Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
In the short-term, the quality of display might be the least of your concerns, but in the long-term, resolution would play a vital role in our mass revolution or evolution. Although, I almost lost particular interest in computer.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Dude, when you are hiding from the mass surveillance, the quality of display should be the least of your concerns! That said, the external HDMI port of G505S is working even when a coreboot is flashed.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Am 01.03.19 um 16:25 schrieb calmst...@posteo.de: Is the g505s really that bad of a laptop? I am curious, is it easy to break, durability wise? But yeah, it does have an extremely fast processor. I wonder if any other laptops have that amd processor that can be librebooted that are durable... Just a thought. ;) I am also interested in this laptop, but the display looks really bad. Very low resolution for a 15'' laptop, not very bright, a glossy panel with extreme bad gamut values... Can someone tell how well the external HDMI port is working?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
> So that is the simplest guide you say? Okay thanks for telling me! Yes - maybe not the shortest, but very detailed one - and that should make it harder to do something wrong ;-) > I saw, odd isn't it. :) My understanding is that Intel used some insecure "speedhacks" to gain an unfair advantage over AMD, but now these "speedhacks" are backfiring ;) that's why a lot of those recently-discovered vulnerabilities are Intel-specific
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
So that is the simplest guide you say? Okay thanks for telling me!
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
I saw, odd isn't it. :)
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
By the way: yet another new Intel-specific vulnerability, while AMD is not affected - https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/03/05/spoiler_intel_flaw/
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
I thought I already provided all this info at my earlier post - https://trisquel.info/en/forum/there-amd-gpu-deblobbed-which-i-can-use#comment-139292 . Especially this part: " I really encourage you to read this DangerousPrototypes wiki article - http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Flashing_a_BIOS_chip_with_Bus_Pirate . Although the links to the flashing tools are a bit outdated, so here are the links for you - https://pastebin.com/FFV2piqR ". Above you could see the link to a really great guide for the external BIOS flashing, using G505S as an example. To tear down a G505S is also trivial, but before doing it for the first time you could look through some online videos or maybe read the Lenovo Hardware Maintenance Manual for this laptop - https://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/lenovo_g400sg405sg400stouchg500sg505sg500stouch_hmm.pdf - it's a bit long but has a very detailed information on how to tear down it step by step, with pictures. And the AliExprss links for the flashing tools are given at this pastebin link above, except the 1P female 1P male 2.54mm wires: I'm a bit lazy and you could easily find them by yourself at the same AliExprss site. P.S. What I like about that AliExprss: 1) It's several times larger than eBay: more supply --> lower prices and more rare interesting items. 2) Great customer protection: possible to request the seller to extend the order protection time for many times, and if the item never arrives or its' quality/quantity is not okay - you simply open a full refund / partial refund dispute; although just in case I'm video recording the items unpacking so that in case of a dispute I'll have more proof, these recordings are rarely needed - maybe because I'm mostly buying from the sellers that have at least 95% rating. If you haven't found an agreement with your seller, then your dispute escalates to AliExprss dispute team and they're usually favourable to the buyer (remember only good things about them). 3) No PayPal hidden fees (making the products cheaper by at least 3.4%) and by the way: PayPal is very unethical company and scams the random people from time to time by withholding their money for an indefinite period of time or completely. Luckily this AliExprss is one of the not-many reputable sites where you could pay directly by your card. The only downside is that it takes about 1-1.5 month with their usually-free shipping for your items to arrive to you from China. I am a patient person and try to think my needs in advance, so this is fine for me, but if you want faster - you may choose to overpay for a more expensive and speedier shipping. And some random lucky packages are still getting delivered in 2 weeks even with that free shipping which sometimes is not even trackable outside of china (but doesn't matter, because if the item never arrives you simply open a full refund dispute)
