Technical & Advanced – Purism https://puri.sm/ High-quality computers that protect your freedom and privacy Wed, 01 Oct 2025 18:29:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.28 https://puri.sm/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cropped-purism-logo-rectangle-1-32x32.png Technical & Advanced – Purism https://puri.sm/ 32 32 Why there are no hardware kill-switches for speakers? https://puri.sm/faq/why-there-are-no-hardware-kill-switches-for-speakers/ Tue, 29 Aug 2023 19:09:26 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=67895 There is a concern that a malicious hacker, if they gain access to your device, could re-purpose speakers to act as a crude microphone, thus circumvent microphone hardware kill-switch found on Librem Laptops and Librem Phone. This is not concern with Librem devices. In Librem Laptops: the speakers are connected to an amplifier since the […]

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]]> What is the difference between various USB flash drive options you offer? https://puri.sm/faq/usb-drive-options/ Fri, 30 Oct 2020 14:49:22 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=69768 When ordering laptop or mini desktop you have option to select an USB memory flash drive to your order. They are 32 GB (5 Gbit/s max speed) and offer 3-in-1 USB port support: USB-C, USB-A and mini-USB. You can also order separately from a dedicated shop page: https://shop.puri.sm/shop/usb-flash-drive/. However we do not ship them empty—they […]

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]]> Are current Librem products vulnerable to Intel CSME? https://puri.sm/faq/are-current-librem-products-vulnerable-to-intel-csme/ Wed, 15 Apr 2020 16:19:56 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=68066 No, Librem laptops, Librem server and Librem Mini are not vulnerable.

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]]> Are current Librem products vulnerable to Meltdown or Spectre? https://puri.sm/faq/are-current-librem-products-vulnerable-to-meltdown-or-spectre/ Wed, 15 Apr 2020 16:14:51 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=68064 No, these vulnerabilities are patched in our coreboot/PureBoot firmware and as future Intel vulnerabilities in that family happen, that’s where we end up applying patches. So Librem laptops, Librem server, and Librem Mini are protected on coreboot level, no matter which OS you are using. Just make sure you are always on latest coreboot/PureBoot version.

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]]> What are encryption details for your hardware/software? https://puri.sm/faq/what-are-encryption-details-for-your-hardware-software/ Fri, 08 Nov 2019 20:08:25 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=66165 Software encryption LUKS software disk encryption with standard setup (cipher: aes-xts-plain64, size: 256) is used. Librem 14, Librem Mini and Librem servers come with PureOS with OEM setup, which pre-encrypts the disk but allows customer to set up their own disk encryption password. Boot partition is not encrypted but it can be verified with Librem […]

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]]> What is the difference between various storage options you offer? https://puri.sm/faq/storage-options/ Mon, 01 Jul 2019 21:12:40 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=64508 Librem laptops support two types of storage form factor: standard 2.5″ size and newer M.2. Standard 2.5″ slot supports SATA interface, disks are mostly cheap and available in larger capacities. For Librem laptops they require aluminum frame which holds them in place. Maximum disk height that will fit in Librem is 10mm. M.2 supports SATA […]

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]]> What is the difference between libreboot and my Librem’s coreboot firmware? https://puri.sm/faq/what-is-the-difference-between-libreboot-and-my-librems-coreboot-firmware/ Tue, 23 Apr 2019 21:33:16 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=63128 Libreboot is a downstream distribution (or fork) of coreboot which doesn’t allow non-free binaries (“blobs”), and only supports a small number of devices, the vast majority of which are over 10 years old. Libreboot also doesn’t “keep track” with coreboot; its most recent release is from mid-2016, whereas coreboot is updated regularly. Our coreboot firmware […]

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]]> What are your plans for tamper-proofing the Librem 5? https://puri.sm/faq/what-are-your-plans-for-tamper-proofing-the-librem-5/ Thu, 04 Apr 2019 21:46:30 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=63095 We hope to have a version of PureBoot available for the Librem 5 for users who want to verify it with a Librem Key. We cannot commit to it being available at launch but it’s a goal.

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]]> Who is in control of the master key stored in the TPM chip? https://puri.sm/faq/who-controls-tpm/ Sat, 09 Feb 2019 18:43:45 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=62531 The user completely controls any keys that are stored in the TPM on our hardware. Traditional understanding that manufacturer is in control of the master key stored in TPM is not true for our hardware. We don’t use it that way.

