Opinions on Libre Computer Board Systems

"Never heard about them.

I see they are using Amlogic's S905X in the board You linked and Allwinner's SoCs in some other boards. You probably want to have a fully libre device (aka RYF-eligible). In case of ARM SBCs this means You want *at least* a blob-less U-boot port for that platform and a blob-less graphic stack (there could theoretically be other issues, but those are the most common ones).

Allwinner processors (despite company's ugly behaviour) have been used in fully-libre boards for some time and I could quickly find out which models run with blob-less U-boot. For Amlogic - there are little search results. You could dig into U-boot sources and see if there are any blobs being included in image for S905X... or You could email the company asking whether there are any nonfree blobs in the U-boot port they are using - that's what I would do in the first place.

As to the graphic stack, Mali-450 (also used in some Rockchip and Allwinner SoCc) has libre drivers, so it should be ok:
https://wiki.debian.org/PanfrostLima

You can also buy one of the libre boards mentioned in this thread:
https://trisquel.info/en/forum/freedombox-1"

Thanks for the links and info. It helped a lot. I Gave me some ideas on products as well as the OSHWA database to comb through.

Sorry for digging back up this already month-old thread, but...

I thought You'd be interested in the fact that SoCs commonly used in those ARM SBCs are also being used in laptops.

See this Olimex one (Allwinner CPU):
https://www.olimex.com/Products/DIY-Laptop/KITS/TERES-A64-BLACK/open-source-hardware

Or that from PINE64 (RockChip CPU):
https://pine64.com/product/14%e2%80%b3-pinebook-pro-linux-laptop-ansi-us-keyboard/?v=98b6780fefa7

Those liberatable chromebooks out there also happen to be using RockChip CPUs. All those can be booted and have graphic working without any proprietary blobs.

The sad thing is that none of those laptop vendors is fully devoted to sw freedom - and hence they all included wifi chips that require nonfree firmware. At least in case of Pinebook Pro it should be possible to populate the free PCI slot with an Atheros card... There is also little to no possibility of increasing storage in those laptops. And currently none of them can be easily purchased without nonfree js :/

So what You mentioned is almost there, but not exactly as hacker-free as we would want it to be

I had been looing at the Beagleboard AI but this does look nicer with the 8GB of RAM. I notice it doesn't list any onboard storage so does it rely solely on SD cards for storage ?

I saw some people (guys from Olimex if I recall correctly) mention that risc-V has no actual benefits over ARM. The argument in favor of that opinion is that even though some free HDL implementations of that architecture exist, all Risc-V chips currently available on the market are from Chinese companies that don't release their designs and might have put anything in the silicon. In the end - the user knows as little about inner workings of their Risc-V chip as they would with an ARM chip.

Another point is that ARM supposedly requires all companies to which it licenses its architecture to make products compatible with its specification. In case of Risc-V there aren't any requirements, so a company can legally sell a chip with arbitrary differences from architecture standard.
Not to mention they might also choose to include DRM or some equivalent of Intel ME in the future.

I must say - these arguments speak to me. However, Risc-V also makes it possible for smaller, freedom-dedicated firms to one day fabricate their CPUs.

In the end - I think we'll have to judge each processor model separately, as we used to.
What I'm afraid of is that existence of free HDL designs and patent/royalty-free ISA might (surprisingly) be smaller of the problems, with bigger one being access to a fab. Although this is also getting better, technologies currently available to mere mortals are still over a decade old. See:
http://opencircuitdesign.com/qflow/index.html
https://github.com/google/skywater-pdk

EDIT: Wikipedia doesn't mention SiFive (company behind BeagleV) being Chinese business - rather a USA one. Idk what particular manufacturers those Olimex guys meant

EDIT2: Btw, there were libre chip designs available before. OpenRISC and OpenSPARC. For some reason (perheps their GPL license causing practical problems?) these did not become common and there was no such hype for them as there is for Risc-V :/

EDIT3: Toolchain for SiFive products like BeagleV seems to be here:
https://github.com/sifive/freedom-u-sdk
We're to see if there are going to be any blobs. I hope not :)

I'd take Debian over Parabola myself. Every time I try to install Parabola or Hyperbola ends in failure on my part. Debian may not be perfect but it is dirt easy to install like Trisquel.