$20 Macbook 2,1 is LIBERATED???

name at domain wrote:
> So, I did a thing. It took me a week to research and compile information to
> get to this state.
>
> Am I "librerated"?

Trisquel GNU/Linux only includes free software in the entire distribution,
including the kernel because this OS uses the GNU Linux-libre kernel. So it
stands to reason that if you can boot Trisquel GNU/Linux on a computer and
get all of the hardware to work, then it's safe to say all of that hardware
can be operated with free software.

You might still have nonfree firmware in some chips -- last I knew, Macs
have keyboards with reprogrammable software (firmware) in them (perhaps
this was only Apple brand external keyboards?). I'm not sure if this
particular firmware is being looked into. Some nonfree firmware cannot be
replaced and there's nothing we can do about that for now (firmware in hard
drives, for example). BIOS firmware can be replaced with a free BIOS
replacement in some cases (see https://libreboot.org for information on
Libreboot, a free distribution of Coreboot). My understanding is that
Libreboot is to Coreboot what GNU Linux-libre is to Linus Torvalds' variant
of the Linux kernel in one respect -- the former in both cases have no
proprietary blobs.

You might also have chosen to install nonfree software on the Trisquel
GNU/Linux system, in which case you would also have a nonfree system.

If you avoid these problems your system is as liberated a system as we can
have today.

Since you have libreboot successfully installed, it is now considered liberated from the firmware level. As for firmware or "blobs", as long as they don't update themselves spontaneously (via internet or certain "always-on" connection), they can be considered "physical circuits" and therefore pose no threat to freedom (so said Richard Stallman).

I recently have a T500 liberated. I purchased it at a very low price, nearly as cheap as your MacBook 2,1, because there was some firmware failure (ME firmware corruption). I upgraded the EC and then installed coreboot. Every symptom due to firmware (ME) corruption was gone. The only drawback is that hardware-based virtualization is unusable due to lack of CPU microcode.

For 945GM-based legacy notebooks, I prefer ThinkPad X60 and Z61t. I recently obtained another (almost brand new) Z61t.

there is the issue with intel ME while my computer works great with trisquel it is a intel core i3 it still has the issue with the intel me back door purism and think penguin are trying to solve this issue with modern hardware but its not to the point of RYF yet as for you you dont have the intel me backdoor so you are as liberated as you can be at this point