Also the OP placed his order somewhere in june or july of 2019 if the OP’s mind serves him correctly. The OP doesn’t understand the renewed interest in his post from September 2023, but has now selected an official answer to his initial question.
1 Like
The reason is that there is a limit of 1 Librem 5 refund topic and that one and only topic is this topic. Another topic sprung up and all the posts in that new topic were merged into this topic. So expect more “renewed interest” in the future. If that is bugging you, it may help for you to mute the topic.
3 Likes
It would seem that the damage from the Rossman video (Purism ghosts Librem 5 customer, lies about refund policy - avoid this horrible company) still extends to this day. This is a snippet from the Think Penguin Matrix chat room (Room: https://matrix.to/#/#penguin-chat:matrix.lrn.fm). I’m not aware of Purism making any claims about getting source code from Nvidia or Intel.
Direct link to messages (messages copied below): https://matrix.to/#/!IjaXDZcUJdKgWHLukk:matrix.lrn.fm/$efbDOSryVFN31WZFJlhP-D4GNXuYg9VtNRb3OAElYK8?via=matrix.lrn.fm&via=matrix.org&via=meowchat.xyz
tom @06:22
mr.penguin: Hi. Thank you very much for the detailed answer. Your answers are very informative.
As for Libreboot, I agree with you, but now there is GnuBoot and as far as I know Jason (Trisquel) uses ASUS D-16. One of my friends tried to build it and had a lot of difficulties and eventually installed Coreboot on D-16.
I asked because I’m planning to replace my desktop PC and looking for options, what I found today, below are examples, write your opinion:
- Assemble it yourself using ASUS D-16 (GnuBoot)
- Libreboot 9020 MT with Intel i7-4790k (Libreboot)
- Librem Mini (PureBoot)
- NitroPC Pro 2 or NitroPC 1 (like Librem Mini) | Coreboot
- https://shop.3mdeb.com/shop/dasharo-supported-hardware/msi-pro-z790-p-wifi-ddr5-motherboard-with-dasharo-entry-subscription/ (Coreboot)
- I looked at Librem Mini and NitroPC 1 with the same motherboard, for example NVISEN MU02 has the same one, you can install Coreboot on it instead of BIOS.NVISEN MU02 Mini PC Intel i7-1065G7 Quad Core 1.3GHz to 3.9GHz 16GB 5 – Minixpc Perhaps there are other options…
mr.penguin @12:40
The (3) item in your list I would recommend avoiding. Not talking about what it might be based around so much as Purism. I would recommend avoiding anything from Purism more generally. The guy behind it is very sketchy, lies, manipulates, and is bordering if not committing actual fraud. There has been a bit of mainstream reporting, but even that is only the tip of the iceberg. Here is just one example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKegmu0V75s but the guys made absurd claims from being able to get source code from NVIDIA and Intel to being the “freest” computers when in fact it was the farthest thing from the truth. I mean, it’s not the first time I’ve seen companies take credit for or re-brand software etc but this was the sort of thing where he was crossing over that line or at least getting so close to it that it was absolutely disgusting.
2 Likes
Hello, I ordered a Librem5 on 2 June 2019. After there was a possibility of delivery (probably sometime in 2022), I decided against it and requested a refund. About a year ago I was already in contact with the support regarding the refund. But after 2 or 3 emails, I received no more replies. I have now tried again and have not received a reply from support for more than a week. Is it really possible that the support no longer gets in touch and ghosted me? I would be happy to get my money back after more than 5 years. Is that normal?
2 Likes
Thank you for your answer. Do you know what the next steps are? Does it make sense to write to Support again?
1 Like
If your latest email has not been converted into a GitLab support ticket, feel free to compose another reply. What should happen is that you receive an automated reply from GitLab. Once that step has been completed, wait patiently until you receive a response from Purism support and/or @JCS acknowledges your original post in this thread.
Ok, thank you. I have received the GitLab ticket. Now I’ll wait and hope that it can be done soon.
1 Like
I don’t want to be impatient, but is it normal that I get no answer at all? Have others had this experience and if so, have they been successful in the end?
1 Like
What else can I do?
1 Like
Read about others’ refund stories on the Purism community forums.
Hello guys,
I ordered the Librem 5 back in June 25th of 2019, and still haven’t received the phone.
Order Number: #Purism_<removed by moderator>
Order Date: June 25, 2019
Order Status: Awaiting Shipment
$649 is a lot of money, and for it to go to waste is really sad. Even if I were to get this phone, I would like a refund prior to it’s delivery. This hardware was old at the time of release, and now in 2024 it is going to be ancient.
I already sent an email to support months ago, and never got a response.
I hope I can get my money back.
Thanks,
Alex
3 Likes
Your order appears to have been ready in the queue a very long time ago. Purism shows to have sent several emails to the email address on file for this order number, but never received a shipping address confirmation, so the order was placed on hold. The order is ready for immediate shipment once this information is confirmed.
Shipping address confirmations are required prior to shipment due to how long the item was in development. Shipping address confirmation requirements are commonly seen in crowdfunding campaigns and are used regarding the Librem 5 for the same purpose.
Purism is experiencing a significant backlog with support tickets and apologizes for the significant delay in response times. I have brought this ticket to the attention of the support department for review, and they will be following up with you.
6 Likes
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.
6 Likes
Did you read the user’s post where they said:
1 Like
@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.
1 Like
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.
5 Likes
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.
1 Like
That is not a fact.
1 Like