We often get asked where people can buy complete systems with GNU/Linux preinstalled on them. People want to avoid paying for a Microsoft license, but they do want the convenience of their operating system already being installed and working with all the hardware they're paying for.

While large vendors like Dell and Lenovo have made commendable steps toward offering systems preinstalled with GNU/Linux, they have stopped short of offering fully free distributions as an option.

Fortunately, a smaller company has stepped up to fill this need. Los Alamos Computers is now offering laptops, desktops and servers preinstalled with gNewSense. Additionally, they are donating a portion of each sale of one of these systems to the FSF.

These systems are not yet available with a free BIOS, but LAC is very interested in making that happen, and we'll be doing what we can to help make that a reality.

We need more companies to follow in their footsteps. Please show your support for the steps they have made and continue encouraging other vendors to do the same!

You can do your shopping at http://laclinux.com/gnu, and drop them a note to say, "Thank GNU!"

by Richard Stallman

I read Negroponte's statement presenting the OLPC XO as a platform for Windows in the most ironic circumstances possible: during a week of preparing, under a deadline, to migrate personally to an XO.

I made this decision for one specific reason: freedom. The IBM T23s that I have used for many years are adequate in practice, and the system and applications running on them are entirely free software, but the BIOS is not. I want to use a laptop with a free software BIOS, and the XO is the only one.

The XO's usual software load is not 100% free; it has a non-free firmware program to run the wireless chip. That means I cannot fully promote the XO as it stands, but it was easy for me solve that problem for my own machine: I just deleted that file. That made the internal wireless chip inoperative, but I can do without it.

As always happens, problems arose, which delayed the migration until last week. On Friday, when I discussed some technical problems with the OLPC staff, we also discussed how to save the future of the project.

Some enthusiasts of the GNU/Linux system are extremely disappointed by the prospect that the XO, if it is a success, will not be a platform for the system they love. Those who have supported the OLPC project with their effort or their money may well feel betrayed. However, those concerns are dwarfed by what is at stake here: whether the XO is an influence for freedom or an influence for subjection.

Since the OLPC was first announced we have envisioned it as a way to lead millions of children around the world to a life in which they do computing in freedom. The project announced its intention to give children a path to learn about computers by allowing them to study and tinker with the software. It may yet do that, but there is a danger that it will not. If most of the XOs that are actually used run Windows, the overall effect will be the opposite.

Proprietary software keeps users divided and helpless. Its functioning is secret, so it is incompatible with the spirit of learning. Teaching children to use a proprietary (non-free) system such as Windows does not make the world a better place, because it puts them under the power of the system's developer -- perhaps permanently. You might as well introduce the children to an addictive drug. If the XO turns out to be a platform for spreading the use of proprietary software, its overall effect on the world will be negative.

It is also superfluous. The OLPC has already inspired other cheap computers; if the goal is only to make cheap computers available, the OLPC project has succeeded whether or not more XOs are built. So why build more XOs? Delivering freedom would be a good reason.

The project's decision is not final; the free software community must do everything possible to convince OLPC to continue being (aside from one firmware package) a force for freedom.

Part of what we can do is offer to help with the project's own free software. OLPC hoped for contribution from the community to its interface, Sugar, but this has not happened much. Partly that's because OLPC has not structured its development so as to reach out to the community for help -- which means, when viewed in constructive terms, that OLPC can obtain more contribution by starting to do this.

Sugar is free software, and contributing to it is a good thing to do. But don't forget the goal: helpful contributions are those that make Sugar better on free operating systems. Porting to Windows is permitted by the license, but it isn't a good thing to do.

I am typing these words on the XO. As I travel and speak in the coming weeks, I will point to it in my speeches to raise this issue.

---

Copyright 2008 Richard Stallman
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide without royalty in any medium provided this notice is preserved.

Canadian citizens in Ottawa please attend the Public Policy Forum symposium, tomorrow, Monday April 28. The event is being hosted at Chateau Laurier, Ottawa, Ontario.

Register and attend the symposium.

Cory Doctorow writes, "The lobby for US-style copyrights in Canada has gone into overdrive, recruiting a powerful Member of Parliament and turning public forums on copyright into one-sided love-fests for restrictive copyright regimes that criminalize everyday Canadians."

Read Cory Doctorow's blog on BoingBoing. If you can attend the symposium I suggest handing out printed copies of Corry's blog to all those in attendance.

Read Howard Knopf blog on ExcessCopyright about how he was excluded from the symposium.

Canada's Public Policy Forum promotes itself as a non-profit dedicated to promoting, "constructive dialogue in support of excellence in the public service, democratic institutions and public policy. The PPF encourages civic mindedness, innovative public policy options, and constructive outcomes that impact on decision-making." Unfortunately, PPF president Jodi White seems to be taking sides in the debate and has moved to exclude the major opposition voice from this event.

Canadian Citizens who cannot attend the symposium can email or telephone Jodi White, President, Public Policy Forum and object to this exclusion (be firm but polite):
jodi.white@ppforum.ca
Phone 613-238-7858 ext. 226

Silicon Mechanics, a manufacturer of server hardware, has committed to shipping servers with coreboot, a free BIOS, preinstalled.

Chris Watson at Silicon Mechanics said:

We will commit to offering coreboot preinstallation on the Rackform nServ A236 with a specific set of hardware and software. In the future, we may expand the program to additional platforms based on customer interest. We will include a message about coreboot support on the platform page in the next few days with instructions to contact sales for additional information.

To get a quote and purchasing information, please contact Art Mann at Silicon Mechanics.

The A236 is a 1U server with 4 drive bays built around a dual socket-F Opteron motherboard. The motherboard is based on the Supermicro H8DMR board that is supported in coreboot v2.

This is great news for the FSF's campaign for a free BIOS, and we've already purchased an A236 with coreboot preinstalled to replace an older server. We're very pleased to be able to easily purchase machines that are fully free from top to bottom.

We handed our letter to the assistant of Paul A. La Camera, the general manager The WBUR Group. Mr. La Camera was not in this morning, but the letter is waiting for him to arrive.

Outside we passed out copies of the letter to employees entering the building and members of the general public passing by. One found its way into the hands of the director of new media, Robin Lubbock, who immediately invited us inside for a tour of the station.

From left to right: Peter Brown, Robin Lubbock, Joshua Gay

It was a delight to see the studios where Car Talk and On Point are recorded, and the staff was joking and friendly -- perhaps not used to being on this side of the "picket line." Robin, as it turns out, has a GNU/Linux box at home and understood much of what we had to say. After the tour we sat down with Robin and we discussed at length the details of web casting and audio formats.

Robin was receptive to our letter, and he asked some good tough questions about the ethical and technological aspects of providing freedom respecting audio formats. We offered FSF technical expertise and time resources to help WBUR provide Ogg.  By the time we left, Robin seemed confident that the technical barriers were sufficiently low.

Now the ball is in WBUR's court, and we look forward to their response.

It is time for our publicly funded broadcasters to take seriously the impact their decisions to webcast only in proprietary formats have on the future of free unencumbered audio standards.  As an avid listener to their radio broadcast, it is frustrating not to be able to listen online.

The next step for WBUR is an easy one: provide an Ogg Vorbis stream.

After we left WBUR we headed to the offices of Dr. Robert A. Brown, president
Boston University (BU) and handed a copy of the letter to his assistant and described the important role BU can have in fostering free audio formats at WBUR.

Joshua Gay

p.s. Get prepared for the follow up - sign up to the playogg action mailing list