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Comment by rasz_pl | Hacker News Reader

You could (well couldnt, all listed out of stock) have this, or Lenovo X220 with IPS screen Edit: with 8GB ram and 32GB mSata SSD, still <240Euro.

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But an X220 wouldn't be open-source. That's kind of missing the entire point.

it would with coreboot

https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/5p3mpm/how_to_fla...

+ https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec for EC sourcecode

besides Allwinner A64 = tons of binary blobs, often containing gpled code and openly violating open source licenses

> it would with coreboot

Not really. This is built using open-source hardware as well as software.

which part of Allwinner A64 SoC is open? Do you mean the open source code Allwinner packaged into their binary blobs loaded into black boxes on the chip (like image coprocessor)?

Meanwhile I have full X220 schematic + boardview, EC (system management controller) source code (dissembled, but still), full bios source, and the best build quality money can buy right now (1).

(1) some might argue Apple, but those people dont repair laptops ;-)

> which part of Allwinner A64 SoC is open? Do you mean the open source code Allwinner packaged into their binary blobs loaded into black boxes on the chip (like image coprocessor)?

I'm just going by their claim that the hardware is Open Source. I definitely agree that their blobs make this claim not really true.

So your claiming that the x220 has fully open hardware? source for that?

"fully open hardware" is a loaded misleading term, Just look up the mess open hardware logo is in, and different people involved trying to salvage it. Dave Jones/eevblog has some 1 hour long rant videos about it, he even redesigned this logo with some additional stipulations.

The fact is you can get full(1) hardware documentation for X220 and know what every single resistor/transistor/capacitor is doing. This part is easy. Thanks to hardcore hackers we also have full source of embedded controller firmware, meaning we control every aspect of this laptop. Here is an example Lenovo X230 repair showing off power of existing documentation http://imgur.com/a/V5FjN

On the other hand we got this olimex abomination with 5 year old phone specs, load 3 tabs in Chrome and you are running out of 1GB ram.

(1) The only thing missing for building your very own X220 are pcb layout files.

I'm not saying that the above is a great machine, nor is it fully open-source. But that's the goal.

And unless I'm mis-understanding you... Just reversing a lot of the X220 doesn't make it open source.

Lenovo diagrams are not reverse engineered, those are original manufacturer documentation, with notes, diagnostic info etc.

Oh, interesting, I did not know that. Then what prevents this from being considered open-source?

nothing? open hardware badge is a big ball of mess with people using it whatever the way they want. Initially it was a great idea, but life finds a way :)

Open Source Hardware Explained - EEVblog #195 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0HOgcbtmws

EEVblog #333 - Unwritten Rules of Open Source Hardware https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOUaoLjrNPo

and finally EEVblog #921 - Open Source Hardware Problems Solved! (except he doesnt solve anything) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wrSXCBdalc

This open source hardware requires closed source blobs, so in the end there's not much point in it.

I don't disagree with you, but that doesn't detract that the hardware is open-source.

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