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<h1>Hardware Certification</h1>
<div class="emph-box grad-grey">
<h2>About this Section</h2>
<p>These are hardware that fully meet or meet significant parts of our requirements. The conditions are:</p>
<ol>
<li>The design files, for example 3D models and circuit diagrams, are available under a free license;</li>
<li>All verilogs of FGPAs, if any (it is wise to use FGPAs for the sake of condition 5) are available under a free license;</li>
<li>The documentations of interfaces of the hardware, such as data sheets, are available under a free license;</li>
<li>The hardware is fully functional with no proprietary software;</li>
<li>The hardware is designed to be easy to tinker around with (including improving and reparing, e.g. being modular) and contains no tivoization.</li>
</ol>
<p>The certification is currently raised by the community and added by Andrew. When we grow, we'd need a certification board.</p>
</div>
<h2>Full Certification</h2>
<p>These are hardware that meet <em>all</em> of our requirements.</p>
<p>Currently we haven't found any. If you believe that you've found hardware that meets all of those requirements, pleaese contact the mailing list.</p>
<h2>Partial Certification</h2>
<p>These are hardware that meet <em>most important parts</em> of our requirements. Minor workarounds may be required to completely use free software.</p>
<div class="emph-box grad-blue">
<h4>ThinkPad X60, X60S, X60T, X200, X200S, X200T, T60, T400, T400S, T500, W500, R400 and R500</h4>
<div class="imagewrap">
<img src="https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/ryf/taurinus-x200-right.jpg" alt="The X200" caption="The X200"/>
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<p>Good-old Lenovo ThinkPads. (All of them have the classic keyboard, too.)</p>
<ol>
<li>There are no official public schematics, but there are user-created ones online. The physical dimensions are in the manual.</li>
<li>Standard AMD64.</li>
<li>The <a href="/resources/x200-maintainance-manual.pdf">maintainance manual</a> is a good place to start for the X200, and is quite extensive. Licenses are unclear.</li>
<li>They are <a href="https://libreboot.org">LibreBoot</a>-able, disabling the Intel Management Engine. If you replace the WiFi card, which is incredibly easy, you can enjoy all the functionality on a free operating system.</li>
<li>That's a feature of all old ThinkPads—sturdy, easy to repair, etc. Older ones even allow CPU replacement.</li>
</ol>
<p>We don't expect AMD64 machines to end up in full certification any time soon, because their interfaces are very complicated and the CPUS are not FGPA-like, at all. No auditing, no programming. However, these ThinkPads are mature choices for normal users, but a bit hard to find. <a href="https://shop.libiquity.com/product/taurinus-x200">Here's one retailer.</a></p>
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<div class="emph-box grad-blue">
<h4><a href="https://beagleboard.org/black/">BeagleBone Black</a></h4>
<div class="imagewrap">
<img class="clockwise" src="https://beagleboard.org/static/ti/product_detail_black_sm.jpg" alt="The BBB" caption="The BBB"/>
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<p>BeagleBone Black is a low-cost, community-supported development platform for developers and hobbyists. Boot GNU/Linux in under 10 seconds and get started on development in less than 5 minutes with just a single USB cable.</p>
<ol>
<li>The design files are available on <a href="https://github.com/beagleboard/beaglebone-black">the project GitHub</a>, which you can clone without running nonfree JavaScript. They did not include a LICENSE file, so the license is unclear; However, considering the usual business practices of BeagleBoard, I expect them to free this after reading <a href="https://github.com/beagleboard/beaglebone-black/issues/14">my issue</a>. (I consider this usage of GitHub to be using nonfree JS to eventually replace it.)</li>
<li>This hasn't been done, because this is an ARM board, and ARM is proprietary. I haven't seen <em>any</em> hardware that does this.</li>
<li>The same as 1. Also, it's quite well known how to interface with ARM boards, without full documentation. (Of course more docs would be good.)</li>
<li>The BeagleBone uses the TI Sitara family instead. These come with free startup software as well as free drivers for the peripherals. However, the PowerVR graphics processor (GPU) is nonfunctional, because it requires non-free blobs to be installed. Similarly, on boards that feature accelerated video decoding, this functionality is not available without installing a blob. The workaround for these flaws is to do these jobs on the CPU with free software. Further, it is unlikely that the PowerVR GPU will gain free software support due to technical and legal issues. Unrelated to the hardware, the GNU/Linux images supplied for these boards by the manufacturer contain non-free software in the form of firmware for various devices, like USB Wi-Fi dongles. You can avoid this by installing a free distro without non-free packages and repositories, and that comes with a Linux-libre kernel. Currently, Parabola GNU/Linux-libre is a good choice.
