Group: Hardware/Computers/Laptops/Freeable laptops/Novena

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Introduction

This page research if it's possible to replace a Libreboot Thinkpad with a Novena laptop or Novena Heilroom laptop and how much freedom issue the Novena laptop have.

Research

Nonfree firwmares:

  • Video decoding offload => Can use CPU decoding instead
  • (S)DMA controller => Can use the in-rom firmware instead

Status

TODO: look if it's supported by an RYF distribution.

Other differences with a Libreboot Thinkpad

Libreboot Thinkpad Novena laptop Novena Heirloom laptop
Architecture
  • i686 on some laptops
  • x86_64 on others
  • ARM 32bit

See distribution compatibility for more infos.

Embedded controller firmware Nonfree

Handles:

  • The keyboard
  • The power up sequence (voltages, power rails)
  • WiFi / bluetooth power on/off
  • Battery charging
  • etc
  • There is a power management CPU that probably has a fully free software firmware.
  • Missing keyboard
  • There is a power management CPU that probably has a fully free software firmware.
  • Bluetooth keyboard and touchpad (Does bluetooth requires nonfree loadable firwares? What about bluetooth security? can we use 100% free software bluetooth somehow?)
RAM 4G, 8G possible with specific RAM DIMMs. 4G possible
Storage
  • 2MiB/4MiB/8MiB (or more if changed) BIOS flash chip
  • One intenal SATA
    • 2.5" on most laptops
    • 1.8" on the T400s and on the X301
  • A second Internal SATA through a cdrom<->SATA HDD adapter. Might require a dock on some models.
  • SD card reader on some models
  • One internal SATA (SATA-II, 3Gbps)
  • One microSD port (speed?)
  • 2 Internal USB ports
Ethernet Integrated
  • One integrated Gigabit Ethernet (probably limited around 400Mbit/s due to some limitation of the I.MX6 driver or hardware blocks)
  • One integrated 100 Mbit Ethernet
WiFi
  • 1 to 3 Internal mPCIe compatible with many ath9k_htc compatible WiFi cards
  • 1 mPCIe connector compatible with many ath9k_htc compatible WiFi cards
Display Mate, good enough for working. ?, more recent / better?
Debug
  • UART in the dock on some laptops, or absent on other
  • It might be possible to add an UART through the express card connector
  • USB Debug (not very practical)
  • Reinstalling Libreboot can be time consuming on some laptops (~1day) while it can be really fast on other (minutes)[1].
  • UART connector (where is it?)
  • TODO: What is the SOC/device boot order?
  • TODO: Is it possible to connect some SPI flash?

References

  1. ↑ It of course depends on people's skills, flash programmer speeds and so on but it's not uncommon to spend ~8h to disassemble and reassemble a Thinkpad T400 when doing it the first time, while it probably takes less than 10 minutes for a Thinkpad X200. Doing that is needed to install Libreboot or reinstall it if the computer doesn't boot anymore.
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