This is my first email here, so...
Hi all! And thanks Devuan.
(And sorry for my bad English.)


> Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2016 19:46:40 +0100
> From: Edward Bartolo <edbarx@???>
> To: dng <dng@???>
> Subject: [DNG] Purchasing a new computer/laptop.
>
> [...]
> Call me paranoid but I am noticing big companies like Microsoft making
> it very difficult to buy a computer or laptop without Windows
> installed.
>
> Are you experiencing the same difficulty and what do you do when you
> need to buy a new machine?

My personal experience follow:

(1) Computer (desktop/workstation)
I assemble my computers by myself.
First I prepare a sort of project, listing all the components I need to buy.
I select *ALL* the single hardware components checking to have 100% Linux
compatibility (have to run in a 100% free software system, with neither kernel
binary blobs nor binary firmware modules). More, the motherboard should support
BIOS (or UEFI) replacement (coreboot or libreboot).
Some useful resources are:
https://www.h-node.org/
http://www.coreboot.org/Supported_Motherboards
https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Hardware
http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/index.html
http://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/selibre/linux-libre/index.en.html
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/catalog/desktop-computers-gnu-linux
and others...
Also I check compatibility between components (product specifications, forums,
friends/contacts etc.).
Then I bought the hardware I need components (new components or, much better,
refurbished or reused components if I could find them), assemble my computer
by myself and, finally, install a *100%-libre-GNU/Linux-system*!
Yes. Not simple as to buy a pre-build computer coming from a big company...
The cost is usually the same (and often is less), but consider the unpayable
fun of the hardware+software hacking experience!

(2) Laptop
Assembling laptops starting from hardware components (where to found them?) is
too hard... So my options are:
(a) buy a new or (better) refurbished 100% libre/free (in the sense I have
written above) laptop... some resources are:
https://shop.libiquity.com/product/taurinus-x200
http://minifree.org/product-category/laptops/
http://minifree.org/product/libreboot-t400/
http://minifree.org/product/libreboot-x200/
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/catalog/notebook-computers-gnu-linux-2
(b) buy a new or (better) refurbished or used laptop which could be upgraded to
became 100% free i.e. some good ThinkPad models would be 100% libre/free except
for the wifi card (requiring a binary firmware)... so it is just to be
replaced...
some replacement here:
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/catalog/wireless-networking-gnulinux
Once I have the free hardware, again I install on my laptop a
*100%-libre-GNU/Linux-system*!


Regards
--
al3xu5 / dotcommon
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