Are Laptops For Sale or Not?

I looked at ordering a 15" laptop. I guess you can’t? Is this wrong:

So I looked at refurbished. Looks good until I choose a keyboard. When I do that, I have one option: UK. Great. But… that is out of stock. So, if the only version that you can sell has a keyboard that it doesn’t have, why do you have a listing up for a laptop? Do you expect to ship a laptop without a keyboard? Does anyone actually check the Store web page?

Same thing with 13"

And the 14", does that have ME? Does it even exist?

My “understanding” is that the L14 will have the ME disabled but not neutralized.
If I got it right, one can ask the ME to disable itself using the HAP bit while neutralizing would involve removing as much as possible of the firmware while still keeping the computer working.

It seems newer Intel CPU won’t work with ME neuterized.
@Kyle_Rankin or @MrChromebox is the above correct? That is, at least, my understanding so far :slight_smile:

https://puri.sm/products/librem-14/

With an Intel processor you get years of coreboot development put into disabling and neutralizing the Intel Management engine.


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See here some comments made on Intel ME technology:
https://teddit.net/r/Purism/comments/l0x88f/are_intel_chips_getting_more_locked_down_by_me/

So, on the ME neuthering, it depends what one mean exactly with neuthering but I would expect it is not done the same way as it used to be done on L13 and 15.

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It seems I’d prefer a Librem 15 classic. Are those for sale? They can’t be ordered on the “refurbished” page for reasons I explain above.

Actuall reading more, this sounds like marketing BS. I’d really like a Librem 13 or 15 classic.

Just like the Librem 13 and 15, the Librem 14 with have the Intel Management Engine, but it will be disabled by changing the HAP bit and between 90% and 92% of the ME’s code will be replaced with zeros. The only part of the ME’s code that will remain is the part which is required to boot the laptop.

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I have some doubts about the ME code removal part (not the HAP bit), check the redit link I put above where @MrChromebox explains that the ME can be disabled on G8-10 Intel CPU but no part can be removed.

Those are sold refurbished so availability depends on what Purism get back from customers (see other posts on the forum from Kyle where he explains that).

this statement conflates two unrelated things - coreboot development is separate from disabling/neutering the ME. The only relationship between the ME/ME firmware and the main system firmware (in this case, coreboot) is that they both exist on the same flash chip

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Perhaps you should bring that to Purism’s attention, as the text is being quoted from the Librem 14 product page!

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Are you sure? What I’ve read does not say this. Where are you getting this from?

Exactly! Yet that quote is from the Librem 14 product page, meaning that that is the only info that Librem is sharing regarding ME on the Librem 14. Thus, you can see my question. Or my sub-question. The first is if they are even selling laptops, the second is which of those laptops have ME disabled.

Seems like Purism either doesn’t care at all or is a vaporware organization. None of the replies here are from actual Purism members, and nothing on the website is solid. Either it’s marketing BS (like @MrChromebox found above), or you’ve got a page where you’re supposed to be able to buy a Librem 13/15, except that that after you fill out the form they tell you that the only type they have, they actually don’t have. So, this is not a real site, is it?

I was wrong. I didn’t know about the changes in the ME in Core Gen 8 and later, that make it impossible to replace the code with zeros, but the ME is still disabled by setting the HAP bit in the L14 and Librem Mini. The L14 has a switch on the motherboard to prevent changing the firmware, so it isn’t possible to change the HAP bit without opening the case of the L14. You can paint glitter nail polish over the screws in the case and take pictures of the glitter patterns to verify that nobody has opened the case.

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@MrChromebox is Matt DeVillier, who develops the Coreboot port for Librem devices, so you did get a reply from a Purism employee.

Purism stopped selling the Librem 15 a couple weeks ago and the Librem 14 is expected to ship this month. Obviously, the web site needs to be updated, but you have to expect shipping gaps when dealing with custom hardware. Purism isn’t like all the other Linux laptop companies that use rebranded Clevo laptops.

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But even with the Clevo ones that Tux Computers are selling you can disble the inte ME. But you dont have a switch to write protect the bios… but you can disable it, just like thy did with the 14 i guess…

no hardware kill switches for the radios and camera/mic on those though

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Yes, and i Never sayed they had. Just that they can disable the intel me as the Liebrems. They only support disabling the mics / cam / wireless by bios

right, the point being that even if the ME disablement is the same, the Librem 14 has additional features that other similar laptops do not

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Is it really necessary to insult?

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