I agree with everything you’re saying, but I was speaking without the benefit of hindsight because at the time nobody knew what was coming.
That’s exactly what it is. If you are crazy enough to order something unknown you are not the “Average Joe”.
Even now, after delivery, as I still cannot make a phone call (L5 hangs up immediately: “call ended”). I’m happy with my L5 and hope for next updates… I love the way to the current product, with all the discussions en progress, etc.: the path to the goal is more important then the arrival.
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- It is not crazy to order something unknown, people do this all the time, new companies and products come out all of the time…
- Absolutely the average person orders things they’ve not encountered before based on marketing… otherwise marketing wouldn’t be seen as profitable. The whole concept of “surveillance capitalism” is that the average person will spend money based on marketing.
- It is the uncommon thing for people to dig into forums to find out about product details, those of us that do this digging are the exception not the rule.
And the concept of “buyer beware” or “caveat emptor” is generally paired with disclosure requirements for given products/markets imposed by regulations that stem from the average person being exploited as the average person is expected to be able to rely on accurate product information from the manufacturer/seller.
I’m not sure what hindsight you could be referring to here beyond the hindsight that the librem 5 was not as ready as it was marketed to be? Except Purism would have been well aware of that… this isn’t about production delays/challenges/etc. This is primarily software that is still not as far along as the marketing suggests. If they had shipped on their original timeline the software would have been even further behind and even less ready for the average person to use.
I mean that at the time people were given the choice of which batch they wanted their phone to come from, it was reasonable to expect that “not Evergreen” was a development batch and “Evergreen” would be the production batch, and in that way the choice was given to customers to opt-out of a development phone and have a production phone. I think we’ve deviated pretty far from the point I was trying to make, though, because now I can’t remember why I was bringing that up in the first place.
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I really recommend to P u r i s m to create a DD Delicious Design for Fir batch.
- i.MX8M Plus, plus will increase cpu to 1.8ghz
- 8 RAM
- 128 ROM
- 5000 battery
- NFC
- Male pogos under the hood but easy access
- FM radio capable
- Reduce thickness
- built-in mini Fan for Convergence, this will keep the cpu 100% running safety.
- Add Sony G Lens to improve photos of aberration.
- Print GNU and Purism Logo in PCB plus add Revision Number visible from PCB to Bat cover.
- Nokia N900 SIM socket
- Keep Display Port whatever if need a new controller for.
- Remove the big L5 smooth framer to the same unsmooth framer desing for Sony Xperia Pro-i. Will improve grip and passive heat sink for undocking use.
- Reduce blobs controllers for RYF
- Add to LockDown Mode circuits to shutdown all speaker.
- Make sure that SPI pogos male it ready to Burning Chipsets.
- Make the Fir the best ever device over the OpensourcePinephonePro-1,2,3.
IMHO
I would pay, again, if they incorporate “Delicious Design” somewhere in the name. Or have it etched in a script font diagonally across the back.
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On paper, the i.MX 8M Plus has 20% better CPU performance than the Quad (1.8 vs 1.5 GHz), but the Plus has half the GPU performance of the Quad (compare the Vivante GC7000Lite vs GC7000UltraLite). The Quad’s max video hardware decoding is 4K@60 HDR whereas the Plus only supports 1080p@60. The only benchmark that I can find is Geekbench 4 SGEMM (floating point performance in GFLOPS), where the Quad scored 12.0 and the Plus scored 14.0 (which is 16.7% better).
Yes, Purism could make a phone based on the i.MX 8M Plus, but it would have to add a HDMI-to-DisplayPort converter chip so it can output DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB-C or make a phone that doesn’t support video out. The Plus has a bunch of new components (neural processing unit, image signal processor, digital signal processor, advanced 3D audio and hardware video encoding), that will require new drivers, which is why I don’t think that Purism will bother with the Plus, because it will require a lot of work for questionable benefits, so I think that Purism will decide to wait for a future i.MX 9 processor where the extra dev work is justified.
