I don’t think the age of the hardware means what you think it does. That’s spyphone mentality where they want you to buy a new one every 2 years because the old one (with perfectly working hardware) is “obsolete” and “slow” thanks to the addition of new bloatware or whatever. Very wasteful, expensive and environmentally nasty.
L5 still has work to do software wise but what from what I’ve seen, people are saying that it’s gotten better and faster with time.
Did you read the user’s post where they said:
@JCS also ignored @bender’s refund request earlier in this topic, so it is starting to seem like they are unable to directly address the subject in their current position.
Purism is actively processing the refund queue based on a monthly refund allowance managed by the support manager. Responsiveness may still be reduced while staffing resources are adjusted and ticket backlogs are reduced. Purism is implementing a plan for accelerated refund disbursement moving forward and it will eventually become an automated process e.g. for unshipped product.
I think that, perhaps, you don’t know that even the user experience with FOSS software requires increasingly powerful/generous hardware.
When I first started with Linux, it was on a machine with 8MB RAM and a 486DX33 processor with a 210MB HDD. I paid an extra $200 to have 8MB RAM instead of 4MB RAM. The current FOSS software (browsers, DE, …) would not currently work on such a machine. Software bloat — because software is designed to be used on current HW — is just as prevalent in the FOSS world as it is in the proprietary world.
Observations:
This forum appears to be full of people who would pay a lot for 4GB (Liberty) instead of 3GB RAM (standard Librem 5) and would, although the SoC can’t handle it, really want 8GB. PureOS on the Librem 5 is starved of RAM. There was a thread of people using ZRAM in “overcommit” configurations just to get reasonable performance. They called it a “revolution”. Why and how to extend ZRAM on L5. A revolution for Librem 5 stability!
The Librem 5 Evergreen comes with 32GB “storage” (plus sdcard). There are people on this forum who are doing gymnastics to try to not run out of fast (non sdcard) storage. Cleaning logs, flatpak installs, etc… Some are even forced to use the sdcard for executables (flatpaks), etc.
So, yeah, the Librem 5 evergreen specs are “ancient”.
Let me tell you the story of my 5mo old Pixel 7a. I paid $350 for it. It comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage (but, sadly, no sdcard). It has great battery life for its speed (it uses a 5nm fabbed chip instead of 28nm for the Librem 5; i.e. not “ancient”), so in normal usage I get about 2 or 3 days between charges. I run GrapheneOS … which is a secure and privacy respecting OS. It benchmarks at something like 6 times the NXP i.MX 8M and has a TPU/NPU. There’s plenty of FOSS software on F-droid including termux.
That is not a fact.
Cleaning logs is not gymnastics. It’s just good practice.
Edited for wiggle room.
Okay, well I can challenge one more statement:
It is fine for most users, but some prefer more. I only use Firefox ESR, Secrets, and Shortwave/Lollypop most of the time, so my workflow is much more frugal on the Librem 5 (USA). However, I would appreciate more actual RAM for the future if my circumstances change.
I can link to a lot of recent and old complaints about this issue. Low disk space - how to clean out garbage? Tips for Managing Disk Space?
The point being that 32GB is not enough for a lot of people on this forum and is, arguably, an “ancient” spec. Why? Mostly they like/use flatpaks and don’t like to always keep their disk clean. Using old hardware … steals time (things take longer, one spends more time cleaning, one spends more time deciding which apps to remove to install some other app, etc.).
So do you think that Why and how to extend ZRAM on L5. A revolution for Librem 5 stability! is exaggerating the situation? People are claiming that setting ZRAM to overcommit makes the system more stable and that they had lots of issues (crashes) before this.
I think ZRAM is excessive for my Librem 5 USA workflow. If other users need it for their workflows, then they can follow the instructions as you have kindly provided. My Librem 5 USA is stable as-is, with little to no issues, so I see no need to experiment with it at the moment.
Sure. It should be cleaned by default.
I’m currently being ignored. Bought the Librem 5 in 2018. Now I really want a refund but I’m getting completely ignored. No answer, and the no refund policy is apparently in work from 2020 wtf. So how does that work? I even asked for a refund in 2021 and got accepted, but I got nostalgic and said I’ll wait. GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK NOW!
Same here. The refund was acepted but I never heard anything more. I also never receive a reply to my inquiries. This is unbelievable. I have never experienced anything like this with a company before.
Purism is heavily lacking resources at the moment, so there is not much anyone can do other then wait it out. I am confident your and @Nami’s refund request will be fully honoured with assistance from @JCS once such resources are available for allocation and distribution.
The website says they are in stock but I still have no phone and no refund. Do we need a class action lawsuit or did someone just screw up and miss my order?
They probably tried to confirm your address and that email went to spam so then they didn’t send your phone. @JCS should be able to help you
My odyssey with Purism is now over. After a very long time, support has replied to me. Unfortunately, they were unable to offer me a refund. Instead, I had the choice between shipping the Librem 5 or crediting the amount plus a 20% discount on Purism products. Since I didn’t want to wait another year, I agreed to have the Librem 5 shipped and received it in a very short time. I will now try to sell the Librem 5.