Librem 15, a fully open notebook with adequate features

The project campaign raised the required amount

Librem 15 is a laptop project that authors claim respects the user's freedom. Its software components are completely free. Approximately 2.5 days were left until the end of the crowdfunding campaign , and Librem 15 had already received the necessary amount of funds - more than $ 380,000 out of $ 250,000 requested.

Today, the most radical open source fans are forced to settle for more often rather mediocre laptops. For example, Richard Stallman usesLenovo Thinkpad X60 originally from 2006 - it was the first commercial computer that was distributed with an open operating system and an open initialization program. But Stallman cannot make concessions and return to a machine with a non-free BIOS. The product from Purism tries both to provide freedom and to have attractive technical characteristics, and this was reflected in its high price.

The laptop has the following hardware:

• Screen diagonal of 39.62 centimeters / 15.6 inches with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 (FullHD) or 3840 × 2160 (4K). The dimensions of the device are 375 × 244 × 22 mm, the base weight is exactly 2 kg.
• Intel i7-4770HQ, 4 cores (8 threads), 3.4 GHz. Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 integrated graphics are available.
• From 4 to 32 GB of RAM.
• It is stated that the 48 Wh battery provides up to eight hours of operation.
• As a permanent memory, 500 GB and 1 TB hard drives and 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB solid state drives are available. Instead of an optical drive, you can put a second storage device or a second battery.
• Conclusions: 3 USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI (version not specified, but hardly 2.0), one RJ45. Of course, also on the network, the laptop can work using WiFi (802.11n, ath9k).
• 720p camera.
• Full sized keyboard. Engraving is available to choose from, but the list contains only one language of the countries of the former USSR - Russian.

There is also an SDXC card slot in the pin list, but it is not mentioned how it will work without the exFAT proprietary file system driver. In general, electronics was chosen in such a way that proprietary drivers and other components were not required for its operation. The project claims that all other Linux-preinstalled devices have binary blobs in the kernel, and Purism was able to avoid this.



But the main value of the project is not in hardware, but in philosophy. For any software - the kernel, BIOS, other programs - free code is used. Priority is given to free software and the quality of electronics. If you believe the information on the project page, then no other company produces laptops with a completely free BIOS. Purism in the BIOS only has AGESA inserts from AMD and FSP from Intel, which they will get rid of. Trisquel was chosen as the basis for the operating system . This is a completely understandable solution - this OS is designed to use only open and free code and is based on Ubuntu, one of the most popular Linux distributions. The price tag for a computer starts at $ 1,849. For another 80 laptop will be sent anywhere in the world. As seen,





freedom isn't free , freedom is not free. On the other hand, many fighters for openness and freedom of code can easily part with the necessary amount for the sake of a device with their own philosophy.

Deliveries will begin in April this year. The authors of Librem 15 are not going to dwell on the fifteen-inch model: in case of success, a laptop with a screen diagonal of 13 inches will be created, among which there will be no integrated optical drive. The Librem 15 crowdfunding campaign is coming to an end.