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I didn’t realize it had all the extra fancy stuff. I was thinking it could be more “phone” than “computer,” but clearly it isn’t designed that way.
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How about an LS1028A module like this one: https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/2022-07-25-ls1028a-status-update.html
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IMO, this is not some usual issue with the Librem 5 (as calls should work right away), therefore I would replace SIM card if your current one years old. Get brand new SIM card from the same provider, with the same number. Such SIM card replacement might change things positively (at least to be tried if helps) as soon as replacement done (preferably without battery inserted).
I replaced mine approximately year ago and no issues since then with my Linux phone.
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If you read the complete page you will see also the following text:
the LS1028A module consumes around 30% more power than the default i.MX8MQ module and also generates more heat when the CPUs are under load
30% higher power consumption meaning a battery that dies faster plus more heat is a no go for the Librem 5.
I think this was the same story with many other components. There might be better performing alternative LTE modems or better performing WiFi cards. But most are designed for devices that receive tons of power and cooling and are not suitable for a mobile phone.
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Thanks for the advice. My SIM card is about 6 years old. I will try this.
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The Librem 5 couldn’t be picked picked off the shelf at Best Buy or Fry’s, or found by searching New Egg – it requires word of mouth or a specific search for a FLOSS Linux phone. IOW, you had to be a Linux nerd or a wannabe. Wannabes should be careful!
The L5 is 99% complete, with respect to hardware, lacking only some GPS antenna and/or shielding placement. Software is another thing, but as a bona fide nerd who reads the forums before he buys, I’m confident it will work out to my satisfaction.
Which is not limited to
I heard about the Librem 5 and Purism at the same time, by word of mouth, from a non technical friend that would very much be described as “average”.
IOW people that would be considered “average” absolutely did find out about Purism and the Librem 5 and the associated criticism is valid.
That sounds fantastic for you.
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30% more power for 50% to 100% more performance means an LS1028A is more efficient than an i.MX8M. On battery the cpu could be run at lower frequencies, while connected to a power source one would benefit from the extra power and memory.
I would certainly opt for an LS1028A for the extra memory alone, as I find the 3GB of the Librem 5 too little for full convergence.
The MNT Research page says that the single core performance of the LS1028A is 1.5 - 2 times the i.MX8MQ, but the i.MX8MQ has 4 cores, so it should have roughly the same or a little better multi-core performance than the LS1028A. I suspect that the 30% greater power consumption is for multicore use, which would mean that the LS1028A is less power efficient per unit of work than the i.MX8MQ. Both are 28nm chips, but the I.MX8MQ is a year newer and has more features than the LS1028A. (From what I have read, Samsung’s 28nm for the I.MX8MQ should be more power efficient than TSMC’s 28nm HPM for the LS1028A, but take that with a grain of salt.) I think with 16GB RAM, the LS1028A would be fantastic for the MNT Reform laptop, but it looks like a worse chip for the L5 which already runs too hot in my opinion.
I love the fact that we can finally have a true open hardware and RYF laptop with the LS1028A, but the high power consumption and propietary binary blob for eDP make it an unsuitable chip for the L5 in my opinion.
ARM has advanced quite a bit in its architecture since the Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A72 and 28 nm planar nodes from 2011, so I find it frustrating that these are the options on the table.
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Mobian supports the oneplus 6 which runs the Qualcomm SDM845. Would it be possible for the fir batch to use that?
Would be a significant upgrade from the current chip even though it’s from 2018. If it has mainline linux support updates shouldn’t be an issue.
I honestly think Purism’s really gimping themselves by running processors that are really old. If they could get something like much newer and work on mainline linux support or use something that already has it. Granted don’t know how much work that is.
As far as I can tell, Qualcomm CPUs have a locked boot loader, and run some closed code in the secure domain.
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I had already forgotten but please please Purism add 2 Professional speaker (left-right) into Librem 5 Fir.
Also reduce bezzel if possible. Make the Librem 5 Fir the best ever. You got it!
Why not? Add an Antiglare Antimicrobial CORNING GORILLA GLASS for Safety.
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