System76 Unveils Thelio "Open" Desktops With Intel/AMD CPU Options, NVIDIA/Radeon GPUs

[phoronix]

Phoronix: System76 Unveils Thelio "Open" Desktops With Intel/AMD CPU Options, NVIDIA/Radeon GPUs

System76 has finally unveiled the specifications and design for their Thelio desktop systems they have been teasing in recent weeks...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=System76-Thelio-Specs

[mmstick]

but they also offer GeForce RTX and TITAN V graphics card options that are not suitable at all for open-source driver usage.

I don't think it is unusual to provide it as an option, though. Many of our clients require access to CUDA hardware for professional and academic / research purposes. Those who don't require CUDA should opt for AMD hardware and their open source drivers though, of course.

[tildearrow]

Typo:

They doi offer AMD Radeon (Polaris) graphics

[edwaleni]

I like the wood trim.

[torsionbar28]

I like the wood trim.

No kidding, wow, those cases are freaking beautiful. I want!!

[Jabberwocky]

Very noice! I'm gald they are finally have AMD systems too.

[Vistaus]

It sure is nice that it's "open" as in "free CPU choice". That's something that's missing from most manufacturers. It's Intel or nothing, and in some cases AMD, but with very different specs, usually. For example, Lenovo has a few AMD laptops, but they are very different from all of their other offerings. So it's since to someone offering both on the same kind of specs

[M@GOid]

I looked at their website, but 3 things made me very upset:

1 - Are they trying to sell a PC with no frontal ports (USB/Audio)? Really?

2 - Where are the manuals for those things? I searched for other products and none of them had manuals.

3- $1100 dollars for a Ryzen 5 2400G system?

I'm sorry, but nope. I'm a Open Source enthusiast not a idiot. No amount of wood in a fancy case will convince me paying that much money. A couple hundred more and you could buy a Threadripper system an build it yourself.

[torsionbar28]

^ Sounds like someone is not the target demographic. Why pay $40k for a new BMW when you can buy a used honda civic for $9k?

[madscientist159]

So, not really open as expected. From the signed ME/PSP to the closed vendor-locked UEFI stack, the only open parts of these machines are mechanical and basic disk interface components.

I really wonder why they did all this build-up, pushing "open hardware", then selected one of the least open ecosystems available. AMD and Intel are never going to open their black box firmware, even if every single Linux enthusiast in the world demanded it the fraction of sales to those people vs. the Windows / Apple folk are negligible. And the vendors that the latter buy from require everything to stay closed to protect their revenue streams.

System76 could have selected from several truly open computing options for the mainboard / CPU and related components, even if it was an offering or two alongside the closed / locked systems using the same mechanical parts.. They chose not to do this, yet are trying to boost revenue through claims of "open hardware". Anyone else see the disconnect?