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Okay, where can i find that usb programmer? And what supplies do I need to have it work/is there a guide to flash coreboot/libreboot with it? As for broadcom, I will ignore it now that I know its this horrible if I can get my hands on the above, the usb programmer/guide to flash. ;) IF true, zerocat's product is meaningless though. ;/
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
CH341A USB programmer is the easiest/cheapest and could be also considered libre because its' chip doesn't have its' own firmware - only a few config registers according to a (leaked?) datashit - and no other onboard chips with internal memory to store a firmware. So I don't understand why the "libre people" had to come up with a Zerocat Chipflasher - which consts like 300 euro and seems more difficult to use than CH341A. about Broadcom - just look at their wifi, both proprietary drivers and firmware, and in addition it's not working good - it is super buggy! And RPi are blobbed too, and maybe some of them could be ran libre but in a very degraded state (no graphics and no network?) Too bad the people are still buying RPis, so bringing a lot of money to Broadcom and the former Broadcom employees who has founded a company that' inventing/making the Raspberry Pis (that's the main reason why all RPis have a broadcom despite its' so bad freedom/linux status). That's just telling Broadcom (and other companies looking at this weirdly successful example) that they could keep crapping on the opensource/linux world but the "dumb customers" (not creators) will keep getting their over-promoted crap and bring lots of profits :P Yes, I'm going to stay at Lenovo G505S AMD laptop as my primary computer and will get more of them if possible. Although I also have another AMD coreboot-supported computer (also no ME/PSP backdoors but I less researched its' remaining blobs), a desktop one, it is more of a side quest.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
"It is really strange to hear - that you, while really caring about free software, would like to flash your BIOS using Pi. These Pi single board computers have one of the worst software freedom status according to Free Software Foundation - blobbed, and have a horrible Broadcom as its' CPU. As you know, Broadcom is one of the worst companies regarding their relation to opensource! And I would not be surprised if there are any backdoors inside, and maybe some spies are deliberately promoting a BIOS flashing with Pi on purpose - if through these blobs it could be possible to remote control and e.g. for some specifically targeted people trick their Pi into flashing a wrong BIOS image. There are so many Pi BIOS flashing instructions in the internet, it is suspicious - but if you are not afraid you could use them... :P" Yeah, I mentioned the raspberry pi, because I know someone who has one. :0 I don't own one. But I have access to one, I guess you could say. ;p I don't currently have anything that can do it otherwise. Although if you know an easier way to flash stuff, I may consider buying something libre in the future for this purpose. ;) Although, I have heard that SPECIFIC raspberry pi devices can be librebooted. So there is that too. PS, I have used raspberry pi to fix my x200 via the libreboot guide. They don't recommend using non-free software though for such a purpose obviously... I didn't know broadcom was that bad, thanks for telling me. :)
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
thank you, thank you, thank you. ;)
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
> Are there any durable thinkpads with any of the richland amd cpus that you think could be used as blob-free as the G505s? I haven't checked yet, more research is needed - but as you see, some thinkpads could be less durable than our "ideapad" (see a comment above about E545). And I agree with Mike that we should not spread thin our efforts by going to more platforms. It is easier to advance if all of us are working on the same computer, more chances of liberating the rest of firmwares. For example, some another AMD thinkpad (are there any?) - could have another EC controller instead of KB9012, so twice more EC firmware work could be needed if we would be caring both for G505S and that another (yet unknown) thinkpad. And someone will need to do the initial coreboot version for it - without any guarantee that it would be easy enough. So, even if you would find such an alternative AMD thinkpad: would you risk buying it, while you are not being confident that you are capable of porting a coreboot there? Or just go with a known already working solution that is G505S which maybe also costs cheaper? By the way, A**-**57M CPUs are just a soldered version of A**-**50M CPUs. I prefer that CPUs are socketed, because it means a much cheaper motherboard replacement if you would ever need it. If something on your motherboard goes really bad so couldn't be repaired, but CPU is working, you would not be able to easily remove it to put on another motherboard - and that another motherboard, with another CPU soldered, will cost more than a motherboard for A**-**50M without