Level of freedom of librem phone, especially GSM mdule

[Caliga]

@blendergeek, @TungstenFilament
Todd Weaver talked for several minutes about the baseband, regulation, possibility to free it, etc. in a recent interview with UBports.

Librem 5: some Todd Weaver interviews (May 2018)

Just came across some interviews I thought I’ll share here: TFIR Interview: taken during Red Hat summit. Mostly about Purism, Privacy, Security, Vision / Business Model, but also the Phone Original / uncut and slighty edited version Then, here we have one specifically on the Librem 5 phone, focusing on current state of the project and development, conducted by UBports representatives. UBports interview 19:00 Librem 5 “on track”? 22:50 baseband: LTE M2 cards, certification, firmware, blobs…

[ahartman]

This is a wise comment

[arvamircea]

Is the “Baseband processor” the “modem”, just a different name for the same thing?

EDIT: Whilst I understand that are different things, from my understanding usually the baseband processor is integrated into the modem.
So let me rephrase my question:
“On the Librem 5 is the Baseband processor integrated into the removable modem?”

[nicole.faerber]

The answer is: Yes.

The terms are ambiguous and confusing, but you figures it out… usually ‘baseband’ refers to the ‘thing’ that handles the radio but it is not clear, at least not to me, where the line of distinction is drawn.

Clearly the ‘baseband’ needs to be controlled by some kind of CPU and other components (like DSPs, RF parts etc.). Also the CPU se in that case can be split into parts or layers, sometimes parts of the baseband functionality can actually be controlled by the main CPU that also runs the operating system.

But i the Librem5 case everything of the cellular modem is separated into a removable module, on an M.2 card. The main CPU talks to the modem through USB, everything concerning cellular is exclusively handled by the modem itself.

PS: The term ‘modem’ is also a bit misleading and antiquated. A modem is anything that implements a ‘modulator - demodulator’, hence the name. In computer genre a modem has become synonym for for the box that connects a computer to a larger non-computer network, like telephone landlines, by encoding and modulating computer data onto the voice channel of the telephone lines. Strictly speaking also a WiFi or Bluetooth interface also contains a modem part to modulate computer data onto RF waves, but in practice no one will cal a WiFi card a ‘modem’. But since cellular still feels a bit like computers talking over a phone connection, I guess the term still sticks, though a cellular ‘modem’ today much more resembles a very complex WiFi system than a dial-up landline modem

Cheers
nicole