Librem

Librem is a line of computers manufactured by Purism, SPC featuring free (libre) software.[1][2] The laptop line is designed to protect privacy and freedom by providing no non-free (proprietary) software in the operating system or kernel,[3][4][5][6] avoiding the Intel Active Management Technology,[7] and gradually freeing and securing firmware.[8][9] Librem laptops feature hardware hardware kill switches for the microphone, webcam, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.[1][2]

Models

Librem 15 and 13 laptops

In 2014 Purism launched a crowdfunding campaign on Crowd Supply to fund the creation and production of the Librem 15 laptop,[10] conceived as a modern alternative to existing open-source hardware laptops, all of which used older hardware.[11][12][13] The 15 in the name refers to its 15-inch screen size. The campaign succeeded after extending the original campaign,[14] and the laptops were shipped to backers.[15] In a second revision of the laptop, hardware kill switches for the camera, microphone, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth were added.

After the successful launch of the Librem 15, Purism created another campaign on Crowd Supply for a 13-inch laptop called the Librem 13,[16] which also came with hardware kill switches similar to those on the Librem 15v2.[17] The campaign was again successful and the laptops were shipped to customers.[18]

Purism announced in December 2016 that it would start shipping from inventory rather than building to order with the new batches of Librem 15 and 13.[19]

As of May 2020 Purism had two laptop models in production, the Librem 15 (version 4, US$1,599[20]) and Librem 13 (version 4, $1,399[21][2]). The Librem 5 mobile telephone can be pre-ordered ($749).[22]

Comparison of laptops
Librem model Coreboot version CPU Intel ME Release Max RAM (GB)
15 v1 32
13 v1 4.6 (rel), 4.9 (cur)[23] Disabled 32
15 v2 4.7 (rel), 4.9 (cur)[24] Intel Core i5 6200U Disabled February 2018[24] 16
13 v2 4.7 (rel), 4.9 (cur)[24] Intel Core i5 6200U Disabled February 2018[24] 16
15 v3 4.6 (rel), 4.9 (cur)[23] Intel Core i7 6500U Disabled 32
13 v3 4.6 (rel), 4.9 (cur)[23] Intel Core i7 6500U Disabled 32
15 v4 4.8 (rel), 4.9 (cur) Intel Core i7 7500U Disabled[25] January 2019 32
13 v4 4.8 (rel), 4.9 (cur) Intel Core i7 7500U Disabled[25] January 2019 32

Librem 11 tablet

A convertible tablet-to-laptop model, the Librem 11, was under development as of March 2018.[2][26] Purism Chief Executive Officer, Todd Weaver, stated that work on the Librem 11 would continue after the planned 2019 release of the Librem 5 smartphone.

Librem 5 smartphone
Main article: Librem 5
Librem 5
BrandPurism
Operating systemPureOS
CPUNXP i.MX 8M quad core Cortex A53, 64-bit ARM @max 1.5 GHz (auxiliary Cortex M4)
GPUVivante GC7000Lite
ModemBaseband Gemalto PLS8, Broadmobi BM818
Memory3 GB
Storage32 GB eMMC flash memory
Removable storagemicroSD (2 TB max)
Battery3500 mAh, user-replaceable
Data inputssensors:

Other

  • Power
  • Volume buttons
  • Wi-Fi, cellular, microphone–camera kill switches
Display720×1440 5.7″ IPS TFT
Rear camera13 MP LED flash
Front camera8 MP
SoundWolfson Media WM8962 DAC
ConnectivityWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 – 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4, TESEO LIV3 multiconstellation GNSS receiver, 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C USB 3.0 PD/DisplayPort, 2FF smart card reader

In 2017, Purism started a crowdfunding campaign for Librem 5, a smartphone aimed not only to run purely on the free software provided in PureOS, but to "[focus] on security by design and privacy protection by default". Purism claimed that the phone would become "the world's first ever IP-native mobile handset, using end-to-end encrypted decentralized communication."[27] Purism cooperated with KDE and GNOME in its development of Librem 5.[28]

