I have a need for a GPS tracker with cellular connectivity, the size of a matchbox. Anything available on the market calls home as well…
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Such devices definitely exist and are affordable (your mileage may vary). However size will influence number of days that it will operate for. Matchbox implies to me a small battery and hence not great run time. By contrast, a hand-sized one with a 10000 mAh battery might claim to run for 200 days. What is your desired run time?
Most such devices will require a SIM. So the assumption is that you can also find an affordable mobile plan to use with it e.g. tends to be relatively low data volume and so can be a relatively cheap plan. Some devices will require something more than a data-only plan e.g. may place calls (or at least SMSs) in addition to data for tracking.
The presence of your post in this topic suggests that you want Purism to develop this for you. Right? I guess Purism could arrive at this by doing a very cut down version of the Librem 5.
Do you specifically require the open source / no blackbox / pure aspects?
You haven’t been very explicit as to your technical requirements.
Needless to say that the use of such a device may be illegal in your jurisdiction. 
So assuming that your intended purpose is legal, it may help to elaborate on what that purpose is.
I’m not so opposed to an ARM based CPU as long as it does like Apple is doing it. IE: They aren’t just slapping a smartphone SoC in a laptop or tablet case. I want an ARM chip that is made for the increased demands and workloads of desktop computing.
I am good with it if this is what they do, because Apple’s developer units have already posted some benchmarks, and the x86 emulation on them appears to be pretty good. Certainly useable.
Something like that on Linux would make it sort of irrelevant, especially if we could have it integrated at a system level. Ie: the user just installs the stuff, doesn’t matter if it is x86 or ARM, it just works, and the system takes care of running the emulation where necessary.
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Runtime of couple of hours is more than enough. My use-case assumes the thing will be almost constantly re-charged. I already have one of those, but I’m reluctant to start using it, because it forces me to share use data with the manufacturer. Nevertheless, when the time comes, I will use it.
This is a non-issue where I live. (Poland).
That would certainly be welcome.
Yes, no calling home and no blackbox - so I can verify the no calling home bit.
Strange that you say that. Some uses of any and all things in exsitence are illegal. Please don’t give politicians the ideas to ban something because it might be used for illegal purpose.
My purpose is mine. I won’t elaborate what it is. I don’t like this last sentence - it implies that I plan to do something illegal, and it asks for too much information about me. Please stop that. Also please don’t follow with “what have you got to hide” motive.
I suggest you email Purism with that suggestion. No guarantee that they will see your suggestion buried in a topic with 100+ posts with that many suggestions, or more.
I think this suggestion is interesting although I wonder what the demand for such a device would be. I am not sure that I specifically would be a customer but that might depend on the price.
Ah, OK. I misunderstood the “no calling home” part. “calling home” could mean “calling the manufacturer” or it could mean “calling the owner” (in this particular example). There would be use cases where there is a requirement to call the owner (real-time tracking data to you). There would be use cases where there is no requirement to do so (e.g. data logging to local storage and the device is certain to come back to you so that you can access the logged data, and this could reduce cost).
Anyway, I am clear now … no calling the manufacturer - which I fully understand.
I didn’t mean that the item itself should be illegal. I meant that some uses of the item are already illegal (in some jurisdictions).
For example, it may be legal for an employer to track an employee if it is strictly within the context of the work being done by the employee and the tracking is disclosed - but illegal otherwise. This is a controversial area.
On the other hand, if you want to track your cat, or some other of your domestic animals, it is probably legal in all cases.
If you want to geofence a person with dementia or your child then I am not even going to hazard a guess about legality.
My intention was not to suggest that anything should be banned but only to provide a checklist item to make sure that the intended use is a legal one - since the law can be complex and opaque.
My prediction is that Purism will make a RYF tablet + detachable keyboard, based on Fir and the i.MX 8M Plus.
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That would be bad for those of us who don’t need touchscreen but requires good physical keyboard.