Librem 1 I don't get it

Any one care to give me little insights what’s the purpose of Librem 1?
Is it an alternative to the normal social media and telecommunications - do I need to get my friends on it in order for me to use Librem 1?
Any insights is welcome.
thanks

I will try! Firstly, yes, it is an alternative to many of the mainstream services available currently.

With the exception of email, those you communicate with (social, chat) do need to have a Matrix (chat) and Mastodon (social) account somewhere, but not necessarily on Librem One. The nature of federated services is that there are multiple instances, or servers, that users can register with. All of the servers are able to communicate with each other, enabling users from different instances to communicate with each other.

The purpose: to be free. Free from tracking, free from censorship, free from being monetized, free from advertising, etc. To build a better healthier, community.


Once the Librem 5 comes out, it seems that the telecoms functions will be well integrated, so that if you chat someone, make a call, etc, and you both have matrix available, it will place a matrix call or send a matrix chat. If either of you do not, it will place a standard call or SMS text.

Wouldn’t it be more enlightening to say…

Very much like email (because it was invented before surveillance capitalism), Matrix and Mastodon are decentralized services, where users can interact with each other no matter which server their account is on!

Comparison with email is much more accessible to laymen IMO than trying to explain federation :slight_smile:

@sherab_kelsang, there’s also quite a lot of blog post out there, of course with a lot of marketing-y overload, and conveniently sorted in two categories, Librem One and Service Offerings.

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Indeed, that is a more concise explanation. :smiley:

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hi @dc3p @Caliga
Thanks for reply.
So communicating with me mom for example will be normal txt message and phone call, and wouldn’t need to have her own matrix account.
Can anyone have matrix?

But if many of in social acquaintances are on Mastodon we can communicate via librem1
And I guess librem1 email services and vpn speak for themselves- alternatives to Protonmail and PIA( both of which I use)

What is tunneling?

Of course!

To clarify:

The Librem 5 that I reference is the phone device that Purism is developing, and has yet to be released. On that device, yes, you will be able to call and text conventionally, provided you have an appropriate cellular plan activated. Your mom would not need a Matrix account to communicate with you while using that device.

I am not sure if there will be a means of doing conventional calls and texts via PureOS on a laptop/desktop. Purism has advertised the OS as “converging on convergence”, so perhaps that is in the future. I would be very interested to hear directly from Purism on this one :smiley:

Removing the Librem 5 (the phone) from the scenario and focusing on Librem One (the services), both you and your mom would need a Matrix account to communicate using Librem One Chat. Anyone can sign up for a Matrix account, via any of the Matrix providers. Librem One is one of them, but there are many others. That list is neither official or exhaustive. You could communicate with your mom via Matrix without using Librem One, too.


As for Mastodon, that is correct. If you know people already using Mastodon, you could communicate with them via Librem One Social.


Looking a it this way, you can see how Caliga’s explanation of these networks is much more concise than my own – the way you create accounts and access the networks is very much like email. There are many providers to choose from (yet one network), multiple applications to choose from that enable access to the network, and sometimes websites that allow access, too.

Librem One Mail and VPN are alternatives to ProtonMail, ProtonVPN, and other like services, yes.

In this context, tunneling refers to the VPN connection, as it is like creating a private tunnel through the internet in which only your traffic flows. With a proper tunnel, only those at either end know what is flowing through it.

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yes i bought it - and waiting happily for its arrival.
I also have a Librem 13
and would be interested in getting the librem1 only becaus I love the ethos of the Purism folk.

ok that’s clear

ok i think i get it - there is a network and Librem 1 is a suit of services allowing me to access the network without being monitored by surveillance capitalism and if i can convince my friends to joing these kind of services we will have more peope free from surveillance capitalism - which is a good thing for all of us.

OK
Thank yo for taking the time @dc3p
I appreciate it.

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