Story 2015-09-29

Taurinus X200 laptop now FSF-certified to respect your freedom

by
in hardware on (#NZ56)
story imageThe Free Software Foundation (FSF) has awarded its Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the Taurinus X200 laptop sold by Libiquity. The RYF certification mark means that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy. The Taurinus X200 comes with Libreboot firmware and the FSF-endorsed Trisquel GNU/Linux operating system. Importantly, Intel's Management Engine (ME) firmware with its applications like AMT (remote out-of-band management/backdoor system, part of "vPro") and PAVP (audio/video DRM) have been removed from this laptop. The laptop ships within the USA and may be purchased from the Libiquity Store.

The $60 Raspberry Pi touchscreen is now available

by
in hardware on (#NX79)
The Raspberry Pi Foundation on Tuesday launched the much-awaited display for its tiny, credit card sized computer. Pi display joins the family of accessories made by the foundation. The foundation has been working on the display for almost a year now. It's an RGB 800i-480 display @60fps with 24-bit color and 10 point capacitive touch capabilities. The display has mounting holes at the back so you can easily mount the Pi to it and use the whole thing as one unit. The good news is that it's using DSI (Display Serial Interface) for connectivity which leaves the only HDMI port on the Pi free for other use - such as connecting to a bigger monitor.

Users will have to use the latest OS on their Pi for the display to work flawlessly; if you are running Raspbian just run a system upgrade and connect the display. Since it's a touchscreen display, it can be cumbersome to use the native X Display server to interact with the device - using your finger, as a mouse is never that efficient. The foundation is suggesting Kivy, a Python GUI development system designed to work on touch based devices.