Seems like a reasonable solution for non-technical people.
Did your laptop come with any kind of instructions or note that explained the bluetooth situation and gave advice on how to get around it? Something like, “Hey, we know this is going to be inconvenient, but since we haven’t got any FOSS bluetooth software, you’re going to have to figure it out for yourself. Here are a few ways to do it, but we take no responsibility because we haven’t audited these products.”
NO. That is one of my major gripes with Purism so far. It’s pretty weasly marketing, in my opinion, to trumpet the fact that you have a physical kill switch for a bluetooth radio that doesn’t actually, in fact, well, “work” yet. They should definitely be more up-front about that. And if they don’t actually include a dongle, they should at least suggest one.
That being said, I have no doubt they’ll get there eventually, and then it will be nice to have the kill switch. I can also say that, a few fairly minor problems aside, My Librem 13 is the cleanest, easiest to use machine I have experienced in at least a decade. Yes, I spent time configuring it, but it was less time than I would have spent “de-configuring” the untidy mess of unasked for features that MacOS and Windows have become. I also find PureOS to be far and away the easiest Linux system to use and configure so far, but to be fair, I have only ever played with Ubuntu, Lubuntu and Xubuntu before.
As a caveat, I would also say that I am a little worried about what to do if something breaks out of warranty. I am wildly supportive of the fact that they are designing hardware that is easy to assemble/replace/swap parts on, but if those parts aren’t available, it’s kindof a moot point. They need to address that too.
THIS .
also - most internauts don’t really know what an “unasked” feature is so they tend to overlook a pretty sweet deal if it doesn’t hold any meaning to them… but we do strive to educate here on the forums as best we can.
Hey, @dlkr, did you ever try the bluetooth dongle? Mine is still working well, though I don’t actually use it that often. Just curious what other user experiences with it are like.
No… I decided to give up on Purism for the time being. I’m non-technical and so need something that “just works.” Too busy to figure everything out. Reluctantly sticking with my MacBook Pro for now…
hello, I’m considering trying to transfer my mac bluetooth keyboard and magic mouse onto my librem 15 which due to my desktop set up i would benefit from the bluetooth option, i still need to keep the mac for the odd work program . Just checking in case anyone else has tried that as yet with success.
Is there a dongle recommended by purism users or staff understanding and accepting any user takes their own security risk in doing so
Purism doesn’t recommend one, but I’ve been using this one for a while and it hasn’t given me any trouble. I have tested it and it worked well for bluetooth keyboard, but I mostly use it for file transfer. From what I’ve been given to understand, there is perhaps a minor security risk while using it, but it leaves no code on the laptop that could pose a persistent vulnerability. Anyone trying to use it to compromise your security would have to be within bluetooth range while you were actively using it. You may want to read the whole thread above, there’s more in there.
thank you for reply , i may wait until the security issue is secured if that can be possible to occur