleBoard RevC2	2008	$206.30 BeagleBoard + Power Supply + Case	armel	u-boot	-	PowerVR(framebuffer can be used without proprietary driver,3d needs proprietary drivers)	Detailed Specifications
ThinCan DBE61C-USB	2005	$395 (for a two-pack)	i386	coreboot "USB boot is not possible without highly experimental code." [4]	-	todo	todo

Comparison: Where purchasable and lowest-cost shipping option

	World	BE	CN	FR	US
BeagleBoard RevC2	Yes				$22
ThinCan DBE61C-USB	Yes				$125

Please use ISO Country Codes.

World indicates that there is at least one reseller that is willing to ship anywhere in the world as a standard part of their business.

Misc Notes

BeagleBoard RevC2

3D graphics require a binary blob, but you can just not use 3D graphics.
Boot loader is u-boot. ROM source isn't open, but ROM is really ROM, in the chip, not flashable from software. There is a loader between the ROM and u-boot called x-loader, but it is based on u-boot and is free software.
x-loader is also called MLO when put on a sd-card : from the #beagle channel: "<khasim> MLO is x-loader, x-loader is strip down version of u-boot, used to get a minimal bootloader onto OMAP3's internal RAM, generally used with NAND and MMC booting as they are don't support executing in place"
the tools for compiling and flashing x-loader are free software : "<Gnutoo> ok are the tools for compiling x-loader and flashing it free software? => <jpirko> Gnutoo: yes" and the source of some uttilities can be find here
The Always Innovating Touch Book is basically a BeagleBoard in a (*really* :-) nice case.
See IRC logs starting here for more...
It's *really* tiny. The box is about the size of 2 packs of playing cards.
http://kamejoko80.wikidot.com/news
Kridner observed that the board's HDMI video port is not actually HDMI-compliant. However, he said it "works great" with low-cost HDMI-to-DVI adapters and ordinary LCD flat panel displays. "The splashscreen is 1280 x 1024, but the bottleneck is on the pixel clock, which has a 75MHz limitation. So right now we can do 720p — 1280 x 720 — at 30 frames per second," he said. [5] - This is good as HDMI is usually DRM-encumbered [6].

ThinCan DBE61C-USB

Really expensive shipping.

lshw output

Output from lshw.

BeagleBoard RevC2

TODO

ThinCan DBE61C-USB

TODO

Machines to evaluate when possible

Lemote Fuloong Mini - not available outside of china to the general public as far as I know - might be possible to get if you are a hacker and contact them directly. Need someone who speaks a Chinese language to comment on price and availability within China (this info doesn't seem to be available in English).
ThinCan DBE63 - should be available in Q2 or Q3 2009.

Routers

A lot of router run or are capable of running a GNU/Linux distribution,but most of them have non-free wifi drivers despite of having a free bootloader(which replace the bios)

/brcm47xx HOWTO free your wrt54*/brcm47xx router : running a 100% free GNU/Linux distribution on your wrt54*/brcm47xx router router is possible...it just need to be polished
routers with atheros wifi cards usually come with wifi driver named madwifi and that contain(need to verify if it's still the case) a blob named HAL. but Master mode may be possible with the ath5k driver + wireless-compat

Laptops

Lemote

The Lemote yeeloong is the first fully free laptop, including the Bootloader(that replaces the BIOS) and the operating system.There are no firmwares in the wifi card. A port of gnewsense is beeing developed for this laptop,and the laptop is used by Richard Stallman.

Characteristics

MIPS 64 CPU@800MHz
512MB or 1GB of DDR2 RAM
1024x600 screen
160GB hard disk or 2GB SSD or 8GB SSD

Non-Free Components

While Lemote has made an amazing effort to make the hardware as free as they possibly could, there are still a few non-free software components (in the form of binary blobs):

The Embedded Controller (EC) - Code belongs to Quanta, Lemote cannot release
The PCI expansion ROM that initializes the SM712 - Code is actually designed for x86 (runs in an emulator), likely is owned by SiliconMotion
Hard Disk firmware

Servers

Some server can be bought with coreboot pre-installed,informations are here

Mobile Phones and PDA/Tablets

Openmoko Freerunner is currently the most free mobile phone
There is an effort to liberate the Palm Pre as much as possible

Openmoko

The good

all what runs on the main CPU is free
it uses a standard GNU/Linux distribution
several GNU/Linux distributions avaliable such as:
- SHR
- Debian
- Openmoko
free schematics
debug board avaliable(JTAG+serial)
2 bootloaders so you can realy be free and change your bootloader without risks

The bad

Some units are affected by a buzz(strong noise during calls),but there were buzz-fix parties,and some resellers sell fixed phones
Glamo chip:
- NDA
- compatibility problems with some micro-sd cards
The basses are filtred on the headphones output...because of a capacitor which value was too low(can't be fixed)
non-free firmwares:
- GPS
- GSM
- WIFI(beware hardmac...that is to say that the wifi connection stack is in the firmware)
Me and other people experienced gprs connection drop with SIP
Others bugs/problems are in the bugtracker
The openmoko company had economic problems and transferred the development of the next phones,and the task of maintaining the current software to the community
non-free uttility needed in order to update the GSM's firmware(only needed if you want to update the gsm's firmware because of bugs such as the non recognition of some sim cards)

Palm Pre

there is a wiki for informations on the palm pre,including how to jailbreak/root it
the incomplete[1] sources for the palm pre are here

[1]: lacks build scripts(openembedded recipes) and directfb seems to be lacking,and directfb that is LGPL according to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directfb,and according to this post: http://sargund.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/5/ Directfb is used on the palm pre

