Guix on Purism's Librems?

Guix on Purism's Librems?

[Katherine Cox-Buday]

Hey all,

I brought this up in IRC tonight, and I thought I'd cast a net on the
mailing list to collect experiences. I am considering purchasing a
Librem laptop, and I was curious how Guix runs on it. Would anyone who
has these laptops (especially if you have a version with the TPM and
head) care to write up an experience-report?

Also, would it make sense for us to have a package specifically for
hardware like this to make it easier to build install images for the
machines? Even if the packages don't do much, there is still value in
declaring that the specific configuration of hardware has been
investigated, and is supported.

-- 
Katherine

Re: Guix on Purism's Librems?

[Christopher Lemmer Webber]

Katherine Cox-Buday writes:

> Hey all,

Hi Katherine!

> I brought this up in IRC tonight, and I thought I'd cast a net on the
> mailing list to collect experiences. I am considering purchasing a
> Librem laptop, and I was curious how Guix runs on it. Would anyone who
> has these laptops (especially if you have a version with the TPM and
> head) care to write up an experience-report?

I have a LibreM laptop.  I'm not using it at the moment because I need
to send it in for repairs (and keep procrastinating on that) but I'll
say that GuixSD worked just fine out of the box.

> Also, would it make sense for us to have a package specifically for
> hardware like this to make it easier to build install images for the
> machines? Even if the packages don't do much, there is still value in
> declaring that the specific configuration of hardware has been
> investigated, and is supported.

I'm happy to publish my guix configuration if it helps, though I think
it isn't anything particularly special for the laptop to work.

That said I think I'd love more reports about what laptops/machines
people have gotten to work with GuixSD and what challenges they've run
into in general.  It would be nice to collect that.

 - Chris

Re: Guix on Purism's Librems?

[Katherine Cox-Buday]

Christopher Lemmer Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org> writes:

> I have a LibreM laptop.  I'm not using it at the moment because I need
> to send it in for repairs (and keep procrastinating on that) but I'll
> say that GuixSD worked just fine out of the box.

Is the boot process as secure as the so-called "Pure Boot" process with
Pure OS? It's not clear to me how to use the TPM or head with Guix.

>> Also, would it make sense for us to have a package specifically for
>> hardware like this to make it easier to build install images for the
>> machines? Even if the packages don't do much, there is still value in
>> declaring that the specific configuration of hardware has been
>> investigated, and is supported.
>
> I'm happy to publish my guix configuration if it helps, though I think
> it isn't anything particularly special for the laptop to work.
>
> That said I think I'd love more reports about what laptops/machines
> people have gotten to work with GuixSD and what challenges they've run
> into in general.  It would be nice to collect that.

Yes! And I think a great way to collect those responses would be
programatically. For example, you say that there wasn't "anything
particularly sspecial for the laptop to work". I still think there's
value in programatically declaring support for the Librem -- even if
there's nothing much there. It allows future users to have confidence
that the hardware configuration is supported. And should something come
up, we already have somewhere to hang our hat :)

-- 
Katherine

Re: Guix on Purism's Librems?

[Tobias Platen]

Am 18.04.2019 um 04:44 schrieb Katherine Cox-Buday:

> Hey all,
>
> I brought this up in IRC tonight, and I thought I'd cast a net on the
> mailing list to collect experiences. I am considering purchasing a
> Librem laptop, and I was curious how Guix runs on it. Would anyone who
> has these laptops (especially if you have a version with the TPM and
> head) care to write up an experience-report?
>
> Also, would it make sense for us to have a package specifically for
> hardware like this to make it easier to build install images for the
> machines? Even if the packages don't do much, there is still value in
> declaring that the specific configuration of hardware has been
> investigated, and is supported.
>
Guix runs on two of my coreboot machines: the ThinkPad X200 and the
Vikings D16.
Since the Librem laptop has Intel ME, it won't respect privacy and
freedom. [1]
The Talos II [2] and the upcoming PowerPC notebook [3] do not have that
problem.
Currently I am working on a port to Guix to PPC64EL so that I can use
Guix on my Talos II.

Tobias

[1]
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/the-management-engine-an-attack-on-computer-users-freedom
[2] https://www.raptorcs.com/
[3] https://www.powerpc-notebook.org/en/

Re: Guix on Purism's Librems?

[Joshua Branson]

Tobias Platen <trisquel@platen-software.de> writes:

> Am 18.04.2019 um 04:44 schrieb Katherine Cox-Buday:
>

I know it runs on a Macbook 7,1 and I think I am running it on a Macbook
4,1 now.  I have had problems in both laptops with my mouse only moving
up and down in 3 out of 4 boots, but now I've switched to sway with no
graphical login manager and it works swimmingly.

>
> Tobias
>
> [1]
> https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/the-management-engine-an-attack-on-computer-users-freedom
> [2] https://www.raptorcs.com/
> [3] https://www.powerpc-notebook.org/en/
>

--
Joshua Branson
Sent from Emacs and Gnus

Re: Guix on Purism's Librems?

[Matt Newport]

Purism mostly disables the Intel ME, at least in theory:

https://puri.sm/posts/purism-librem-laptops-completely-disable-intel-management-engine/

https://puri.sm/learn/intel-me/

Sent with ProtonMail Secure Email.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Friday, April 19, 2019 4:59 AM, Tobias Platen <trisquel@platen-software.de> wrote:

> Am 18.04.2019 um 04:44 schrieb Katherine Cox-Buday:
>
> > Hey all,
> > I brought this up in IRC tonight, and I thought I'd cast a net on the
> > mailing list to collect experiences. I am considering purchasing a
> > Librem laptop, and I was curious how Guix runs on it. Would anyone who
> > has these laptops (especially if you have a version with the TPM and
> > head) care to write up an experience-report?
> > Also, would it make sense for us to have a package specifically for
> > hardware like this to make it easier to build install images for the
> > machines? Even if the packages don't do much, there is still value in
> > declaring that the specific configuration of hardware has been
> > investigated, and is supported.
>
> Guix runs on two of my coreboot machines: the ThinkPad X200 and the
> Vikings D16.
> Since the Librem laptop has Intel ME, it won't respect privacy and
> freedom. [1]
> The Talos II [2] and the upcoming PowerPC notebook [3] do not have that
> problem.
> Currently I am working on a port to Guix to PPC64EL so that I can use
> Guix on my Talos II.
>
> Tobias
>
> [1]
> https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/the-management-engine-an-attack-on-computer-users-freedom
> [2] https://www.raptorcs.com/
> [3] https://www.powerpc-notebook.org/en/