Laptop Purchase
A while ago, I backed the CrowdSupply campaign for Reform, an open-source laptop. There's a small Berlin based company behind this, the founder of which, Lukas F. Hartmann, is a genius. He likes to build things from scratch in an open source fashion. One example is an operating system. Another is the Reform laptop. Lukas and friends have designed the entire machine from the ground up, PCB layout, keyboard, case, and all that. The open source philosophy goes as far as making 3D printing instructions for the case parts available. The laptop is a bit clunky, but completely maintainable (no hardwired battery!). It's also a bit pricey and comes with little memory, but the idea as such has my greatest sympathy.
Future editions of the laptop might go even further open source. The current processor is still based on (proprietary) ARM architecture, but Lukas is already thinking about a RISC-V based machine.
In backing the campaign, I chose the package that involves me assembling the laptop from its parts. This is going to be so much fun. I've also agreed with Lukas to save him the shipping cost, and will pick up the box in person in Berlin, hopefully in December.
Tags: hacking, the-nerdy-bit