GNOME Calls has supported Voice over IP (VoIP) calls for some time. And while we already mentioned it in our development review of 2021 and design review of 2021 we wanted to take this opportunity to dive a bit more into the technical aspects of how all the gears interlock to make it work in […]

The post Voice over IP in GNOME Calls Part 1: SIP Protocol and Libraries appeared first on Purism .

When you need to connect a Wi-Fi device to the internet and your phone has a good 4G signal, why not set up secure data sharing? With PureOS on the Librem 5 phone, setting up a hotspot is simple. Head into Wi-Fi settings and enable Hotspot.  Setting up a Hotspot Settings → Wi-Fi → Top Right Menu → […]

The post How to Enable Hotspot and Tethering in PureOS on Your Librem 5 appeared first on Purism .

In a world that wants to track every move you make, we think it’s important to have alternatives that are free, open and respect your digital rights. Purism is a company dedicated to freedom, privacy, and security. At Purism, we make freedom-respecting hardware, software and online services. Software is the life-blood of any hardware. If […]

The post The Ultimate Guide to Free Software appeared first on Purism .

Protect your personal data with AweSIM, a privacy-focused cellular service. Get started on Purism's cellular plans with a Librem 5 phone or any unlocked GSM phone.

The post Introducing AweSIM, Simple Plus and SIMple Plans for Securing Your Phone Data appeared first on Purism .

For those looking for a privacy-focused cellular service in the United States, Purism has launched another option in its suite of privacy-first cellular plans. With other big telecom providers, phone data does not stay private; it’s collected, linked with a person’s identity, and sold to advertisers. With Purism’s cellular services users can get peace of mind and protect […]

The post Purism Launches SIMple Plus for Data Privacy appeared first on Purism .

We sometimes get questions from customers who are trying to decide between the Librem 5 and Librem 5 USA , such as whether someone living in the USA must buy a Librem 5 USA (Answer: both Librem 5 and Librem 5 USA work in the US) or whether the Librem 5 is $1999 (Answer: the Librem 5 is $799, the Librem 5 USA is $1999). If you are trying to decide between the two phones and want to understand what makes the Librem 5 USA a premium product, in this post we’ll highlight the differences between the two.

What’s the Same

Librem 5 and Librem 5 USA have the same Purism authored schematics, Industrial Design (ID), and Mechanical Design (MD), they both run the same firmware, kernel (Linux), operating system (PureOS), and applications from the PureOS Store. Both products are from Purism, a US-based Social Purpose Company . Both phones work in all the regions of the world by using a removable region-specific modem module included and installed in the phone.

Trust & Verify

Both the Librem 5 and Librem 5 USA have public schematics (they’re the same schematics, since they’re our schematics) for public verification. They both have X-rays released after manufacturing of the PCBAs to verify hardware chips and placement. Both phones are fully Purism designs top-to-bottom. Both phones have all source code released for reproducible verification of no tampering and public verification.

What’s Different

The core differences between the products are based on the Librem 5 being contract manufactured in China while the Librem 5 USA is manufactured at our facility in Carlsbad, California.

Librem 5

The Librem 5 PCBAs (the two boards inside the chassis) are manufactured in China. The PCBAs are then assembled into the Librem 5 Chassis, and imported to our facility in the USA for final assembly, flashing, testing, and fulfillment.

Librem 5 USA

The Librem 5 USA PCBAs are manufactured in our facility in Carlsbad, California—therefore are Made in the USA Electronics—for a secure hardware supply chain in the USA. The PCBAs are then assembled into the Librem 5 Chassis (engraved with ‘USA’ on its side), and have final assembly, flashing, testing, and fulfillment all done at our Purism facility.

The immediate benefits of the Librem 5 USA are to support US labor laws, Made in USA Electronics, secure hardware supply chain, and US manufacturing.

Price

The Librem 5 is $799 while the Librem 5 USA is $1999

Both are Great

Regardless of which product you choose, you will end up with a phone that’s on your side, designed from the bottom up to respect your freedom and protect your privacy and security.

The post Librem 5 and Librem 5 USA: What are the Differences? appeared first on Purism .

With the next release of PureOS, code-named Byzantium, just around the corner, let’s give you a sneak peek of what you can look forward to.

Encryption

Disk encryption will allow for the root disk to be password protected. With this setup, you’ll be asked to decrypt your device before it continues to the phone shell.

Byzantium OS Intro

The default lineup of preinstalled apps is not finalized but is growing. For now, this is what it looks like.

Everything is newer; This release uses the more recent base of Debian Bullseye. On top of that, the codebase between phone, laptop, desktop, and the server will be shared. There was a special repository for the phone that contained additional adaptive applications in the previous release. From this release on, the desktop and phone will use the same adaptive apps and packages.

