Re: FSF continuously harms Free Hardware

[Leah Rowe]

On Mon, 24 Jan 2022 08:23:27 +0000
Leah Rowe via libreplanet-discuss <libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org>
wrote:

> In fact, access to schematics, boardviews, datasheets and any other
> documentation is *critical* to software freedom.
> 
> Much of the work that goes into porting a single mainboard to coreboot
> requires knowledge of the hardware, and you actually need to read the
> schematics to get the code working on specific board configurations.

I have an example for you that is much closer to home. You use a
ThinkPad T400S with Libreboot, right?

I personally read Intel datasheets to understand how the Intel Flash
Descriptor is laid out on your board, and a separate Intel datasheet
defining the "Gigabit Ethernet Non-Volative Memory" region (GbE NVM) in
order to write the "ich9gen" program.

The ich9gen program generates an Intel Flash Descriptor and GbE NVM
binary, from scratch. The descriptor is what Libreboot uses to disable
the Intel ME on your machine; it's possible to boot your machine
without one, but then you wouldn't have functional ethernet support
using the onboard NIC in your machine. The GbE NVM region is defined by
the Flash Descriptor. In a descriptorless mode, the Intel ME would be
disabled on your machine, and this is how things were done in the old
days. My work on ich9gen was specifically to have a flash descriptor,
with functional GbE, while still disabling the ME.

Info available here: https://libreboot.org/docs/install/ich9utils.html

I semi-regularly also repair those mainboards, the ones used on
libreboot ThinkPads, and for this I need knowledge of those boards. I'm
able to repair issues with these boards by looking at schematics and
boardview files, telling me where everything is. The most recent repair
I did was to a fan circuit; a dodgy fan had shorted and caused a
current surge, which shorted the fuse supplying current to the PWM
circuitry regulating the fan.

I knew of that fuse because of schematics. I was able to check for dead
shorts and eliminate them, then replace the fuse and fan, and the
result was a happy customer who could once again use their Libreboot
machine (the machine had been sent in to me for repair).

I sometimes get boards that won't turn on, and once again I'm able to
repair them because I have the schematics. I can fo by process of
elimination and isolate the cause of a fault, and fix it!

Every board I repair causes an additional person in the world to be
able to use Libreboot hardware.

Much of the code in coreboot for these machines was also written
literally by looking at schematics, in addition to datasheets. Intel
provides very good documentation about some of their hardware, which
the coreboot developers are able to use.

Your dismissive attitude about hardware freedom is indeed damaging, if
left unignored. People should be fighting for the right to hardware
freedoms, especially schematics, boardviews and chip datasheets. Free
hardware designs like RISCV are an essential part of our movement.

Hardware and software do not exist in a vacuum. One cannot exist
without the other.

All of this leads me to a conclusion:

We should no longer call it the Free Software movement. No, we need a
new term instead that combines both hardware and software. We need
robust ideological leadership that is currently lacking from the FSF,
when taking hardware into account.

Richard, I think you should listen to the people telling you these
things, because they are giving you good advice. They are not your
enemy. People like me are just looking at the movement nowadays and
dismayed because the FSF is largely ignoring the current realities.

You outright reject the term "free hardware" but the free hardware
movement already exists. Some refer to it as OSHW (open source
hardware) but I myself call it the free hardware movement.

There is good reason for people to be disillusioned with your FSF, and
those reasons are expressed quite well by the original post in this
thread. My only advice to you is this:

Stop seeing criticism as a threat. Listen to people, they want to
help! I think even the original poster on this thread probably has that
same desire, otherwise this thread wouldn't exist (the OP would just
disregard the FSF and move on, instead of trying to effect positive
change).

That's my two cents. Take it or leave it.

-- 
Think for yourself. Live free!

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