There is a possibility of an ARM-based solution. It's tricky to do and won't
exactly be competitive with modern x86 offerings. However the designs are
being worked on that may eventually lead to something better. Right now your
going to be missing 3D accelerated graphics with any ARM based solution that
is running only free software. The efforts to reverse engineer fell
through/never materialized.
An ARM based solution though would be better than what we have with x86 from
a free software perspective and is what Todd should have done if he was going
to do a campaign. The problem is he isn't actually designing a laptop. He's
just putting the pieces together based on a reference design that already
exists.
There are a number of things that need to be done before a proper free
software ARM-laptop can be manufactured. Besides an actual design you need an
OS ARM image. What good is a ARM laptop without an operating system?
There is/was at least one ARM 13.3" laptop reference design we could have
built off. We investigated it a bit and there were license violations and
backdoor issues which allowed a major government to spy on its citizens. In
theory it should have worked for us still, from a free software perspective
anyway, but a certain large government had its hands in its design. That was
then licensed including a binary image to others for manufacture. Ultimately
we'd not be able to get it manufactured as the companies doing so are too
afraid to do business with anybody who has the source code (as opposed to
them giving people just the binary). They (the factories) fear being arrested
for collusion with the enemy. I'm pretty sure its this particular system that
is the problem as its being given/sold to the enemy or potential enemy anyway
by the state. I don't think there would be a problem had this not been the
situation. It's quite interesting what you can learn from those working in
the free software world- and who have connections to people working in or
alongside manufacturing. I'd love to see a story on this go public, but I'm
pretty confident it would be highly risky for those involved.
Anyway a campaign to pull together the resources to manufacture the machines
is definitely something that'll be needed.
