[Testannounce] More details about the Librem 5 Dogwood Update 3

[testannounce at announce.puri.sm]

Purism August 2020 Updates


  Purism Updates: August 2020

Librem 5 Evergreen updates, Librem 14 hardware development, and playing
3D gaming on the Librem 5.

Librem 5 Pre-Order Librem 5 <https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-5/>
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    Librem 5 Evergreen Update: Mold and Milestones

In our last Librem 5 update post, we discussed a number of the changes
<https://puri.sm/posts/librem-5-dogwood-update-3/> in our Librem 5
“Dogwood” batch as compared with previous batches. Dogwood was our last
“small batch” in preparation for Evergreen, our highly-anticipated
mass-produced Librem 5 batch. Dogwood was incredibly important as it
gave us one of our last opportunities to identify any flaws and fix them
before mass-production. It also was the first batch to feature a flipped
CPU which we found did improve heat dissipation
<https://puri.sm/posts/dogwood-thermals-and-battery-life/>. As a result
we spent much more time in the testing process for Dogwood than we did
in the Chestnut batch.


      Opening the Mold

While many parts of Evergreen could be worked on in parallel, there were
a number of final steps that were blocked until we were absolutely sure
that certain aspects of the Librem 5 were settled. One of the most
important of these we are ready to announce: *we have opened the mold
for the Librem 5*.

We designed the Librem 5 from scratch
<https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground/> because we found no other
design exists off-the-shelf that would meet our high standards for
protecting privacy and security and qualify for Free Software Foundation
RYF (Respects Your Freedom) certification. As a result our custom
electronics can’t use off-the-shelf cases based off of public molds–we
must create our own. Opening the mold for a hardware project like the
Librem 5 is a very important milestone. The mold is used to mass-produce
the case the electronics will fit in and is an expensive process
(hundreds of thousands of dollars) that takes many weeks to complete.

Once you have created the mold, many aspects of your hardware, such as
the sizes of the respective electronics are set in stone (well
technically set in metal). If you find you need to change something that
would alter the dimensions, it means opening a new mold and incurring
the expense and the time all over again.


      Extending the Case

Some might wonder why we have only opened the mold at this point, and
not earlier in the year. The reason is that it was only now, after
extensive testing, that we were absolutely sure about the size of the
electronics and the case. And it was a good thing we waited, because in
our testing of the antennas over the past few months we discovered we
could further improve antenna performance for the Librem 5 by extending
the case length by 3mm.

Librem 5 Mold Evergreen prototype (left) and Dogwood (right)

The above picture illustrates the 3mm difference along the bottom bezel.
The overall impact on the size of the Librem 5 is otherwise pretty
difficult to notice, but does have enough of an impact on antenna
performance that it was worth the change.

Librem 5 Comparison Dogwood (left) and Evergreen prototype (right)

Along with increased antenna performance, we are investigating whether
this extended case will allow us to fit a higher-capacity battery into
the Librem 5 Evergreen. We will be sure to announce it if we confirm
it’s possible.


      Evergreen Shipping Timeline

Opening the mold sets off a chain reaction of other, final tasks
culminating in shipping Evergreen. Based on current projections, we will
start shipping Evergreen to customers mid-to-late November 2020.


      Thank You

It has been a long journey from our crowdfunding campaign to this
important milestone. We want to thank the community for your support
through each step of this process and joining us for this crazy ride!
Now we are in the final steps of the process and the finish line is in
sight. We will continue to provide updates as we cross these final
milestones so stay tuned.


    The design behind a modular and secure mobile phone

The Librem 5 is not just another smartphone. It is unique in so many
ways and it represents, to me, the transition toward a world of digital
ethics, which I hope will become the norm in the future. I wanted to do
a video that underlines the unique hardware design of the Librem 5 for a
while. I keep being impressed by the work that Nicole and the Librem 5
team have achieved, and keep achieving, to make such a great device come
true. It is amazing.


      Isolated components through M.2 expansion slots

One of the most unique features of the Librem 5, in comparison to
today's standards, is the fact of having the cellular modem and
Wi-Fi/Bluetooth on daughter cards, independent from the main board. Just
like on a desktop computer, the Librem 5 features two M.2 expansion
slots in order to host those components.

Therefore those network components are fully isolated from the main
board and cannot freely access the rest of the system. That is an
important privacy feature.

It also makes upgrading, replacing or even removing those components
extremely simple.

Modem Card

We may also see Librem 5 compatible expansion cards for many purposes in
the future. The Librem 5 design gives so much room to developers for
expansion and customization.


      The hardware kill-switches

The freedom of removing an unwanted feature through the removal of its
card is a great feature but what if I want this feature from time to
time without having it the rest of the time? I could not imagine
removing the cellular card only to put it back every time I want to call
someone.

Just like with the Librem laptops, the Librem 5 features the ability to
disconnect the various hardware components easily through 3 convenient
switches on the side of the device.

  * A switch to physically disconnect the cellular modem card.
  * A switch to physically disconnect the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth card.
  * A switch to physically disconnect both cameras and the microphone.
  * Toggling the 3 switches in there “Off” position will disconnect all
    other hardware sensors
    <https://puri.sm/posts/lockdown-mode-on-the-librem-5-beyond-hardware-kill-switches/>
    such as the GPS and the accelerometer, leaving the Librem 5 as a
    simple tiny computer, isolated from the world.