a CPU on it, just a socket. > Do you have documenation on how to flash with a raspberry pi b+ or later? It is really strange to hear - that you, while really caring about free software, would like to flash your BIOS using Pi. These Pi single board computers have one of the worst software freedom status according to Free Software Foundation - blobbed, and have a horrible Broadcom as its' CPU. As you know, Broadcom is one of the worst companies regarding their relation to opensource! And I would not be surprised if there are any backdoors inside, and maybe some spies are deliberately promoting a BIOS flashing with Pi on purpose - if through these blobs it could be possible to remote control and e.g. for some specifically targeted people trick their Pi into flashing a wrong BIOS image. There are so many Pi BIOS flashing instructions in the internet, it is suspicious - but if you are not afraid you could use them... :P Meanwhile, that USB CH341A programmer does not have a firmware inside of it at all - just a few config registers. You could find the datasheet for CH341A. And it costs really cheap - just $2 or $3 with free ship. Why not just buy it and use it for a peace of mind? Also it's really simple to use, e.g. I'm sure that you probably spent lots of time on configuring the Linux of your Pi. While that CH341A does not need any configuration, very easy to use and just works. And CH341A is more reliable - e.g. from time to time we see that people are having a flashing problems with RPi caused by software problems, but with CH341A the success rate is much higher - maybe simply because there's less room for human error. If you'd like a more advanced programmer, take a look on Bus Pirate v4 - its' bootloader and firmware are free opensource software, but you'll have to compile them using MPLab which isn't opensource, and flash instead of preinstalled old bootloader/firmware versions which were really buggy. More work, and having a programmer more advanced than CH341A is not required for BIOS or KB9012 flashing. Only useful if you have some other projects in mind.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
hello, Masaru san, thank you for your kind words! Yes, our primary aim is the security, and at the moment we are satisfied with G505S security if it is flashed with coreboot opensource BIOS. Because we are confident that the remaining closed source binary firmwares of G505S could not spy on us. They are not capable of leaking the information by themselves, and now could not use the help of proprietary UEFI to spy - because UEFI is already replaced with coreboot. And the AMD CPU of this laptop - while it has a good performance - luckily is old enough to not have Intel ME or AMD PSP remote control backdoors inside of it - so no other suspicious things. Of course, liberating this laptop by replacing its' remaining closed source firmwares - is still important to us, but not because of security, which is already fine in our opinion. Just because the free / opensource firmwares could let us to do more advanced configuring of G505S laptop. For example: as I mentioned above, if there will be a free firmware replacement for EC KB9012 chip proprietary firmware, that could allow us to develop a more smart fan control algorithm, for a better cooling.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Are there any durable thinkpads with any of the richland amd cpus that you think could be used as blob-free as the G505s? I found this: https://freundschafter.com/cybersecurity-cpu-and-system-alternatives-without-intel-me-iamt-and-amd-psp-secure-technology/ and wondered, if any thinkpads could be liberated that have any of those four quad core amd processors: AMD A8-5550M AMD A8-5557M AMD A10-5750M AMD A10-5757M :0 Anywho though, appreciate your response. Do you have documenation on how to flash with a raspberry pi 2 or later?
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Hello, qmastery san. My name is Masaru Suzuqi. Thanks very much for valuable information. Your posts were exact what I was wanting to know. I would try external flashing by myself with those really kind instructions. I am sure it would be fun. And I think that I made sense of my various questions in this world dialectically. And sorry for interruption conversation. But it seemed not much active... so let me ask you a few question here if you have time, please. If your time allows, I have several questions, though. From your posts, I felt that your primary aim is removing all the suspicion which a PC or a chipset has. Is that right? To be make sure, I have stated here that I do not care much whether my laptop is free or not, if it is 100 percent secure. But I like the idology, though, since my private concerns. And the ideology would be needed by people, or raher, be related people with the true freedom... issues. I am exciting a bit.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