</li>
<li>Single board computers don't usually meet this requirement. However, you can make your own from the specs.</li>
</ol>
<p>It's quite hard for ARM devices to get to full certification, because they're not transparent with exactly how the CPU works. The CPU is not auditable or programmable.</p>
</div>
<div class="emph-box grad-blue">
<h4>Most <a href="https://arduino.cc">Arduinos</a></h4>
<div class="imagewrap">
<img class="needpadding" src="https://cdn.arduino.cc/homepage/static/media/arduino-UNO.bcc69bde.png" alt="Arduino UNO" caption="Arduino UNO" />
</div>
<p>Arduino is an libre electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for anyone making interactive projects.</p>
<ol>
<li>Public schematics and CAD files for anyone to use.</li>
<li>You can boot your own bootloader, so that's a partial. Things are pretty simple in Arduinos.</li>
<li>Documentation is everywhere, including for the ATMega (and other chips) interfaces, programming tutorials, etc.</li>
<li>The IDE is written in Java and may be considered bloated, however it is free software. There are other ways to upload your program to your Arduino, too.</li>
<li>You can make your own, and everything is quite simple if you have good SMD soldering skills.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<h2>Marginal Cerfification</h2>
<p>These are hardware that meet <em>some important parts</em> of our requirements. Some might even require workarounds to work fully with free software only.</p>
<div class="emph-box grad-yellow">
<h4><a href="http://opensource.rock-chips.com/wiki_Main_Page">Rockchip devices</a></h4>
<ol>
<li>The design is clearly available on their website. The license is unknown.</li>
<li>This hasn't been done, because this is an ARM board, and ARM is proprietary (and has been purchased by Nvidia). I haven't seen <em>any</em> hardware that does this.</li>
<li>Unclear.</li>
<li>Rockchip devices, particularly based on the RK3288 or RK3399 chips, are usable with free software. Accelerated video encoding/decoding is supported with free software, with upstream support on-going via the "hantro" driver. These Rockchip devices have Mali GPUs supported via the free Lima and Panfrost drivers. Display out over type-C requires a proprietary firmware on RK3399, but HDMI may be used instead. Wake-on-word functionality with the RK3399 DSP may require a proprietary firmware.</li>
<li>Chips and single board computers cannot meet this requirement. However, you can make your own from the specs.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<h2>Mentions</h2>
<div class="emph-box grad-orange">
<h4><a href="https://frame.work">The Framework Laptop</a></h4>
<div class="imagewrap">
<img src="https://images.prismic.io/frameworkmarketplace/b1214b28-7de7-4597-9cbd-c35d1ed5c182_Framework+Laptop+Homepage+-+img04.jpg?auto=compress,format" alt="The Framework Laptop" caption="The Framework Laptop" />
</div>
<p>A thin, lightweight, high-performance 13.5” notebook that can be upgraded, customized, and repaired in ways that no other notebook can. Proof that designing products to last doesn’t require sacrificing performance, quality, or style.</p>
<ol>
<li>Unclear. We've heard rumors that there are such designs somewhere, but this is unconfirmed.</li>
<li>Standard AMD64.<li>
<li>They offer extensive guides on their Website to repair and assemble.</li>
<li>i5 and i7 CPUs are used, which come with unremovable peices of the Intel Management Engine. <a href="https://coreboot.org">Coreboot</a> is probably installable (not verified), which may disable large large parts of the Intel Management Engine. Not <a href="https://libreboot.org">Libreboot</a>-able.</li>
<li>It is extremely customizable, compared to all other laptops we've seen so far. All parts are for sale on their Website. IO is done by expansion cards, not dongles. There are DIY editions of the laptop.</li>
</ol>
<p>It is something that'd we'd check on from time to time. We don't think the builders of this hardware specifically cares about ideals except for possibly the last one, but once i5s and i7s get LibreBooted, this would be a good choice for many, as it's pretty powerful. However, we don't expect AMD64 machines to end up in full certification any time soon, because their interfaces are very complicated and the CPUS are not FGPA-like, at all. No auditing, no programming.</p>
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