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]]> Are you looking to offer a AMD-Radeon/Ryzen-Vega or nVidia GPU option for laptops in the near future? https://puri.sm/faq/are-you-looking-to-offer-a-amd-radeon-ryzen-vega-or-nvidia-gpu-option-for-laptops-in-the-near-future/ Wed, 24 Oct 2018 10:03:40 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=61210 No, this hardware requires proprietary firmware to even function, therefore not aligned with our philosophy. However, we are monitoring the development and will consider them if something changes in the future.

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]]> Can I have your motherboard schematics? https://puri.sm/faq/can-i-have-your-motherboard-schematics/ Thu, 27 Sep 2018 15:58:12 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=60153 We cannot share the schematics nor design currently because it is copyright encumbered from Intel reference designs. In the future, on future versions we plan to be able to release those.

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]]> What is Intel Management Engine and what are concerns with it regarding Librem laptops? https://puri.sm/faq/what-is-intel-management-engine-and-what-are-concerns-with-it-regarding-librem-laptops/ Thu, 27 Sep 2018 15:49:06 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=60146 The Intel Management Engine (ME) is a separate independent processor core that is actually embedded inside the Multichip Package (MCP) on Intel CPUs. It operates all-by-itself and separate from the main processor, the BIOS, and the Operating system (OS), but it does interact with the BIOS and OS kernel. It is a black box of […]

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]]> How much is your coreboot fork different from the mainline code? https://puri.sm/faq/how-much-is-your-coreboot-fork-different-from-the-mainline-code/ Thu, 27 Sep 2018 15:08:12 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=60122 Most of our changes have been upstreamed and merged, there is very little difference and it’s mostly just for the most recent patches that we haven’t yet pushed.

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]]> What is TPM and do I need it? https://puri.sm/faq/what-is-tpm-and-do-i-need-it/ Thu, 27 Sep 2018 14:31:54 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=60117 TPM (Trusted Platform Module) is a special chip on a Librem laptop motherboard which provides some interesting security features. To best understand what it can do please read the following news articles from our blog, sorted by date: https://puri.sm/posts/purism-integrates-heads-security-firmware-with-tpm-giving-full-control-and-digital-privacy-to-laptop-users/ https://puri.sm/posts/purism-collaboration-with-cryptography-expert-werner-koch/ https://puri.sm/posts/making-heads-more-usable-with-menus/ https://puri.sm/posts/demonstrating-tamper-detection-with-heads/ TPM is required for the PureBoot secure boot feature. All current models of […]

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]]> Can I buy a Librem laptop with a proprietary BIOS/UEFI? https://puri.sm/faq/can-i-buy-a-librem-with-a-proprietary-bios-uefi/ Tue, 06 Jun 2017 18:01:40 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=19433 No. We ship with the free software firmware coreboot. We don’t ship Librem 13 or Librem 15 with any proprietary BIOS/UEFI.

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]]> What is coreboot and why is it important? https://puri.sm/faq/what-is-coreboot-and-why-is-it-important/ Tue, 06 Jun 2017 18:01:26 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=19430 Coreboot is a free software (and open-source) replacement for proprietary BIOS. Librem laptops come with coreboot pre-installed. For more info about coreboot please read this tech page.

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]]> Do Librem devices use non-ECC RAM or ECC RAM? https://puri.sm/faq/do-librem-devices-use-non-ecc-ram-or-ecc-ram/ Wed, 24 Aug 2016 22:49:20 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=5502 Non-ECC. Because ECC RAM takes modifying the motherboard in addition to selecting a CPU that supports ECC.

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]]> Does Qubes OS run on Librem hardware? https://puri.sm/faq/does-qubes-os-run-on-librem-hardware/ Tue, 26 Jul 2016 19:02:41 +0000 https://puri.sm/?post_type=faq&p=4938 If you would like to try Qubes OS, you may purchase the installer on a USB Flash Drive. This option is an installer only, not a LiveUSB, and is only recommended for advanced users with strong technical knowledge. Most users should stick with our default operating system, PureOS. We also now offer Qubes OS pre-installed […]

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