> E545 thinkpad Mike Banon wrote a comment about E545 on Reddit: " In theory it could be possible to port from G505S to E545 but that would be spreading thin our efforts , and despite its' Thinkpad name this E545 could be less reliable than our G505S "Ideapad" : it seems that E545 has a fragile internal video cable connector, checked some reviews and already found two people for whom it broke and was expensive to replace. " > Do you guys plan to run a store in the future that sells G505S ? We prefer to teach people fishing rather than selling the caught fish ;) Also, the supply of G505S in EU/USA is quite low compared to the developing countries like Russia/India because of Lenovo strategy (the wealthy people are more likely to buy a standard Intel/Nvidia combination, while the people on a tight budget are less attached to the brands and more likely to research the best price/performance which AMD often provides, so they brought more AMD laptops to the developing countries). There are not many G505S available at EU/USA, so it is of a vital importance to G505S firmware development, that as many available G505S as possible - should end up at the hands of the people who are capable of the external flashing! They may contribute to the development one day (there are always the low hanging fruits available for not-a-programmers), or at least test the potentially-bricking experimental coreboot builds made by more experienced developers. E.g. while we've been adding a discrete GPU support, Mike wanted to make sure that these changes are not breaking the things for G505S without a dGPU, and he did not have such a G505S to test by himself, but luckily QubesN00b - who had to learn the external flashing of G505S and got the external flashing tools to install coreboot there - of course was confident that he could unbrick in the case of a bricking build, so he helped by testing it on his own G505S. > I am not an expert on how to do external flashing on a g505s or on ANY device for that matter... External flashing is much easier than you expect, and the external flashing tools are really cheap: USB CH341A programmer, supported by flashrom opensource flashing tool, costs just $2-$3 with free shipping from China (AliExpress) - and the "premium" SOIC8 test clip (required to flash a BIOS chip without soldering) with a standard 2.54mm 1P pins - costs about $7 with free ship also. And maybe you already have the 1P male-female wires to connect them between each other. Well, you may need to add the 0.5m USB extension cable for your convenience, for about $2. So, the total expenses are less than $15 - and it always puzzled me why the "libreboot shops" don't give you the flashing tools despite you're paying a premium price. Without these tools you don't have a real "freedom to modify" ! I really encourage you to read this DangerousPrototypes wiki article - http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Flashing_a_BIOS_chip_with_Bus_Pirate . Although the links to the flashing tools are a bit outdated, so here are the links for you - https://pastebin.com/FFV2piqR . And here is the Mike's comment about the different G505S motherboard versions - https://www.reddit.com/r/coreboot/comments/a0a2mh/am_i_understanding_it_right_we_can_have_coreboot/ebavd7e . Please note that G505S could also differ by the attached-to-motherboard components like a socketed CPU or pre-installed RAM, but those are removable. Should try your best to get with A10-5750M CPU preinstalled but it's possible to get it separately for about $40. And the pre-installed RAM is usually crappy 1600MHz CL11 or 1333MHz CL9 so don't care about its' volume because you would resell it to replace with a faster 1600MHz CL9 that could be also 2*8 = 16GB in volume. Unlike the intel thinkpads, it seems that G505S supports any RAM module perfectly, we tried so many different modules and all them are working fine :-) It feels good when you don't need to stick to some (usually short) RAM compatibility list. KB9012 flashing is slightly harder because you'll need to solder a special flashing adapter, but also possible even for the beginners - and currently optional: at the moment we don't have a free firmware replacement yet, so this is used only to erase the stuff like serial numbers inside the proprietary firmware by replacing it with a "clean" version directly extracted from Lenovo UEFI update tool (which also updates the EC firmware). Will need to get a short 1.0mm pitch 30P flex cable, the link to which is provided at KB9012 flashing instruction - http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Flashing_KB9012_with_Bus_Pirate (actually that's 10pcs, but economically inefficient to buy fewer). Also, as usual you'd need to get a good WiFi card, e.g. AR9462 - the best widely available card from Atheros ath9k family - which supports 2.4GHz + 5 GHz, 300Mbps, and its' WiFi could
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Out of curiosity do you also plan to do the same treatment, to E545 thinkpad? It also uses a richland amd cpu. PS, do you guys plan to run a store in the future that sells those? Even if it wouldn't be fully libre. Just curious, as I am not an expert on how to do external flashing with a g505s or any device for that matter...
