[Dev] Misleading information in EOMA68 news

Paul Kocialkowski contact at paulk.fr
Mon Aug 15 19:22:16 GMT 2016


Resending with the right address, please don't CC my Replicant address since
this is not directly related to Replicant.

Hi,

Le lundi 15 août 2016 à 21:04 +0300, Tiberiu-Cezar Tehnoetic a écrit :
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I'm not a Parabola hacker and I only speak for myself. I believe Paul
> refers to this news entry at parabola.nu:
> 
> https://www.parabola.nu/news/new-libre-hardware-crowdfunding-project-with-para
> bola-pre-installed/

That is correct, thanks for pointing it out, I forgot to mention it.

> 
> On 15.08.2016 20:09, Paul Kocialkowski wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > * "New Libre Hardware Crowdfunding Project"
> > 
> > Saying that the hardware is libre or free is an overstatement.
> [...]
> > 
> > 
> > I think the title should be reworked, depending on whether the circuit board
> > design is libre or not.
> 
> I agree. AFAIR the circuit board design is being withheld for now, and
> the designer has promised to release it at a later date (presumably
> under a libre license).
> 
> Quoting from the campaign page:
> 
> "The only exception to this rule to release everything in advance is the
> PCB CAD files for the Computer Card. We’re planning to release the PCB
> CAD files for the Computer card once sufficient units are hit that
> ensures any third party manufacturing runs will not undermine the
> project’s development or stability."
> - https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop

Good to know! Then I feel that the blog post should either state that or not
comment on the hardware aspects.

> 
> > 
> > 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.
> 
> I'm not really a big fan of the "free-software-friendly" term, exactly
> because it's vague (laking a definition/criteria) and it doesn't really
> tell users much regarding how respecting of software freedom that piece
> of hardware is. That's why a wide range of hardware projects feel at
> liberty to promote themselves as "free-software-friendly".

Indeed, it's not very precise, but I don't think that's the goal here. I think
vague statements are fine as long as they are clearly recognized as such.

Specific points about the A20 platform can be dug out from:
http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/single-board-computers

> 
> > 
> > Of course, this situation is much better than many other computers out
> > there,
> > that can't even startup without proprietary software.
> 
> I agree. Instead of using the term "software-freedom-respecting" or
> saying it "respects your freedom" or that it "respects your software
> freedom", probably a better choice of words and accurate presentation is
> that this hardware is RYF-certifiable by FSF or that it has been allowed
> by FSF the provisional use of the RYF certification mark, to quote Joshua:
> 
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/libreplanet-discuss/2016-06/msg00213.html

Yes, that is fine too IMO.
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