[Dev] Gluglug X60 Laptop now certified to Respect Your Freedom

[William Theaker]

## Gluglug X60 Laptop now certified to Respect Your Freedom

*You can view this post online at
<https://www.fsf.org/news/gluglug-x60-laptop-now-certified-to-respect-your-freedom>.*

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Thursday, December 19, 2013 -- The Free
Software Foundation (FSF) today awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF)
certification to Gluglug X60 laptops. The RYF certification mark means
that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users'
freedom, control over the product, and privacy. This is the first
laptop to receive RYF certification from the FSF.

It can be purchased from .

The FSF has had a call out for a laptop sold with a free OS and [free
boot system][1] since 2005. Today it announced that the call has been
met.

"Finally there is a free software laptop that respects your freedom as
it comes from the store," stated Richard M. Stallman, founder and
president of the FSF.

The boot programs (such as a BIOS) run when a computer is turned on
and their primary purpose is to initialize the hardware before loading
the operating system. Computer makers not only install nonfree boot
programs, but they also have made it notoriously difficult for free
software developers to have access to the necessary hardware
specifications and information needed to produce free software
replacements.

When a user purchases a product that bears the Respects Your Freedom
certification mark, they can be confident they are recieving a product
that comes with a free boot program and OS, as well as documentation
under free licenses, multimedia unencumbered by proprietary formats,
and the assurance it is not known to contain any backdoors and is not
designed to share users' information without their knowledge (e.g.
spyware).

"This announcement comes at a time when people have a heightened
concern over controlling their data and securing their communication.
Proprietary software is by nature fundamentally insecure, because it
uses both force of law and technological measures to prohibit a user
from controlling and securing her own computer. This new complete
system runs on free software and is backed by the FSF's commitment to
do our best at ensuring respect for your freedom and privacy," said
FSF executive director John Sullivan.

The Gluglug X60 laptops are refurbished models of Lenovo's
ThinkPad®* X60. Gluglug has updated the computer by adding
a modern wifi chipset, replacing the proprietary BIOS with a free
software boot system made by modifying Coreboot to remove all
proprietary microcode and proprietary blobs, and replacing the
proprietary Microsoft Windows OS with the FSF-endorsed, [Trisquel
GNU/Linux][2] OS.

"The Gluglug X60 laptop is a major victory for computer users and
supporters of the *Free BIOS* campaign. Not only has Gluglug produced
a 100% free version of Coreboot that carries freedom to each user, but
it has made it easy and fun to install updates, which in my
experience, make real and noticeable improvements to the operation of
the laptop. I also found that despite the hardware being a few years
old, the Gluglug X60 remains a durable machine that is more than
capable of running modern GNU/Linux distro," added Joshua Gay, the
licensing & compliance manager who heads-up the FSF's RYF
certification program.

Francis Rowe of Gluglug issued the following statement:

> Gluglug is very proud to have achieved RYF certification and we will
> always try to exceed the requirements.  The mission of Gluglug is to
> promote free software in a practical way by making it easy to find a
> system built for total freedom. With the X60 laptops sold through
> the site you get everything: free boot program, free operating
> system, free drivers, free applications. The machines also come
> pre-fitted with a new 802.11n wireless card that is fully compatible
> with free software.

> The machines come fully loaded with Trisquel GNU/Linux, and they can
> also have [gNewSense][3] or [Parabola GNU/Linux][4] installed on
> request. With the Gluglug X60, you get full source code for all of
> the tools used to create the boot program, plus documentation. If
> you want to hack your machine, you can. That's really the whole
> concept.

> You also get updates, so when the Gluglug makes a substantial change
> to the firmware it ships, you will receive a copy of it along with
> documentation for how to flash it and tweak it to your needs.

> A project like this is especially important in this day and age when
> more and more devices are becoming locked down with with things like
> [Restricted Boot][5], and containing hardware-based backdoors. The
> Gluglug provides an opt-out for that kind of mistreatment.

To learn more about the Respects Your Freedom hardware certification,
including details on the certification of the Gluglug X60 laptops, as
well as information on source code for the device, visit
. Hardware sellers interested in applying for
certification can consult criteria at
.

For those needing to purchase other hardware, the FSF recommends
the [h-node.org][6] database, as well as direct users
toward hardware sellers that offer laptops with GNU/Linux
preinstalled. The FSF is also asking supporters [to write to Intel][1]
asking for the company to ship laptops with a free boot system to
begin with, so that users can buy brand new freedom-respecting
hardware in the future.


### About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to
promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and
redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and
use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating
system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free
software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and
political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites,
located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information
about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

### About Gluglug

The Gluglug is a Canvey Island, Essex, UK based company dedicated to
Free Software.  We sell computers that are made to respect the freedom
of users to study and hack their machine. Visit
.


### Media Contacts

Joshua Gay
Licensing & Compliance Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942



Francis Rowe
Founder & CEO
Gluglug


* ThinkPad is a registered trademark of Lenovo.

 ###

[1]: https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/free-bios.html
[2]: https://trisquel.info
[3]: http://www.gnewsense.org
[4]: http://parabolagnulinux.org
[5]: https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/secure-boot-vs-restricted-boot
[6]: http://h-node.org

-- 
William Theaker