Should we endorse the $9 Computer project CHIP?
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(I'm at work with limited time to search the forum so I apologize if this has been answered before.)
"CHIP" looks really cool and I like the PDA-style device it attaches to but I'm concerned about this for two reasons:
1) Is there any need for non-free software to run this device? I'm sick of devices which portray themselves as free (they say "open") but have some irritating catch that makes it non-free in practice. This is supposed to be licensed under a free license for hardware, but I'm not sure of all the details.
2) I've heard disturbing things about willful GPL violations in the past by their "partner" in this venture. I believe it's Allwinner. I would have scruples in endorsing people who carelessly violate the principles of the movement.
Any knowledge our brilliant forum has would be helpful.
Allwinner does have a checkered past and I generally twitch when I see the term "open source" used so many times. I have serous doubts about this project. Its also clear it comes loaded with lots of blobs and access to even more non-free bits. Whether all that could be removed and replaced with a usable free system seems like a fools errand to me.
Also this has already been discussed, you might want to check out: https://trisquel.info/en/forum/9-soc-claims-be-completely-open-source-sic
With this kind of projects you should always wait and see before endorsing. When it comes out we should make a judgment by installing a completely free OS and seeing what works.
That said, the AllWinner processor (SoC) uses the Mali-400 GPU, which is known to be problematic, as it requires non-free software. There's a reverse engineering free software project called http://limadriver.org/, and it has made progress, but I don't know if its usable. But "Chip" can be useful even without the GPU.
Maybe the WiFi or Bluetooth won't work, but who knows. Other things will probably work.
About problems with AllWinner in general, I don't think we can endorse any CPU manufacturer anyway. To me AllWinner don't seem much worse than Intel, AMD or others, which also distribute and require non-free software for their hardware to work. So I wouldn't judge the developers of "Chip" just because they chose to use an AllWinner SoC.
We should wait and see.
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