Thoughts on System76 and Purism laptops.

[Vern_in_IL]

So what I hear is these laptops are billed and advertised as secure, powerful and the best open source compatible pc-laptops on the market.

I´m hearing complaints that there are capability issues with PureOS on the Purism. I´m also reading that System76 Pop!OS is just a skinned over Ubuntu build... and System76 refuse to work with open source developers.

I understand that Linux is great at security on a software level, with tweaks. My concern is the HARDWARE side, see these laptops DO NOT HAVE any security chips, like say Apple and Lenovo has. So, my understanding is these laptops, open sourced hardware which is great, but what stops outsiders from tampering with components and exploiting vulnerabilities in hardware?

 

[hemioiler]

So what I hear is these laptops are billed and advertised as secure, powerful and the best open source compatible pc-laptops on the market.

I´m hearing complaints that there are capability issues with PureOS on the Purism. I´m also reading that System76 Pop!OS is just a skinned over Ubuntu build... and System76 refuse to work with open source developers.

I understand that Linux is great at security on a software level, with tweaks. My concern is the HARDWARE side, see these laptops DO NOT HAVE any security chips, like say Apple and Lenovo has. So, my understanding is these laptops, open sourced hardware which is great, but what stops outsiders from tampering with components and exploiting vulnerabilities in hardware?

System76 is a good distro, it does use Ubuntu for the base but they add their own drivers and some other software over top of it. They don't "refuse to work with open source devs" that's nonsense. They're building their own desktop environment because they got frustrated working with gnome devs, which isn't a surprise if you know anything about those devs and their attitudes.

Pretty sure most of their hardware is rebranded, then they ship their distro with all the drivers needed to work 100% correctly on their hardware. This can be a nice assurance for somebody buying their laptops as not all laptops have proper linux support, they take the guess out of the game and it "just works".

Nobody is tampering with components/vulnerabilities. You don't need any of that stuff in your hardware.

Lenovo laptops are generally an excellent choice as well with excellent linux support.

The best bet is stay away from bleeding edge laptops, as linux devs need time to buy the hardware first and then write code to support it. This process takes longer than having the laptop shipped working with windows of course.

 

[uc50ic4more]

So what I hear is these laptops are billed and advertised as secure, powerful and the best open source compatible pc-laptops on the market.

I´m hearing complaints that there are capability issues with PureOS on the Purism. I´m also reading that System76 Pop!OS is just a skinned over Ubuntu build... and System76 refuse to work with open source developers.

I understand that Linux is great at security on a software level, with tweaks. My concern is the HARDWARE side, see these laptops DO NOT HAVE any security chips, like say Apple and Lenovo has. So, my understanding is these laptops, open sourced hardware which is great, but what stops outsiders from tampering with components and exploiting vulnerabilities in hardware?

Pop!_OS is indeed based on Ubuntu, as a whooooooole lot of other Linux distros are; with, as @hemioiler mentioned above, the additions of certain UI modifications, additional software and drivers. It is an open source DE essentially but one made for a specific purpose, and even aimed at specific hardware by a specific company. To that end, they may have different criteria they use to determine what code gets merged into their development what doesn't; and that might lead some observers to label it "uncooperative". I believe that characterization to be inflammatory, inaccurate and in bad faith, as are most headlines in 2023.

I would not give a second thought to the security of the machine. I am unsure how Pop!_OS manages security and other updates; but I would not expect the defaults to be anything less than stellar (read: would be light years, in terms of stability as defined both by "doesn't crash" as well as "doesn't change", security, respect of privacy/freedom and ease-of-use, beyond Windows). I am a Debian guy (on which Ubuntu is based, and therefore POP!_OS as well) and use it on everything from very old hardware (to type this post) to very powerful hardware *as well as the cloud-based network on which I make my living* for an eternity in computer years and have never had a security or stability issue.