Chips By Lee Mathews Dec. 20, 2013 1:26 pm
It’s not easy for computer hardware or software to get the Free Software Foundation’s thumbs up. The refurbishing experts at Gluglug have figured out how to do it, though, and the Gluglug X60 has just received the FSF’s “Respects Your Freedom” stamp of approval.
This obviously isn’t a machine of Gluglug’s own design. It’s the legendary Thinkpad X60, which remains one of the best-built laptops ever sold.
It’s tough and solid and features one of IBM’s epic laptop keyboards, and the Gluglug remix features open source software — Coreboot to replace the proprietary BIOS and Trisquel Linux instead of Windows.
The FSF-friendly configurations start at around $260. That gets you just 1GB of RAM and a paltry 60GB of HDD space. Both can be upgraded, however. The top-end X60 with 3GB of RAM and a 120GB SSD will run you $455.
Yes, that’s a lot to pay for a laptop that hit retail shelves seven years ago, runs a Core2 processor, and has a 12.1-inch display with a native resolution of just 1024 x 768. Then again, those who support the FSF and share its ideals will happily pay a few extra dollars for a machine that’s been professionally refurbished and had its firmware and software retooled in such a way that even Richard Stallman is OK recommending it for purchase.
And Gluglug really has gone the extra mile with these X60 systems. They’re shipping each one with a brand new 8-cell battery and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, so they’ll offer decent performance and endurance despite their age.
The Gluglug X60 is certainly a big step up from the other FSF-recommended system: the Longsoon Lemote, a 10-inch netbook with a MIPS processor.
Now read: FSF attends iPad launch with warning sign
More...
This obviously isn’t a machine of Gluglug’s own design. It’s the legendary Thinkpad X60, which remains one of the best-built laptops ever sold.
It’s tough and solid and features one of IBM’s epic laptop keyboards, and the Gluglug remix features open source software — Coreboot to replace the proprietary BIOS and Trisquel Linux instead of Windows.
The FSF-friendly configurations start at around $260. That gets you just 1GB of RAM and a paltry 60GB of HDD space. Both can be upgraded, however. The top-end X60 with 3GB of RAM and a 120GB SSD will run you $455.
Yes, that’s a lot to pay for a laptop that hit retail shelves seven years ago, runs a Core2 processor, and has a 12.1-inch display with a native resolution of just 1024 x 768. Then again, those who support the FSF and share its ideals will happily pay a few extra dollars for a machine that’s been professionally refurbished and had its firmware and software retooled in such a way that even Richard Stallman is OK recommending it for purchase.
And Gluglug really has gone the extra mile with these X60 systems. They’re shipping each one with a brand new 8-cell battery and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, so they’ll offer decent performance and endurance despite their age.
The Gluglug X60 is certainly a big step up from the other FSF-recommended system: the Longsoon Lemote, a 10-inch netbook with a MIPS processor.
Now read: FSF attends iPad launch with warning sign
More...