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Please see my comment below regarding its' durability. And BTW I forgot to tell you that G505S AMD CPU is not vulnerable to some intel-specific bugs like Meltdown, to patch which you have to install a 5%-30% (depending on a task) performance crippling patch at the Intel thinkpads.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
A downgrade - regarding the build quality, of course, but not regarding the performance. G505S CPU is much more powerful, there's 16GB RAM support - and also, being AMD-based, G505S is not vulnerable to some Intel-specific vulnerabilities like Meltdown - for which a performance crippling patch is required.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Sorry if I was unclear: I meant that the people _behind the "libreboot laptop stores"_ did not contribute anything for G505S, not that the "Libreboot community" did not contribute (also the coreboot/libreboot/flashrom/seabios communities are really interconnected). For example: Paul Kocialkowski, who is much more of a libreboot guy, has made a really valuable contribution - he created the initial version of what could grow into a free firmware replacement for KB9012 embedded controller of G505S laptop. KB9012 is the important controller which e.g. waits for your button presses, reads the values from thermal sensors and adjusts the fan speed accordingly - and it has 128KB internal memory where its' firmware resides. We are confident that KB9012 proprietary firmware is not a security risk, at least when it could not cooperate with the proprietary UEFI firmware which already got replaced with coreboot: Paul has not found anything suspicious while reverse engineering it, and also I made several memory dumps of internal KB9012 memory at various points of time and by comparing the memory dumps it is obvious that it is not recording my key presses. However, the free firmware replacement still could be really nice: e.g. it always seemed to me that the fan speed adjustment algorithm of the proprietary firmware is imperfect, while the free firmware's algorithm could be much better. Yes, the stuff like this could be achieved by the hardware modding, e.g. you disconnect the fan wires from the motherboard and connect them to an external fan speed controller (maybe except the yellow wire which gives the information about its' current speed to motherboard, without this wire a proprietary firmware might think that a fan is broken because no information is coming and might do something like a force laptop shutdown; or maybe it could be better to disconnect the yellow wire as well, if a proprietary firmware becomes glitchy when it sees that despite its' fan speed control commands the actual fan speed is not changing - I don't know yet which approach is correct in G505S situation). > Wait though, you saying G505S can be flashed without external flashers? BIOS chip: you have to use the external flasher - but only once, while switching from a proprietary UEFI to coreboot. Consider this as an entrance exam: if you can do the external flashing by yourself, that means you can easily unbrick your G505S in case of a bad coreboot build. So there is a higher chance that later you will be contributing to coreboot, simply because you aren't afraid to do the experimental builds while developing the new features and flash them to your G505S. Also, we know the exact place of where could cut a small plastic part so that even for the external flasher it will take less than 5 minutes to access (please see the attachments). However it should be done with the tear down G505S to avoid damaging a LED Board flex cable and the motherboard accidentally. Please see the attachments, those lines could be cut with a soldering iron (use a cheap tip because it will be difficult to clean from molten plastic later) or a cheap knife periodically heated with gas lighter. KB9012 chip: only the external flasher is working, until someone will reverse engineer the interesting "debug mode" the UEFI is putting the laptop into while updating the EC. And its slightly more difficult than BIOS chip flashing, since you'll have to craft a custom adapter from a flex cable (EC is externally flashed through a motherboard's keyboard port), however this is not hard for a dedicated person - and, like in a BIOS chip flashing, you don't have to solder any wires to the motherboard itself! It's very important because many people are not confident about their soldering skills, but if you are soldering the detachable adapter you could take as many time as you need. See some cool photos at Flashing KB9012 article. > ps, I almost always use a power strip. :) I meant a more heavy duty stuff, a big rectangular box "automatic voltage regulator" like "TRD2KVA" (just a random example). Its looks like UPS but without a battery inside to save the costs. I am not sure if a power strip could protect from a really bad surge, see these boxes exist for a reason :P Luckily their price isn't much higher compared to a strip. And you could hear the mechanism inside the box clicking - instantly moving to disconnect from the electricity when there's a spike. > Do you have a build that runs without blobs? No: while there are some not-essential blobs (e.g. GPU blob - just run G505S in a headless mode), there are also some essential ones like SMU firmware, which according to a CCC talk could be replaced with something malicious (just like any other firmware), but if there is a coreboot flashed and your OS is secure then no one can do it. I think that every person tries to
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
My bad, qmastery, I didn't know that the Libreboot community didn't contribute at all... Wait though, you saying it can be flashed without external flashers? That sounds badass. :) Ps, I wasn't trying to be mean when I said minifree should sell it. Although, blobbed coreboot seems unneeded for this laptop. ;/ ps, I almost always use a power strip. :)
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Is the g505s really that bad of a laptop? I am curious, is it easy to break, durability wise? But yeah, it does have an extremely fast processor. I wonder if any other laptops have that amd processor that can be librebooted that are durable... Just a thought. ;)
