I’d make an argument for the opposite if we’re talking about the general field. The major OEMs are going head first into enshittification, while other companies are building for more open ecosystems.
For anyone looking for a list of manufacturers intentionally trying to make their hardware more compatible with open ecosystems:
- Framework
- System76
- ASRock
- Minisforum
- Slimbook (they make the KDE branded laptop)
- MNT
- GL.iNet (routers only so far)
- Penguin
- Supermicro
- Star Labs
- Pine
- Clevo
I’m sure there are others, but these are the ones that are deliberately building intentionally FOR mass compatibility, unlike HP, Dell, Lenovo, ASUS…etc.
This is not to say there aren’t some models from the major manufacturer product lines that aren’t widely compatible, but their main focus is not those products.
Hmmmmm, I’ll go with Clevo. Because I’m from Cleveland, and it’s called Clevo. It’s like the PC brand that was too drunk to spell Cleveland. Which is pretty on brand for this city.
They’ll get an upvote just for that explanation 😂
Framework is honestly the best thing on the market right now though, gotta say.
System76s’ (at least used to) use rebranded Clevo laptops with their own flashed motherboard firmware. I’ve replaced parts on mine with direct Clevo spare parts.
It’s one of those Chinese brands with nonsensical names
Unlike most, though, Clevo has been around for decades and many, many other brands rebrand and sell their laptops. If you’ve ever owned a laptop made by a semi-local manufacturer, it’s probably a rebranded Clevo.
What that says about the quality though, I don’t know. My laptops have all been non-Clevo-rebrands. But they’re an established company at least.
Tuxedo Computers from Germany also make PCs specifically for Linux (you can run Windows if you really have to).
Waiting for my InfinityFlex!
My read into this is that Pine is so good it’s listed twice.
Oops. Fixed.
What are ASRock doing?
ASRock servers, minipcs and mitx industrial boards are highly compatible with Linux, and it’s intentional. Sometimes trailing chipset versions just to stay that way.
I think my home server build will eventually be based on a used Asrock industrial mainboard. I’ve heard nothing but good feedback.
I remember them being a bit of a small upstart company years ago when I started paying attention to computer stuff.
They’ve been around since the 00s
Absolutely, but at least for the type of builds I was looking at, which were all gaming machines, Asrock kind of seemed like the more unpredictable budget option.
Not at all. They have entire lines of gaming boards and GPUs.
They do now. The commenter was using past tense.
The firmware they use is closed source though
Lol. 99% of all hardware manufactured uses closed source BIOS. It’s not a concern.
I can say I’ll never buy another lenovo product again.
My laptop is, of course, broken at both hinges due to ridiculously thin and cheap plastic.
This is inexcusable and only exists to make a few rich people a bit richer.
Very sad to see the downfall of a once great brand… old Lenovos will easily outlast any new Lenovo.
Well, the rootkits were the last straw for me, a decade ago. Used to buy Lenovo religiously.
I want the pine products but every time I see the reviews it seems like they are not the greatest at the more common tasks.
At some point I want to get an MST if/when my system76 dies. But it’s a easy to repair so it will probably be a while.
If you’re looking for a general purpose device, go Framework. Look at their Refurb store. Very reasonable.
These brands selling their own refurbished products is great news.
It gives you the ability to still support them while not creating directly more e-waste and benefitting from a cheaper price.
Thanks but a friend of mine had bad experiences with it. Something to do with the power and hinges. Lots of costly repairs on the first year or so.
Hopefully they fixed the issue.
Never had an issue. What was your friend’s problem?
The power adapter died pretty quick witch caused a mobo failure if I recall.
I thought he was talking about locked-down bootloaders or something. Because that’s a real concern to me.
Slowly? No.
No, not slowly. They’ve been accelerating toward this.
That’s why I think computers should be like in year 2000. Not because I’m some luddite, but because you can’t increase complexity indefinitely without laws of the market changing. Today’s general-purpose computer systems are so complex that they encourage behavior that wouldn’t be competitive then, because then there were more choice and the industry was much easier to get into.
There are things one can live without.
Especially funny, because new cultural phenomena involving computing are as applicable today as they were in year 2000. What was added since then seems to be about, well, that amount of gaslighting, propaganda and primate instinct abuse made real by centralized social media, and about everyone carrying surveillance devices.
Not everything is progress, some things are just experience. I think wisdom may be in losing that.
This also won’t be unprecedented, supersonic passenger airliners are not operated today, and creation of an actual space colony seems much further than it was even 20 years ago, and unification of the Earth into one huge federated state has not happened after Cold War ending, and we don’t carry around devices with nuclear batteries.
Such airliners were in operation. Such a colony was being seriously devised. Such a political project … I guess, was more of a propaganda device both on the Western and on the Soviet sides, but many things done and attempted hint that it wasn’t all dreams. Nuclear batteries exist.
So. Computers produced in a few enormous God level foundries, with technology far harder to achieve than nuclear shield, centralized to a few companies, with processes approaching theoretical physical limitations, being the necessary element of our daily lives. I don’t think that’s a good idea by any measure, if you forget what you know about our world and just read this sentence and imagine some alternative one.
Oh man he’s going to be so pissed when he finds out what Intel have been doing for 50 years
This is why I just bought two framework laptops. They’re doing the exact opposite.
Yes, Yes, Yes & Yes
Dell blocking the BIOS is a bit slim to claim “PC hardware companies”, but they definitely are. HP’s crap too in this regard.
Cramming more and more stuff into a SOC leads to this for sure but it’s hardly the only factor. Built-in obsolescence also plays a heavy role.
Why is this entire Lemmy community just weird leading-title BS articles about nothing?
Because you’re not contributing to the betterment of it.