Kill Switches


      Own the keys of your device

The Librem 5 has been designed to be compatible with the Librem Key. It
ships with PureOS, just like the other Librem computers and goes even
further in terms of hardware by integrating a smart card reader
<https://puri.sm/posts/your-own-personal-enclave-the-smart-card-reader-on-the-librem-5/>.
It is obvious that using an external USB device like the Librem Key on
the phone is not ideal, so one should use a Librem Key in the form of a
simple smart card instead. It’s like a second SIM card that’s dedicated
to handling the security and encryption of the data going through the phone.

SmartCard

We are still working on making the process of securing the data of our
devices, while owning the keys to secure them, simple and convenient for
everyone. We believe that a product or a feature is not ethical if it
cannot be used by everyone.


      Extremely modular

I don't think I am mistaken if I say that the Librem 5 is the most
modular smartphone out there. In a world where hardware design is
pushing the people to over-consumerism by soldering everything to a
single board while promoting fragility thinness, repairing or upgrading
a mobile phone has become almost impossible.

The Librem 5 stands aside from that by banning any form of planned
obsolescence
<https://puri.sm/posts/librem-5-longevity-solving-the-problem-of-disposable-technology/>,
which is as good for people's finances as it is for the environment.

Exploded View


      Software freedom

This beautiful Librem 5 hardware wouldn't mean much if it wasn't driven
by software that is controlled and fully owned by the people. From the
BIOS, to the applications, going through the kernel and operating
system, the Librem 5 runs on software that respects the 4 software
freedoms
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Free_Software_Definition#The_Four_Essential_Freedoms_of_Free_Software>
where the people are in full control.


    3D Gaming on the Librem 5

The Librem 5 is the first phone running a full-blown desktop Operating
System–PureOS; the same operating system that runs Purism's Librem
Laptops, Mini, and Servers. Productivity tools are abundant, but how
good is the Librem 5 when it comes to gaming?

The Vivante GC7000Lite GPU in the Librem 5 provides a lot of 3D
rendering power while still protecting your freedom with free software
drivers. Here's a look at how some 3D games run on the Librem 5 today.

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

There are a number of games like SuperTuxKart and Neverball that are
already fully touch compatible. First-person shooters tend to benefit
from a keyboard and mouse, and the list of games that work with UI
scaling is so long you would have to use extra storage to install them all.

Games Tested The Librem 5 after making the video above.

The Librem 5 running PureOS for gaming is starting to look a lot like PC
gaming thanks to the investment Purism has made in a convergent
operating system that powers all our products.

Pre-Order Librem 5 <https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-5/>


    Librem 14 Progress - Hardware Development

About a month ago we approved the schematics for our Librem 14 main
board, which is a fully custom Purism design. After that the schematics,
which describe which electronic components are connected to which and
how, needs to be turned in to a PCB design. This is a complicated and
time-consuming process. We are happy to announce that this has been
completed and *first PCBs are being made and assembled as we speak*.
This is a great step forward since it will also allow us to to get
started with something we have not talked about that much yet…


      Freeing the Embedded Controller

With the Librem 14 we will work on freeing the embedded controller (EC)
firmware! We put some special features into the hardware design which
will get enabled by our own free custom EC firmware. First of all this
will allow customized control of the system fan. We also intend to
expose an interface into Linux so that Linux applications will be able
to control the fan. Second we will expose as much of the battery
charging into Linux userspace as we can in order to give better control
of charging and discharging of the battery. This can be used to extend
the battery life at the expense of some battery run time or to manually
kick off a full charge cycle because, for instance, you know you will be
on the road and need as full a battery as possible. What we will also
expose into Linux userspace is an interface to control the keyboard
backlight brightness. We have attached the keyboard backlight to a PWM
output so you will be able to adjust the brightness with fine
granularity, only as bright as you need it.


      Notification LEDs

And finally we have added a feature that is quite unique. Basically any
phone these days has an LED indicator to indicate events, like incoming
message, email, calendar notifications etc. We also implemented this in
the Librem 5 where we have an RGB LED. All three colors can be
individually controlled in brightness by a PWM so almost all colors in
many brightness levels can be created, as well as of course a variety of
blinking and glowing patterns.

You know that we talk about convergence a lot. Our goal is to provide
the same environment as much as possible across all of our products,
especially the Librem 5 phone and the Librem laptops. We already use
pretty much the same software base and are working to make this close to
100% the same. This now also goes into hardware because we have
implemented this notification LED into the Librem 14 too! This is a full
color LED with a PWM controlled interface exposed into Linux user space
and you can expect PureOS to use it in the same way as we use it in the
Librem 5!

Kill Switches Notification LED is located to the right of the hardware
kill switches

With the first hardware now being produced we can finally kick off this
low level firmware development and integration into PureOS. This is very
exciting and we are so much looking forward to seeing this work. We will
of course keep you posted!


      Our Most Flexible Librem Laptop Yet

The Librem 14 is our most powerful, most flexible and most secure laptop
<https://puri.sm/products/librem-14/> yet. If you want free software,
flexible interfaces, and cutting-edge, powerful hardware, the Librem 14
is the best (some would say the only) choice. Be sure to pre-order the
Librem 14 <https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-14/> before our $200 off
early bird discount expires!

Pre-Order Librem 14 <https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-14/>
Purism

Thanking you for your support,
— the Purism team (feedback at puri.sm)

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