Among other things. My first question was, is the hardware open? Couldn't find an answer to that.
Edit: Apparently revision 2 of Purism will possibly have Coreboot.
The graphics chip needs proprietary, binary firmware blobs.
The ethernet chip needs proprietary, binary firmware blobs.
The BIOS is a proprietary, binary firmware blob.
"Respects your freedom" my ass. The only difference to a whitebox laptop is marketing. Dell's or Lenovo's linux offerings are just as "free".
(And chromebooks with Coreboot are, technically, more free than both.)
I wonder why Purism didn't simply commission such a machine with the right 3D chip instead of going with a non-free and expensive option.
I would also love similar initiatives in the mobile space, but I reckon it is more challenging. Neo900 and Pyra are kind of cool though. And I'm hoping Jolla open sources Sailfish OS later this month or early new year.
Because they can sell the "expensive" option (which, for the OEM itself, isn't even too expensive) at a much higher premium.
> I would also love similar initiatives in the mobile space, but I reckon it is more challenging.
In the mobile space it would be an even bigger exercise in futility: There is no, and will never be, a baseband chip with a free firmware. The FCC made that pretty clear back in the OpenMoko days – use our NSA-approved proprietary blob or you'll never sell in the developed world.
E.g., If you're worried about the police monitoring your communications, giving them a perfectly legal reason to detain you is likely not your preferred course of action.
However it may be that other, less Constitutionally-constrained parties would have the ability to dragnet for nonstandard firmware to highlight people for more intense scrutiny. The police could use a parallel construction based on that. Then they could say that unauthorized firmware on a seized phone establishes some sort of criminal intent.