From a64698a7152796956f191f35d424ef013ad37be6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Paul Kocialkowski Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2015 17:16:56 +0100 Subject: docs: Make the C201 hcl page more factual (with corrections), without ordering users This rewrites parts of the C201 hcl page in more factual ways. This adds details about the relationship between Google's Chromebook-related decisions and free software, without giving a too strong opinion about Google given that it's a company so big that it makes little sense to judge it as a whole. Also, a few sentences were rewritten to not tell users what to do or what to think, but to inform them about the current problems and solutions when it comes to running the device with free software. Signed-off-by: Paul Kocialkowski --- docs/hcl/c201.html | 31 +++++++++++++++++-------------- 1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-) (limited to 'docs/hcl/c201.html') diff --git a/docs/hcl/c201.html b/docs/hcl/c201.html index 3bcdf324..ab51a962 100644 --- a/docs/hcl/c201.html +++ b/docs/hcl/c201.html @@ -51,10 +51,10 @@
-

Google is bad. We do not endorse them.

+

Google's intent with Chromebooks

- It's merely a coincidence that libreboot can support this hardware, with some issues (see sections below). - While Google does hire a lot of coreboot developers, it's not the case that these laptops can be used - in freedom (libreboot) because Google cares about user freedom. It's just a lucky coincidence. Nothing more. + Chromebooks were not designed with the intent of bringing more freedom to users. + However, Chromebooks run with a lot of free software at the boot software and embedded controller levels, + since free software gives Google enough flexibility to optimize various aspects such as boot time + and most importantly, to implement the Chromebook security system, that involves various aspects of the software. + Google does hire a lot of Coreboot developers, who are generally friendly to the free software movement + and try to be good members of the free software community, by contributing code back.

Chromebooks are designed (from the factory) to actually coax the user into using @@ -90,10 +93,10 @@

-

Replace ChromeOS immediately!

+

Considerations about ChromeOS and free operating systems

This laptop comes preinstalled (from the factory) with Google ChromeOS. This is a GNU/Linux distribution, but it's not general purpose - and it comes with proprietary software. It's designed for SaaSS. Libreboot recommends that all users of this laptop replace it with another distribution. + and it comes with proprietary software. It's designed for SaaSS. Libreboot recommends that users of this laptop replace it with another distribution.

No FSF-endorsed distros available

@@ -114,7 +117,7 @@

-

Caution: Video acceleration requires a blob. Do not install it. Use software rendering.

+

Caution: Video acceleration requires a non-free blob, software rendering can be used instead.

The lima driver source code for the onboard Mali GPU is not released. The developer withheld it for personal reasons. Until that is released, the only way to use video (in freedom) on this laptop is to not have video acceleration, by @@ -123,7 +126,7 @@

In practise, this means that certain things like games, blender and GNOME shell (or other fancy desktops) won't work well. - The libreboot project recommends a lightweight desktop which does not need video acceleration, such as LXDE. + The libreboot project recommends a lightweight desktop which does not need video acceleration, such as XFCE or LXDE.

The lima developer wrote this blog post, which sheds light on the story: @@ -134,13 +137,13 @@

-

Caution: WiFi requires a blob. Do not install it. Use a USB dongle.

+

Caution: WiFi requires a non-free blob, a USB dongle can be used instead.

These laptops have non-removeable (soldered on) WiFi chips, which require non-free firmware in the Linux kernel in order to work.

- The libreboot project recommends that you use an external USB wifi dongle that works + The libreboot project recommends using an external USB wifi dongle that works with free software. See index.html#recommended_wifi.

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