Not to nitpick although I think this isn't quite accurate. I believe the
Lemote doesn't have a BIOS. It isn't that it has a free BIOS. Some of the
hardware may be non-free. I know the newer one has a non-free 3d accelerated
graphics chipset for instance.
I think there is a bit of incorrect information being spread by all of us in
regards to some of the details about what RMS uses, it's exact status freedom
wise, the distributions you can run on it, the reasons RMS uses it, and so
forth.
Our systems are probably reliant on the least non-free software for instance
although are technically not 100% free. The BIOS and non-free microcode
primarily. Though unlike the laptops which have had a free BIOS ours aren't
reliant on other components which need non-free drivers. Thus distributions
like Trisquel are fully supported. But- again- you have to look at it in
relation to what is available and currently feasible. There are at least some
tradeoffs being made by everyone across the board.
Ultimately we would like to ship a system with a free BIOS although porting
coreboot (free BIOS) is a non-trivial task. It isn't cheap. The other thing
is the BIOS is not the big problem everybody thinks it is. At least there is
a bigger problem getting to a 100% free system. Microcode exists which is a
bigger problem to overcome. I'm no expert in this and neither is Richard
Stallman.
The best person to explain this I believe is one of the coreboot developers.
I spoke with the lead developer a few years ago on these issues during a
conference. At least I think he was the lead developer. I know it was one of
the core developers at least working on the project.