Plans for security on the Librem 5 include separation of the CPU from the baseband processor, which, according to Linux Magazine, would make Librem 5 unique in comparison to other mobile phones.[28] Hardware kill switches for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communication and the phone's camera, microphone, and baseband processor are also planned.[28]

The default operating system planned for Librem 5 is Purism's PureOS, a Debian GNU/Linux derivative, with a choice of either GNOME or KDE Plasma Mobile as the desktop environments.[28] Ubuntu Touch is also planned as a standard option for the operating system of Librem 5.[29]

Purism announced on 4 September 2018 that the launch date of Librem 5 would be April 2019, later than initially planned, because of two hardware bugs and the holiday season in Europe and North America.[30] The two "silicon bugs" in components provided by NXP Semiconductors caused rapid battery draining, discharging the phone in about an hour. Development kits for software developers were planned for release in October 2018, mostly unaffected by the bug, since developers would normally connect the device to a mains power outlet rather than rely on the phone battery.[30] The launch date was later postponed to the third quarter because of the necessity of further CPU tests,[31] and on September 24, 2019, Purism announced that the first batch of Librem 5 phones had started shipping.[32]

The operating system uses a GTK-compliant user interface called Phosh.[33]

Librem Key

Announced on 20 September 2018, the Librem Key is a hardware USB security token with multiple features, including integration with a tamper-evident Heads BIOS, that ensures a Librem laptop Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) was not maliciously altered since the last laptop launch.[34] Also a one-time password storage with 3x HMAC-based One-time Password algorithm (HOTP) (RFC 4226) and 15 x Time-based One-time Password algorithm (TOTP) (RFC 6238) and an integrated password manager (16 entries), 40 kbit/s true random number generator, and a tamper-resistant smart card. The key supports type A USB 2.0, has dimensions of 48 x 19 x 7 mm, and weights 6 g.[35]

Operating system
Main article: PureOS

Initially planning to preload its Librem laptops with the Trisquel operating system,[36] Purism eventually moved off the Trisquel platform to rebase onto Debian for the 2.0 release of its PureOS Linux operating system.[37] As an alternative to PureOS, Librem laptops were originally announced as purchasable with Qubes preloaded,[38] but in July, 2017 Librem announced that Qubes was no longer an option for new orders.[39] In December 2017 the Free Software Foundation added PureOS to its list of endorsed GNU/Linux distributions.[40][41]

BIOS

In 2015, Purism began research to port the Librem 13 to coreboot[42][43][44] but the effort was initially stalled. By the end of the year, a coreboot developer completed an initial port of the Librem 13 and submitted it for review.[45] In December 2016, hardware enablement developer Youness Alaoui joined Purism and was tasked to complete the coreboot port for the original Librem 13 and prepare a port for the second revision of the device.[46] Since summer 2017, new Librem laptops are shipped with coreboot as their standard BIOS, and updates are available for all older models.[47]

