The MNT Reform is a laptop designed for folks who want to be able to understand, modify, and truly understand every aspect of their computer. It’s designed to run free and open source software, but the laptop is also open hardware — the design schematics, firmware, and most hardware components are available. And if you […]
open laptop
Reform is a DIY, modular, portable computer (work in progress)
Want a fully functional laptop that works out of the box? There are plenty to choose from. Want a model that you can upgrade? That’s a bit tougher to find: some modern laptops don’t even let you replace the RAM. Then there’s the Reform. It’s a new DIY, modular laptop that’s designed to be easy […]
Lilbits (3-26-2015): Freeze your eReader in a block of ice
Some companies boast that their gadgets are waterproof. But what about ice-proof? Last year PocketBook launced a water-resistant eReader called the PocketBook Aqua. A year later the folks at Vido decided to see just how sturdy this thing was… so they didn’t just get it wet. They froze it solid. I first read about the experiment […]
Lilbits (8-07-2014): Google Fit is coming
Google wants to make it easier for fitness-related Android apps to talk to one another, so the company is introducing a new series of APIs for developers. The platform is called Google Fit, and it’ll be available to the public when Android L is released this fall. But developers don’t have to wait until then […]
Novena Open laptop is on the way after beating crowdfunding goal
The creators of the Novena open laptop have created a portable computer designed to run pretty much nothing but free and open source software. The designs for the hardware are also available. But not everyone has the resources to laser cut their own case, order their own printed circuit board, and do all the other […]
Crowdfunding: Novena open laptop has a hackable bezel (among other things)
The folks behind the Novena open laptop are getting awfully close to their crowd-funding goal of $250,000 and with nearly two weeks to go in the project, it looks pretty likely that at least a few dozen of the devices will be manufactured and shipped in the coming year. If the team surpasses that goal, not […]
Bunnie Huang’s Novena open laptop stretch goals: 3D graphics drivers, hardware breakout boards and more
The makers of the Novena laptop wanted to build a PC unlike anything on the market. While there are plenty of laptops that can run open source operating systems like Ubuntu or Fedora, the Novena is designed from the ground up with openness in mind. The hardware schematics are available to the public, and there are […]
Bunnie Huang’s open laptop prototype is geeky and functional
For more than a year, hardware hacker Bunnie Huang has been working with Sean Cross to design an open laptop. That means you’d be able to boot the computer and run most applications without requiring any proprietary, closed-source binaries or other software, and the hardware designs would be open and available. Now Huang and Cross have […]
Lilbits (7-06-2013): Open laptop development, and is Tizen dead?
There are plenty of ways to run open source software on an existing laptop. But hardware hacker Bunnie Huang wants to go further and develop a truly open laptop that’s not only Linux-friendly, but which uses entirely open hardware designs that are available for anyone to modify and use. Huang’s been working on the open […]
Bunnie Huang and friends design an open laptop
Hardware hacker Bunnie Huang is working on designs for an open laptop. Open, as in, it will run open source Linux-based software, but also open in that the designs will be available for anyone to download, modify, and use. Code-named Novena, right now the laptop includes designs for a mainboard and a battery board. You can […]