[Dev] Misleading information in EOMA68 news

[Josh Branning]

On 15/08/16 18:09, Paul Kocialkowski wrote:
> Hi, it appears that there is some misleading information in the EOMA68 news:
>
> * "New Libre Hardware Crowdfunding Project"
>
> Saying that the hardware is libre or free is an overstatement. The integrated
> circuits are not libre, so the whole hardware (which covers both integrated
> circuits and circuit boards) is not.

Not 100%. Though at the moment, it is very difficult to get 100% libre 
hardware, if you are including things such as reproducible HDLs for CPUs.

It is only fairly recently that people are able to run 100% free 
software, and that didn't go from 0 to 100% free within the space of a 
few years, it took much chiselling away, removing and replacing the bits 
that were proprietary, piece by piece.

>The circuit board may be libre, but I
> couldn't find the circuit board layout description files. Note that schematics
> don't make the circuit board libre, but only documented.

Neither could I find these things.

http://rhombus-tech.net/faq/#index14h2

>
> I think the title should be reworked, depending on whether the circuit board
> design is libre or not.
>
> * "Respects your freedom"
>
> It is an overstatement to say that the computer can respect freedom. The
> computer is composed of both hardware and software aspects. Hardware does not
> respect its users freedom (see above). In addition, the hardware has at least
> one major feature that cannot work with free software: its GPU. Thus, we can't
> say that its software aspects respects freedom (despite being a candidate to
> receive the FSF's RYF certification).

I agree.

>
> Thus, it would be more accurate to say that the device is free-software-
> friendly, which is vague enough to not be contradictory with the facts.
>
> Of course, this situation is much better than many other computers out there,
> that can't even startup without proprietary software.
>

I agree.

> What do you think about making those changes?
>
> Sidenote: I am very happy to see projects such as the EOMA68 come to life, as
> they are really moving things forward. However, I also care very much about
> providing accurate information, especially after what happened with Purism.
>
> Cheers,
>
>
>
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