See also

References
  1. Miller, Paul; Krales, Amelia Holowaty (2017-08-23). "Librem 13 laptop review: physical security for the paranoid". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
  2. Wallen, Jack (2018-03-26). "Purism Librem 13 review: This Linux-based laptop takes your privacy to the next level". TechRepublic. Archived from the original on 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
  3. Kyle Rankin. "Purism Librem 15 Review". Linux Journal. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  4. IEEE Consumer Electronics, Vol 5, Number 1, 2016 January, "Veillance Integrity by Design A new mantra for CE devices and services", pp. 33-143, By Steve Mann
  5. Purism Aims To Build A Philosophically Pure Laptop, TechCrunch, Jan 23, 2015 by John Biggs (@johnbiggs)
  6. Bridgwater, Adrian (2015-01-26). "Purism Librem: 100% open source crowdsourced 'high-end' laptop". Computer Weekly. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  7. Armasu, Lucian (2016-08-29). "Purism Explains Why It Avoids Intel's AMT And Networking Cards For Its Privacy-Focused 'Librem' Notebooks". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  8. Ung, Gordon. "Purism discovered how to make open-source software laptops even more open". PCWorld. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  9. Armasu, Lucian (2017-04-12). "Purism Laptops To Use 'Heads' Firmware To Protect Against Rootkits, Tampering". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  10. "Librem 15: A Laptop That Respects Your Rights". Crowd Supply. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  11. "Purism Librem 15". Linux Journal. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  12. "Purism Aims To Build A Philosophically Pure Laptop". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  13. "Purism Librem 15 Linux laptop blends high-end hardware with totally free software". PCWorld. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  14. "Purism's high-end, open software-stuffed Librem 15 laptop hits crowdfunding goal". PCWorld. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  15. "Librem 15 Laptop: Shipping Update". Crowd Supply. 2015-06-09.
  16. "Librem 13: A Laptop That Respects Your Rights". Crowd Supply. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  17. "Purism Puts Physical Kill Switches on Latest Laptop". Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  18. "Purism Librem 13 Review". Linux Journal. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  19. Weaver, Todd (2016-12-15). "Growing to Ship from Inventory in 2017". Purism. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  20. "Librem 15 version". Purism. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  21. "Librem 13 version 4". Purism. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  22. "Librem 5". Purism. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  23. "Coreboot". wiki.puri.sm. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  24. Alaoui, Youness (2018-02-22). "February 2018 Coreboot update now available". Purism. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
  25. "The Purism Freedom Roadmap: Road to FSF endorsement, and Beyond". Purism. 2018-04-04. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
  26. Baldwin, Roberto (2016-05-19). "Purism expands its line of privacy-focused devices to include a 2-in-1". Engadget. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  27. Holwerda, Thom (2017-08-24). "Librem 5: a security and privacy focused GNU/Linux smartphone". OSNews. Archived from the original on 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  28. Byfield, Bruce (2018). "Librem 5 and the Challenge of the Free Phone". Linux Magazine. Archived from the original on 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  29. Verma, Ardash (2018-04-25). "Open Source Smartphone Librem 5 Will Officially Support Ubuntu Touch". Fossbytes. Archived from the original on 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  30. Faerber, Nicole (2018-09-04). "Progress update from the Librem 5 hardware department". Purism, SPC. Archived from the original on 2018-10-13. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  31. Weaver, Todd (21 February 2019). "Massive Progress, Exact CPU Selected & Minor Shipping Adjustment". Purism.
  32. PurismBeautiful; Secure; Laptops, Privacy-Respecting; Phones (2019-09-24). "First Librem 5 Smartphones are Shipping". Purism. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  33. "Phosh". developer.puri.sm.
  34. "Introducing the Librem Key". Purism. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  35. "Librem Key". Purism. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  36. Rahl, Jon (2015-05-17). "Production and Shipping Update". Purism. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  37. Weaver, Todd (2015-09-18). "Weekly Update on Librem Production 2015-09-18". Purism. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  38. Porup, J. M. (2015-12-14). "Qubes OS will ship pre-installed on Purism's security-focused Librem 13 laptop". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  39. "A shipping update for Qubes-related orders". Purism. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  40. "FSF adds PureOS to list of endorsed GNU/Linux distributions". Free Software Foundation. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  41. "OpenNews: Фонд СПО признал PureOS полностью свободным дистрибутивом". www.opennet.ru. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  42. Moberg, Larry (2015-07-20). "Freeing the BIOS: Memory Init". Purism. Archived from the original on 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  43. Moberg, Larry (2015-08-14). "2015-08-14: Librem 13: Weekly BIOS Progress Update". Purism. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  44. Moberg, Larry (2015-08-21). "2015-08-21 Librem 13: Weekly BIOS Progress Update". Purism. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  45. Laurie, Duncan (2015-12-22). "Gerrit Code Review". review.coreboot.org. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  46. Alaoui, Youness (2017-01-05). "Diving back into coreboot development". Purism. Archived from the original on 2017-01-13. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  47. "Downloading and installing coreboot on Purism Librem devices". Purism. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
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