Libre cell phones and tablets
I've been trying to move all of my devices to free software and it hasn't been going well. My laptop is free, aside from the BIOS, but I'm waiting until it dies to buy one free from the ground up.
As far as cell phone go, even the most free operating systems like Replicant are undermined by non-free firmware. Even if that problem was solved, the cell phone company can still know your location with an accuracy of a few kilometers.
Tablets are a different story but have some of the same issues. Most free operating systems were never designed with touch screens in mind though they do work somewhat normally.
Does anyone have advice or experience with libre devices that aren't desktops or laptops?
About that conversation I had with Matt Lee from the fsf about the OpenPandora I was talking about, here is the last replay I had with him:
"Hey, I remember you :)
Since then we've spoken to the developers, and Craig got quite heated on
his forum. Basically, it has a lot of firmware blobs and there's little
effort being done to fix some of them.
http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/7085-how-free-is-the-openpandora/"
I believe Matt said Craig Rothwell was the inventor/businessman behind OpenPandora.
After that I lost interest on the OpenPandora project. I guess that as onpon4 mentions, you could use the OpenPandora with more or less free software even if the developer's purpose wasn't specifically free software, as we do with most devices already anyway, but at that time I was hopping to find a free software focus project. Even today I do not understand why isn't the community funding a device alike with free software in mind. I have heard it's hard to convince the big companies to give free software drivers, which is probably why the OpenPandora is not anyway.
That's why I do believe that supporting replicant, can really help. I mean, a tablet or a cellphone could basically do what the Open Pandora does anyway, right?, and their focus is free software. Now add a joystick to a cellphone and I think you got your self a deal xD
It is true that replicant and cell phone's freeness is not perfect yet, but I believe that if we continue supporting it that day may come. At least they are trying, unlike the Open Pandora.
I want to make a correction. I never really read the mentioned OpenPandora's forum thread, I took what I understood Matt was telling me about it, but now that I'm reading it, the people of the OpenPandora don't seem to be so closed minded on the possibility of talking about its device freedom. Actually they really seem to be very informed about free software, and I loved the idea that this subject was discussed. I think it's healthy and important that people talk about free software. I'll finish it reading and replay back my impressions.
Never mind, it was Craig it self who was being and asshole toward Matt XD Which it's weird, because I thought they were having a polite conversation through email before that. I mean, if Craig had its doubts about software freedom importance or practicability why not discussed it before accepting the offer of discussing it on the forum. Sorry for the word I used to describe Craig's replays, but as described by other users there, they were totally uncalled for.
By the way, I had their email conversations in case someone is interested. Until this forum thread, Craig was very polite and seemed very interested on the subject. And Matt was very professional, and truly showed interest and respect to the project. Oh well, some times this things happen :(
I finally read the whole thing. I think I may have exaggerated things a little. I thought the whole thing was going to be messier. At the end, is obvious that Craig has a different idea when it comes to free software. His device it awesome for what it is, but I wouldn't support it if one is looking to support free software.
I don't know why I didn't share what Matt found about OpenPandora when it happened back on 2008. At least I couldn't find an article of it on trisquel's forum. If that's OK I'll make and new forum thread right now.
I just want to reiterate: no one in the OpenPandora community likes Craig anymore, and he is long gone from involvement in the OpenPandora's production. EvilDragon leads it now, and is also the main guy behind the Pyra (which Craig has no involvement in).