Librem 17, regional keyboards and GPU

[kajika]

Hello there,

I found Purism to be interesting but I am always looking for 17 inch laptops. Do you have anything plan about a new model (would allow better keyboard)?

Speaking of keyboard I saw a poll but Japanese is not even considered. If I may (looking for one) in Japan buying a good laptop is extremely hard compared to the rest of the world and the cost of Librem would not be seen as much here as in other countries. I hope you might consider it (having several possible keyboard we could buy independently would be awesome but laptop keyboards are often just not taking seriously).

Last but not least, I read about the GPU lack in the forum but cannot understand why an AMD GPU is not an option (driver in Linux kernel and GPU as no way of doing any security harm as hardware, only firmware could be problematic). For me no GPU is a no go (machine learning) I guess the majority of developers don’t have this issue but I would definitely be buying a 17 inch Japanese Librem with a GPU if it would be possible (under 2500$).

If I understand correctly Purism is still young so such high-end hardware is probably not a priority but as I didn’t read about the previous points I felt it would be better to tell them in case I’m not the only one wanting them.

PS : If you’re planning for a 17" : would you have the space for an Ethernet port?

[thib]

Hi @kajika

I found Purism to be interesting but I am always looking for 17 inch laptops. Do you have anything plan about a new model (would allow better keyboard)?

I don’t think Purism has plans for such a laptop in the coming year. They are especially busy with the making of the Librem 5. But you’re not the first to ask, don’t lose all hope

Speaking of keyboard I saw a poll but Japanese is not even considered. […] I hope you might consider it (having several possible keyboard we could buy independently would be awesome but laptop keyboards are often just not taking seriously).

I think the support staff did a very quick poll because an indecent amount of posts were popping about “please make a laptop with (insert whatever layout variant) keyboard”. It is both a shame and understandable that japanese layout was not offered.

As Purism often stated, the main limiting factor is the number of people ready to order such a layout. If you can gather a decent number of people willing to buy the laptop with the same variant, then Purism might consider it

I read about the GPU lack in the forum but cannot understand why an AMD GPU is not an option (driver in Linux kernel and GPU as no way of doing any security harm as hardware, only firmware could be problematic).

PureOS is not only about security, but also about Freedom (should I say Libredom, as in Free Libre Open Source Software?). Actually, Purism even published a Freedom Roadmap paving the way to their Purist Standard (which is even stricter than the FSF!)

PureOS even got endorsed by the FSF (while even debian is not!)

For me no GPU is a no go (machine learning) I guess the majority of developers don’t have this issue but I would definitely be buying a 17 inch Japanese Librem with a GPU if it would be possible (under 2500$).

Then Librems may not be your best match… yet! I’m pretty certain Purism will become bigger and will be able to address many more markets. Maybe someday your dream Librem will exist