Re: [libreplanet-discuss] talos

[Charles Cossé]

Hi, is there a way to see all the promotional materials of Talos?

Thanks,

-Charles

On Fri, Jan 13, 2017 at 4:10 PM, J.B. Nicholson <jbn@forestfield.org> wrote:

Arthur Torrey wrote:

I can buy (or even trash pick) several 'trailing edge' Wintel laptop or
desktop systems, and get them to at least moderately free states for
less than what an EOMA68 costs, let alone the amount needed to get a
functional Talos box....

I'd look at EOMA68 (and any other forward-thinking fully-free project, including Talos) differently: at some point there will be no more older Intel-based computers one could buy and refurbish to turn into usable free software computers. What will we recommend to others (even those with very modest computing needs met by today's older systems) then?

Basically while the Talos idea is great, I'm forced by personal
economics to say not until it is price competitive with non-free
hardware, and I suspect the same applies to a lot of us...

That day may never come so we will have to value our freedom by paying more money for that freedom up front. I too could not afford a Talos, but I did buy a refurbished Intel-based Thinkpad and I'd buy another Intel-compatible free system if I saw a need.

I don't know how feasible it is to have a smaller Talos-like system -- a Librem with Talos hardware inside. I'm no authority on this, so I'm not sure if I can clearly convey how to make a Talos-like computer (POWER-based, fully-free, but with CPUs that have fewer cores, and no slots) which would cost less and attract more general-purpose non-technical computer users. The Talos was great for server needs and those who need PCIe cards, lots of RAM, many CPU cores, and a development team that clearly conveys the need for high-end fully-free systems. Unfortunately my budget doesn't allow me to be in that userbase.

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