Others (Anti-vendor port) phones

see here for a list of some phones or device that can be liberated
be carefull to the bootloader: some device boots with Haret or similar bootloader,that means that it boots from the original OS,so:
- the boot time is very long
- you still have a non-free os on the phone/device that could do nasty things

Some phones(glofiish) that are quite similar to the openmoko have a free bootloader(=bios), but have incomplete support for the Linux kenrel

Android

Currents[3] android phone should not be used as is:

It spy on you [1]
The G1 and the dev phone have non-free ati 3d driver[2]
The free version of the SDK(need to be compiled) has a non-free dependency: java-1.5(we have free java but it's 1.6)[4]

If you buy one expect to have to do some work such as:

jailbreak/root it if it's not a dev phone
reflash a bootloader if it's not a dev phone

If you want a real GNU/Linux distribution you should:

create a GNU rootfs
port the FSO stack to it: in order to have the telephony part you should write some code for suporting the specificities of your modem
maybe others things that I could have forgotten

Else,if you want an android version you should:

download the source and follow the howto [6]
do some work to remove the non-free 3d driver
compile a free version of android

Note that with that version you won't be able to have a free SDK without non-free dependencies
NOTES on openmoko and android:

The openmoko phone is capable of running a free version of android(without google stuff,see [3])the rootfs must be chosen carefully,because some rootfs with non-free software exists such as the one provided by koolu which contain skype,building it from source or using user-generated rootfs [5] could solve the problem.

TODO:

look if there is 2d acceleration for kdrive/xorg
try to build the SDK with GCJ/GNU classpath or fix the bug that require the non-free java

REFERENCES:
[1] http://www.linuxtogo.org/android-on-g1
[2] http://lwn.net/Articles/313116/ inside http://lwn.net/Articles/311715
[3] as explained here there are several modalities for a vendor to put android on a phone
[4] "JDK 5.0, update 12 or higher. Java 6 is not supported, because of incompatibilities with @Override." in http://source.android.com/download
[5] http://moko.serdar-dere.net/
[6] http://source.android.com/download
[7] IRC logs:in #freerunner-android in freenode
Jul 05 16:15:04 <Gnutoo> so basically your images(so not koolu's ones that have skype) are 100% free
Jul 05 16:16:41 <serdar> but not working well

Nokia tablets

The Documentation on what is not free can be find here

Walkmans/Music players

Rockbox players

here's a comparison of all the rockbox compatible players
you can find the status of the ports here

Archos's players

While Archos's players runs GNU/Linux there are several problems with them,depending on the model

Pma430

Pma430 is a very old player which runs a 2.4.19-rmk7 linux kenrel that has proprietary drivers such as:

framebuffer(a free replacement exist for uclinux)
DSP(maybe free replacement extst)

The userland has also a lot of proprietary things such as:

a proprietary version of qtopia
the media players are proprietary(a port of mplayer exists)

In addition it ran only signed images(but code could run on the unit) until someone released a software for getting rid of this artificial limitation(patching the bootloader) TODO:

port the free drivers to the 2.6 kernel
port free replacements of the proprietary drivers to the 2.6 kernel
make a free rootfs

x04/x05

Components

The components are part of a computer,such as the graphic card and can be used to choose laptop and embedded computers ,or to make or choose Desktop computer

Graphic cards

Free Graphic cards drivers must be checked in order to see if there are some sort of microcode loaded.

Intel Cards

Most of intel card come with a free software driver but some cards like the GMA 500 are instead a Powervr which lacks free software driver for something else than framebuffer.
Note that the Poulsbo chipset incorporate a Powervr

Ati Cards

The status of the most common Ati chipset support in the free software driver can be find here
The correspondence between the chips and the cards models are here

Nvidia Cards

The support for Nvidia cards in the free software driver(nouveau) is very experimental,status can be find here,there is also a Status Matrix
Note that the nv driver while beeing under a free software license, is ofuscated.

Wifi cards

ath5k
ath9k
rtl8187
rt2500

Mainboards

Mainboards for x86 system

Usually Mainboards comes with a bios already present,but that's not always the case:

some alix boards but not all of them comes with a free software replacement for the BIOS named tinybios
some system can be bought with coreboot preinstalled(where?)

Otherwise the only solution is to install coreboot if the mainboard is suported or port it if the chip are suported but not the mainboard. This is a complicated procedure which include the removal and replacement of the bios chip(the Eprom memory chip) while the computer is running. Here is the list of Supported Motherboards

Other Hardware

Hobbyist hardware

BUGlabs's bug: 100% free software, apart from the possible firmwares, schematics are avaliable
Arduino
Pinguino,the blog of the project is here

Group: Hardware/TODO/DUPLICATE INFO/Freest

Contents

Work in progress

Footnote / reference syntax

Template syntax

Please help

Desktops

Definition

Comparison: Basic properties

Comparison: Where purchasable and lowest-cost shipping option

Misc Notes

BeagleBoard RevC2

ThinCan DBE61C-USB

lshw output

BeagleBoard RevC2

ThinCan DBE61C-USB

Machines to evaluate when possible

Routers

Laptops

Lemote

Characteristics

Non-Free Components

Servers

Mobile Phones and PDA/Tablets

Openmoko

The good

The bad

Palm Pre

Others (Anti-vendor port) phones

Android

Nokia tablets

Walkmans/Music players

Rockbox players

Archos's players

Pma430

x04/x05

Components

Graphic cards

Intel Cards

Ati Cards

Nvidia Cards

Wifi cards

Mainboards

Mainboards for x86 system

Other Hardware

Hobbyist hardware

See Also