You may be aware of open-source software and you may already be using some. Now, an almost open-source laptop is available for sale. Sean “xobs” Cross and Andrew “bunnie” Huang have fashioned a laptop that users can trust.
These two engineers from Singapore have assembled a laptop that uses almost entirely open-source hardware; designs freely available to the world. They have named the project Novena and anyone can review the designs in theory, look for bugs and security flaws. Therefore, users can be confident of the total security of the machine, which has become more desirable than ever after some governments were exposed of snooping.
Originally, the duo wanted simply to encourage others to build their own laptops at home. However, the project is now moving further. Anyone wanting their pre-built Novena laptop can place orders through the crowd-funding site of Crowd Supply, with the product shipping out in the coming months. This is very much like Kickstarter, and Crowd Supply also allows you to put up your money to help fund a company; only, you get a product in the process.
Just as open-source software is very popular across users, businesses and countries, so is open-source hardware now beginning to be a larger project, of which project Novena is a part. Not only is this helping to improve security among hobbyists, it is spurring innovation within large companies such as Facebook. The idea is to share your design and allow others to make them better. Of course, you cannot expect each part to be open-source, for example, the processor, but Cross and Huang try to minimize that as far as possible.
Novena is available either with a handcrafted wooden bezel or with an aluminum case. Kurt Mottweiler, an Oregon-based designer from Portland, has handcrafted the “heirloom” wood bezel. Both designs are capable of readily expanding the internal hardware, since the machine is half-empty. Moreover, the shipment comes with extra bezels as it is expected that you will break one when you add to the hardware. The system does not need any special bending tools when you modify it.
Although the heirloom version of Novena is a whopping $5,000, the aluminum case version comes with a motherboard and a high-definition display for $1,195. For another $800, you can add a battery and a 240GB solid-state hard drive. Alternately, just buy the motherboard for $500 and house it in your own case.
You may find the aluminum version of the machine to be unusual since the display sits on its outside. As you lift the lid of the case, you can see the innards of the machine instead of the keyboard. Attaching an external keyboard is simple, as is adding new components. Although that does make it harder for the laptop to be used on the lap, most people usually prefer not to.
Powered by an ARM processor, all versions of Novena run the open-source operating system – Linux. Although that does make the laptop somewhat more expensive and underpowered compared to an Apple MacBook Pro, this project is more about open-source, security, privacy and the ability for explore.
