Is there such a thing as a FSF complient tablet?
My Blackberry Playbook is coming to the end of its life, well the brower is becoming less complient with various websites so time to move on. Tall order but can anyone suggest an off the shelf replacement of an image to blow I can use on a replacement table - being mindful of FSF guidelines.
https://www.replicant.us/supported-devices.php
Do you know about the
replicant.us
tablets?
I am a member!
Most websites don't work in a free browser to begin with, unless you run
proprietary software inside it.
Good point. maybe a "PC" based tablet that can run Trisquel or alike.
I know two free/libre (FSF compliant) tablets: ThinkPad X60t and X200t
And several more models supported by coreboot: ThinkPad X201t, X220t and X230t
Following models are supportable by coreboot: ThinkPad X41t, X61t, Helix (Machine Type 369x~370x), (S1) Yoga (Machine Type 20C0/20CD), (S1) Yoga 12 (Machine Type 20DK/20DL)
Please note that X41t and some X60t use 32-bit processors. Be sure to install the i686 version of Trisquel on them.
Note 2: Not all (S1) Yoga (12) models support digitizer pen. If you want to use the digitizer pen, ask the seller before actually purchasing.
Depending on your requirements there might be some tablets and phones that can run with *mostly* free software.
If you are - like me - only interested in devices with freedom level comparable to RYF, then the only viable tablet I know of is the PineTab: https://www.pine64.org/pinetab/
It should be possible to boot and run it without blobs.
Problems:
1. Wi-Fi will not work without nonfree firmware blob
2. Even though its processor can be booted with blobless U-boot, it is from Allwinner, which is notorious for its violations of kernels's GPL and when buying the PineTab you're indirectly letting Allwinner make money.
I highly doubt you can find - as of today - a tables that would be free from problem 1. The only freesw-enabled Wi-Fi chips are Atheros ones which, as I heard, are unsuitable for low-power battery-powered devices like tablets. Otherwise, you might be able to find some tablets similar freedom-wise to PineTab.
Also, PINE64's store requires nonfree js to work (either stripe.js or PayPal). Perhaps this could be bypassed by purchasing from a reseller or maybe by negotiating another payment method with Pine.
Anyway, good luck :)
I am a translator!
The OLinuXino LIME2 is officially supported by Parabola and starts with U-boot which is GPL software.
It can run on battery and be assembled with a 10 inch touch screen like in https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/LCD/LCD10-METAL-FRAME/images/thumbs/200x150/LCD10-METAL-FRAME-1.jpg making it somehow a tablet but I don't know whether there is support in Parabola for the touch screen. Besides, I expect the metal frame to be rather heavy.
I plan to investigate that further as I am also interested (and I am already using two OLinuXino LIME2s as desktop and as headless server).
Oh, yeah, Olimex offers some products similar freedom-wise to those from Pine. Theye also seem to have the same issues like nonfree wifi[1] and nonfree js in their store.
[1] Note that even though they do sell Atheros chips separately, they include some other wifi modules in their devices.
I am a translator!
The Olinuxino LIME2 has no wifi chip but indeed, the USB wifi dongle sold by Olimex probably needs proprietary software to work.
Olimex don't say what can work with free software only in what they sell and what currently cannot. I looked at Olimex Debian official image for the Olinuxino LIME 2 and saw that it is including non-free in sources.list. I asked on Olimex forum if I could remove that and they answered yes it should work. However, the answer was unclear wheter there is any non free software in the image (that would still be there but not updated).
This is why I took software from Parabola and not from any official Olimex image. It took me some more time to have a working system but it works well. I have two wifi USB dongles that work with Trisquel without installing anything, so I assume these dongles don't use non-free software (I got them 10 years ago at a time I had no clue about such aspects). I did not try them yet on the Olinuxino with Parabola but I will.
> The Olinuxino LIME2 has no wifi chip
Sorry, I was referring to Olimex systems in general. I meant the ones that feature wifi (Teres I) require nonfree sw for it.
> the USB wifi dongle sold by Olimex probably needs
> proprietary software to work.
They actually do offer dongles with Atheros chipsets which use free firmware. The problematic thing is they used other chipsets in everything but these dongles. I could have been more precise in my previous post, I admit.
> I have two wifi USB dongles that work with Trisquel
> without installing anything, so I assume these
> dongles don't use non-free software (I got them
> 10 years ago at a time I had no clue about such aspects).
It's quite likely these dongles have Atheros chipsets. One often has to hunt for freesw-friendly hardware on the internet because it's difficult to find - Atheros wifi is an exception to this. These dongles used to be pretty common (my Dad bought one years ago, also without having a clue about these things).