New Lemote Machines use an AMD graphics card, which requires a binary blob.
Their BIOS is free, but you can't use 3D with free software until one writes
a free replacement. ThinkPenguin machines do not have a free BIOS, but their
graphics card works with free software.
I think it is currently impossible to write a free replacement for the
nonfree microcode, without knowing the internals of the graphics hardware. It
might be better to support free hardware projects such as OpenCores and
Milkymist that develop freedom friendly hardware.
I found an artice about (L)GPLed semiconductor cores at:
http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/v25/25HarvJLTech131.pdf
Unforunately it uses the words “Intellectual Property” and “Open
Source”.
In this video Richard Stallman speaks about free hardware and explain why
these words must be avoided.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNBMdDaYhZA&feature=watch-vrec