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Hi, CalmStorm! I am qmastery (from your Notabug link above and many other places), and Pyraman has invited me to reply to your comment above, so I am here now ;-) > The g505s lenovo apparently can run blobless and is a target for libreboot G505S could not run blobless YET - but it has a huge advantage compared to post-C2D intel thinkpads: those thinkpads will be forever stuck with some blobs (e.g. the remains of ME), while the remaining G505S blobs are not signed - all of them could be replaced by the free software and a real work is ongoing. So, unlike the thinkpads like X220, this G505S has a real chance to become librebooted and FSF RYF certified. To be honest, this work is going on slowly and e.g. at the moment nobody is working on that "90% completed" AtomBIOS replacement - simply because while reverse engineering we the G505S people became completely confident that there are no backdoors inside - and knowing that, nobody is interested enough to complete the remaining "10%" since there are more important things to work on. For example, recently we got a discrete GPU working on G505S (at those G505S versions which have it) - and it also requires a blob, but which is quite similar to integrated GPU's blob by its' nature and so the available experience could be used to create a free software replacement for it as well, if really needed. > I don't know how durable that device is/when it will be librebooted. Lenovo states the average service life of G505S laptop is 4 years, but that could be significantly prolonged if you would be using it with care. It has a structural weakness of a case at the left side of laptop, and if the case breaks there - it would be significantly harder to open/close the laptop: you'd have to be doing it much slower if you don't want to extend the damage. Luckily it could be reinforced/fixed if you are good at mechanics. Another weak place is that power circuits of this laptop could be vulnerable to power surges because of not enough protections at laptop's motherboard and power adapter, e.g. KB9012 embedded controller with some of its' SMD surroundings could be fried - and while the components should be cheap (that KB9012 costs about 2 doll with free ship from china), it is really difficult to replace them for an unskilled person because e.g. KB9012 has 128 tiny legs, and repair shop of course will ask significantly more than these components really cost. So, if your domestic electrical networks aren't stable enough, as a precaution it is advised to get a good big power surge protector. So yes - to be honest G505S is physically less durable than X200, but thanks to significantly more powerful CPU and 16GB RAM support while having a similar freedom/security potential, I will always choose G505S over X200. > When it does get liberated I hope it will be sold on minifree Personally I would see it as a big downside, because minifree is really overpriced (at least in my techsavvy person's point of view), and refurbishing a used G505S / flashing the free firmwares there - is very simple, and really detailed step-by-step "Flashing a BIOS chip"/"Flashing KB9012" instructions have been written for it at DangerousPrototypes wiki. Also, no offence please!, but the people who would be buying a preflashed laptop from minifree or some other similar place, are less likely to be tech savvy enough to contribute something valuable to G505S firmware. Simply because if they are ready to learn how to flash G505S by themselves, then they don't need minifree - could buy this laptop for much cheaper price from some random person and flash it all by themselves ; and if they are not ready to learn how to do it then they are less likely to improve any firmwares as that obviously involves the flashing which they are trying to avoid by getting from minifree. As you could hopefully see, if "minifree and alikes" would be stocking up these G505S laptops after G505S will eventually get a FSF RYF certification, it could result in a significantly smaller availability of G505S to tech savvy people that we really need, while in a higher availability to the people with big money but who probably aren't going to contribute anything to core/libreboot (the types of people who are more likely to use this G505S as a tool for work - hope not a criminal one - but will not work on this tool itself), so not giving back to the community except paying the premium price to "minifree and alikes" who maybe have not contributed anything for this laptop yet. So, to be honest, your statement about "minifree" is a bit discouraging to me, because I am pretty sure that the existing blobs have been researched well by us and no backdoors have been found there. So, is there any point for us to try to get more libre, while knowing that by liberating it we are unlikely to achieve better security while its'
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
> The g505s lenovo apparently can run blobless and is a target for libreboot. You realize though that even if this would happen this could be considered a downgrade from e.g. an X200 for some? Speaking in terms of build quality and keyboard which many consider their main interface with a computer the "sweet spot" of good Lenovo laptops ended with the X220 in 2011 (which, sadly enough, is impossible to run without IME fully removed). After that, everything but the displays and performance are worse, rather terrible chiclet keyboards (and no trackpoint with this one) and the overall build quality isn't as nice (flexing, ruggedness). Comparing this budget laptop with an X200 that is ~3 times isn't the best way to look at it, but they are priced in a similar range on the second hand market. That being said, another target for Libreboot would certainly be nice indeed - there's a Jill for every Jack after all.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
I spoke too soon, about this, but THERE might actually be an amd gpu you can use soon that is deblobbed... Such as THIS: https://notabug.org/qmastery/libreboot/src/master/docs/candidates.md The g505s lenovo apparently can run blobless and is a target for libreboot. However, I don't know how durable that device is/when it will be librebooted. Wish I knew both answers... heh... When it does get liberated I hope it will be sold on minifree.org, etc...
