The Librem 5 BLOB List

It appears to be part of alsa-topology-conf package and it’s built by alsatplg:

https://sources.debian.org/src/alsa-topology-conf/1.2.5.1-3/Makefile

Definitely unrelated, and not exactly a non-free blob either :wink:

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@irvinewade I can not edit the table of blobs to updates the blobs adn

I think this is a known Discourse annoyance. However in that situation it can be an indication that the material should be moved to the Community Wiki. Nevertheless, see whether you can edit it now.

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Yeah but, realistically, it doesn’t exist yet, at least in the consumer market, hardware 100% open source like CPU, GPU, NPU,… just some research into laboratories! Moreover the whole digital communication infrastructure XG (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G,…) is 100% private! And you are using it! I know there are some open alternatives: LoRa, community WiFi (eg: Freifunk in Germany o Ninux in Italy), pocket radio,.. but all of them are very limited (maybe mixing them but it’s very difficult, not everyone has those knowledge and/or skills,..) so, for now, we can only do is to wait, support open projects in any way (financially, offering our knowledge/skills,..) and accept, in the meanwhile, compromise with actual situation, like Librem 5!
What do you think?

When I was consulting with R.M.S. for the early Neo900 project he would consider a blob fed to another device by a non-updateable non-system/CPU-connected hardware to be acceptable per his libre of devices creed. It was interesting to see specifically the WLAN hardware having this AND the the GNSS is a discreet component on the librem vs Pinephone which has it in the well hacked(bictorgi) but still very blobby modem module.

some fun pre-librem and pine64 pre-history from 2013 Making sure you're not a bot!

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I have recently re-read this postion in a published article.

The equivalence falls apart, however, when the software implementation is not totally internal and some company can modify that code. For example, when firmware needs to be copied into the device to make the device function, or included in the system distribution that you install, that is no internal software implementation; rather, it is a piece of installed nonfree software. It is unjust because some manufacturer can change it but you can’t.

From this perspective, the firmware inside a module is acceptable to freedom (unless it is otherwise malicious). However, there is some firmware in Librem 5 which is stored in dedicated “firmware jail” and is loaded from there without processing into a secondary processor either by Das U-Boot (in case of RAM initialization firmware) or by the kernel (in case of the modem and the wireless card). Purism believes that mere passing the firmware from “firmware jail” to a secondary processor makes the device respecting freedom in the above meaning.

This appears to be formally true as long as the firmware is not upgradable. However, because the firmware is passed by the uboot and the kernel, it is upgradable respectively by recompiling U-Boot (in case of RAM initialization firmware) and by installing firmware normally in the filesystem (in case of cards).

The cards are removable, so the firmware required for them may be considered separately. However, I am yet to find one that works without firmware in the filesystem. A few wireless cards which I tried did not work because the wireless card slot expects an SDIO card by design.

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@riabenko, I agree with you; I suppose it is how he justifies using something he cant review like an x86 processor, photolith hard wired architecture is not so far from loading a ‘firmware’ form a little prom but it is. Or the difference between an old Orinoco PCMCIA WiFi card with firmware flashed on the card vs the WiFi cards that followed… Though he specifically doesn’t allow for upgradeable firmware…

I wish I still had the old email thread since it is about smartphones(neo900), but the article does a good job of stating his position, and ultimately R.M.S. is just one philosopher’s opinion but let’s say he is and always has been the leading Platonic idealist on this topic. I like being able to upgrade firmware, maybe having a census of firmware checksums on bootup or even while running to be a canary against evil maid attacks.

Spitballing here, maybe requiring a special flashing mode or even hardware enable switch so hacking doesn’t expose an in-system firmware flashing interface. If we were in a better open hardware flagship era and had unlimited access to libre design hardware perhaps a central firmware loading chip which is well cryptographically signed and secured, crypto signed firmware packages, and not able to be altered without secured keys. This is not so far from how the Librem loads the WiFi firmware.

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:heart:

Stallman is incredible and unique.

Edit:

stallman speaks advanced spanish like a native.