EOMA68 crowdfunding campaign (the last few days) plus ways forward for Libre Computing

[Michael Kesper]

Hi Paul,

Am 22.08.2016 um 19:10 schrieb Paul Boddie:
> Hello,
>
> I last mentioned EOMA68 on this list in early July, noting that I would have
> blogged about it, too, but couldn't at the time. Unfortunately, real life got
> in the way of either following up with the blog volunteers about the blogging
> service (which I greatly appreciate as a service of the FSFE Fellowship) or
> actually writing anything about this topic on my blog. In fact, I only wrote
> about it there recently:
>
> https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=1314

...

> On this list, there was a discussion about how bad modern x86 derivatives are
> by enabling surveillance at the hardware level...
>
> http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/discussion/2016-April/010912.html
>
> ...but either people feel completely powerless about it or they like to talk
> about the situation more than how to alleviate or resolve the situation.
> Amusingly, all sorts of observations came up about that discussion and I even
> mentioned one of them here:
>
> https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=1305
>
> (Yes, SPARC might even be a candidate for an alternative hardware platform,
> but its supporters need to bring finance and people to the effort instead of
> reminiscing about Sun's glory days. The referenced discussion is, however,
> rather interesting to read in parts.)

...

> There's an interesting summary of processor suitability done for the criteria
> of EOMA68 that some might find interesting:
>
> https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/picking-a-processor
>
> "It should also be pretty clear that there is literally not a single processor
> that checks every single box! As in, there is not a single processor in the
> world that is eco-conscious, respects software freedom, is ethical and
> accessible. This is a pretty insane situation to be in, in the year 2016."
>
> There needs to be a constructive debate about incrementally improving this
> situation. Instead of "I hate that processor" or "wait for my radical SoC I've
> just started designing", people need to help find products that uphold
> software freedom and privacy while also being usable (obtainable, for the most
> part) for small libre hardware projects. And there needs to be an appreciation
> that this work is not meant to create the "toy of the month" - a gadget that
> is fun for a while and then stashed away somewhere - but instead to build an
> environment where we shouldn't be constantly needing to urgently figure out
> what kind of hardware we can use that uphold our values.
>
> So, does anyone have any opinion about the kinds of projects (most likely
> being undertaken already) that need our attention or support? How do you
> envisage a sustainable computing platform? And since all discussions
> inevitably lament how much memory Firefox uses these days, how do you envisage
> a less demanding form of computing being extended to online services?
>
> Sorry for the long message!

In contrary, I thank you for writing that excellent summary!

Michael