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
There is no difference between Taiwan and China, same Asia. I don't believe that Taiwan has flying unicorns that are making perfect computers.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Vega is not an option because it contains AMD PSP backdoor. Maybe RX580 because it does not contain it
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Agree! but if your computer is made in Taiwan only, it will work fine, I know this by experience.. but if it ia made in china then you will encounter problems.
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Two options seem to exist, Coreboot + me cleaner... or libreboot. At least as x86 goes... Otherwise its Risc-V future or ARM within reason of course... OR powerpc if you have a lot of money. Those are your options for newer technology I believe. Although some of them probably won't be enough if you want to do gaming. :/ But yeah, avoid AMD like the plague, and intel gen4 and beyond unless intel me is completely neutered and wifi card is free software friendly. Even intel gen3 is somewhat questionable though. Zerocat.org sells some coreboot laptops with gen3, but make sure the intel me is disabled as much as possible. :) X230 is the only one I would get though, as it is stripped down a lot. and then there is this: https://tjheeta.github.io/2018/07/15/thinkpad-x230-coreboot-power-usage/
Re: [Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
I remember when I first installed Trisquel I was getting 1024*768 resolution, after upgrading the Linux-libre kernel to 4.19.*, I did get 1080p resolution(but the audio in my monitor was not working via HDMI so... I use headphones :D ). I have an AMD GPU RX 560. When you read this "Linux-libre kernel = 100% Freedom ... Updated AMD GPU". That means the linux kernel developers updated the gpu driver(Take the example above, upgrading the kernel to 4.19.* gives me support for 1080p resolution ;) ) If you really need GPU compute for work or other tasks you can check the AMD Vega GPU it is well supported in the kernel, but it's expensive...(Although I'm not sure if it is 100% free software). Other than that you stuck with proprietary drivers :/ if you really need gpu compute.
[Trisquel-users] Is there an amd gpu (deblobbed) which I can use?
Hi everyone, I hope you all are doing well. First I`m new to GNU-Linux/libre (Trisquel) and I`m very confused about the topic GNU-Linux/libre and which gpu I am able to use with it. I know that I can use some nvidia gpu like 600/700 I also have right now 2 nvidia gpus for testing purpose one is gtx 580 which works but performance wise it is awful and a gtx 770 which I had the best performance result so far. But I have some ethical issues using hardware from this company (nvidia), they behavior against the nouveau project making things much complicated for reverse engineering and other stuff which lets me avoid using them. I was searching the whole web for an answer but I didn't get really a satisfied one. Also at a reddit topic some one who says he can use amd gpu with linux/libre. I have found here a post from jxself which says: /* Firmware Names */ -#define FIRMWARE_TONGA "amdgpu/tonga_uvd.bin" -#define FIRMWARE_CARRIZO "amdgpu/carrizo_uvd.bin" -#define FIRMWARE_FIJI "amdgpu/fiji_uvd.bin" -#define FIRMWARE_STONEY "amdgpu/stoney_uvd.bin" +#define FIRMWARE_TONGA "/*(DEBLOBBED)*/" +#define FIRMWARE_CARRIZO "/*(DEBLOBBED)*/" +#define FIRMWARE_FIJI "/*(DEBLOBBED)*/" +#define FIRMWARE_STONEY "/*(DEBLOBBED)*/" So what does that mean, can I use an amd gpu depending on this firmware, with 3D acceleration? For testing I have r9 280 depends on Tahiti (which works but with out 3d acceleration) and the r7 260x depends on Bonaire. But someone from h-node.org/ had a r7 240 which also depends on Oland, I think. Or is there no amd gpu outside which works with 3D acceleration? Also I was looking for at h-node.org/videocards/catalogue and found the only amd gpu which could fit my needs is r7 200 but users are in doubt about: "Was contributed back in 2014 by an anonymous user. So It was way back then, when there was no Linux-libre as it is today and maybe a lot of firmware was not removed back then. The device was accepted then.", says Ark74. It is very frustrating if there is no 100% clear answer or a detailed list which gpu is working with 3d acceleration. About this topic (or I`m just to stupid to understand it xD) also it was very confusing that trisquel has amdgpu, radeon and ati driver. Why they are there if amdgpu require non free firmware? Also confusing reading something like that "Linux-libre kernel = 100% Freedom ... Updated AMD GPU". I hope some one can enlighten/help me about this problem i have. Thank you very much and greets. Ps: sry for my bad english xD