Files

Also new in this release is the adaptive file manager. Now you’ll be able to manage your home directory with ease.

Other New Apps and App Features

Video decoding using the onboard Video Processing Unit is planned to land in Gnome Web soon. Once added, the Librem 5 will play videos for longer and stay cooler while streaming from the browser.

GPS and Gnome Maps are planned to be supported.

In this release, you can uninstall even the default apps giving you full control of what software runs on your device.

Flipping the camera/microphone hardware killswitch will come with UI feedback.

KDE applications work much better out of the box. This gives users, and developers access to QT tools on top of the default GTK UI toolkit.

Settings

The device settings has many more options and we are working with the community to finish up making these additional settings adaptive.

For those familiar with other platforms, Applications should be very familiar. You can search through your installed apps and manage any Integration settings they might have.

Users with impaired eyesight can look forward to a high contrast mode. We are putting the finishing touches on support in Phosh, but most apps respond well to the high contrast mode. In this release, it’s also possible to test a Screen Reader, giving users audio feedback as they navigate the UI and applications.

Other desktop environments

Desktop-only software isn’t desktop-only anymore. With a few commands, you can install and startup a plasma session on its own screen.

#install 
sudo tasksel install desktop kde-desktop
sudo apt install plasma-wayland-protocols plasma-workspace-wayland kwin-wayland-backend-fbdev kde-standard

#run
sudo systemctl stop phosh
export WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0
startplasma-wayland --framebuffer --fb-device /dev/fb0 &#or fb1 to select the screen you want it on
plasmashell

Or start KDE like an app from within Phosh.

#login to posh and run
plasmashell

If you’re looking for a classic interface, you can start Mate on the onboard screen.

#mate on PureOS 10
sudo apt install xinit xorg xterm x2x mate

#run X11
sudo systemctl stop phosh
sudo xinit -- -masterfd 9 9<>/dev/dri/card1 &
export DISPLAY=:0
mate-session

While there are too many interfaces to go over here, you can spend hours exploring what each one feels like on the go.

#Other desktops that could be fun:
tasksel# Gnome Xfce Cinnamon Mate LXDE LXQT

This new release of PureOS is already used on the Librem Mini v2 and our Librem 14, and will be made available for your Librem 5 soon.

The post Sneak Peek of the Next PureOS Release on the Librem 5 appeared first on Purism .

Social media can be a great way to engage with friends and family. But most of the popular services and apps track their users. With Tootle and Librem Social , you can have a great social media experience without your data being exploited for profit.

We at Purism fight against vendor lock-in. We believe you should have full control of your hardware and services. This is the reason we are promoting Tootle with the ability to connect to any Mastodon instance. You are welcome and encouraged to try out Librem Social, but you can take your workflow and even your apps with you if you choose to switch providers.

Once logged in, Librem Social has all the basic features you’d expect from a popular platform. Have fun scrolling your feed or finding more interesting people to follow.

It’s time to take back control of your hardware, data, and social media presence.

The post App Showcase: Tootle appeared first on Purism .

Steady Progress

February was a month of strong and steady progress behind the scenes from operational improvements to a lot more code written and released. Each week we ship an increasing number of Librem 5s out to backers. We also continue to work to locate and expedite more i.MX 8M CPU supply for future Librem 5s—the industry has an overall shortage of components—and as we get firm dates for those secured CPU supplies we intend on sending out shipping estimates to Librem 5 backers.

We have also made progress on the Librem 5 hardware support side. Last month we announced we had finished support for the OpenPGP smart card reader and this month we released a blog post and video that describes how to enable it on existing Librem 5s. We have also made a lot of advancements on camera support and have successfully taken some initial pictures. There is still more work to do to complete the camera driver and get the most out of the camera hardware and we hope to have more announcements on that front soon.

Speaking of the kernel we also published a post that describes in detail the work we have done in the 5.11 kernel including progress on mainline support for the Librem 5 as well as improvements in power management and overall support for the Librem 5 hardware.

On the Librem 5 USA front, it has taken much longer than we have expected to locate and secure new supply chains for all of the components we will need to start production of the PCBA due to some of the unprecedented issues in the electronics supply chain over the last year. We are happy to announce that we have tracked down almost every component now and are optimistic we can track down the one or two remaining components soon so that we can start production on the PCBA in the coming month. The Librem 5 USA will be manufactured at our facility in the US with our secure supply chain and Made in USA Electronics.

What’s Next

March is proving already to be an exciting and busy month for the Librem 5 and we anticipate much of the steady progress from February is going to culminate in big announcements in March. Check out our blog for more frequent updates and to see what we’ve already been up to the first week of March.

The post Librem 5 News Summary: February 2021 appeared first on Purism .