Given the precedent with Framework: does somebody know if the maintainer of FWUpd is right-wing?
this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2025
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This might be damage control
Nah. They actually already were a sponsor of it before then. This article is just publishing old information.
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I continue to contribute in the most minor way to both, and it's very true that Hughes LARGELY runs this repo. This is becoming a problem, especially since the majority of companies do not contribute, though they use the upstream just like everyone else.
If Amazon, Google, Dell, Hetzner, Equinox, DR, DO...etc all paid their fair share, they'd be able to pay honest contributors just simply for making what is already available MORE readily available. That's what this project is about.
On the hardware manufacturer side: AMD, Nvidia, Intel, Realtek...etc are also not chipping in.
This is a CRUCIAL project for larger adoption for home users. Yes, most enterprise-sized companies manage their own semver releases for firmware, but they still use these tools. They should contribute, not only because it's the right thing to do, but a miniscule amount of money for them to do so to ensure the same people making this such a success can continue to do so.
That's great to hear!
You nor this article say wtf is LVFS
A system to get firmware updates (BIOS, Touchpad and much more) like regular software updates on Linux.
I acquired a wds19 usb C dock for the mrs' macbook. I was plugged into it yesterday and did an apt upgrade, and it offered to update the firmware of the dock and the wireless mouse and keyboard.
No 500mb spyware tray applets, no .bin file on a sd card, no dos 6.2 live boot shenanigans.
The dell office machines and Mac could never dream of such power!
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Cool, but I don't care how big Framework makes their tent. They will not see a cent from me.
Purity testing everything you use means you have to get off Lemmy, if you look at the statements from some of the core devs. It is no way to live and is pretty much incompatible with being on the internet. Framework is clearly doing more good than harm, and while no company is perfect or immune from critique, feedback from customers does more than knee-jerk comments from people with no stakes.
No, I just don't give them any money. If I were to procure a Framework Laptop by means of a genie wish, I would still use it. I am probably using a ton of open source software right now made by people I can't stand. Also I can purity check and boycott whoever I like, whenever I like. I don't have to live by your rules. You do you.
So you'd rather buy a laptop from a vendor that gives price breaks to ICE, such as Dell and HP, or one indirectly owned by the CCP such as Lenovo? That's certainly a choice.
buy used or third party refurbished. just because all the big tech companies are evil is no reason to excuse evil in small tech
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Do you intend to purchase a new laptop from another vendor?
It's not a purity test, it's boycotting an admitted Nazi friendly organization. When Framework chose to embrace, financially support, and then when called out on it, specifically state that the Nazis are welcome in their big tent, that tent became a Nazi tent. That's not a tent me or many others want to be in, because that makes the Nazis feel welcome and free to attack anyone else in the tent with no repercussions and with the full, spoken support of Framework.
Fuck that, and fuck you if you don't like it.
Counterpoint. This line of thinking is what got me living under an ACTUAL fascist regime right now. People did purity testing with Harris on whatever issue, pick your poison (Gaza, police accountability, etc) and it moved the needle. How much will never be known, but a chunk of people spent so much time listening to talking heads and streamers that they decided to not vote for her. And now we have Trump, destabilizing the world, letting a guy with brain worms decide everyone's health. Harris would have been the best option by far even if she was not perfect, but fixing good was always a better option than rejecting not-perfect. If framework goes away, good luck getting another right-to-repair first org to build hardware. There has never been a better time to make the point "stop purity testing things, acknowledge when things are the better option, and work to make them even better." All this "us vs. them" and using language that paints anything as black or white moves the needle on people passively reading comments, and does actual harm. Living in a world without a grey area does actual harm.
I phone banked for Harris but she was making our jobs harder by taking unpopular positions. What will you have me say to the voter who won't vote for a Newsom presidency because they take AIPAC money? Because I was told to just move on and call the next person.
You tell them to plug their nose and swallow the medicine because the consequences of not choosing the better of 2 options in a 2 party system is loss of life and rights for innumerable people all over the world.
I don't think I have ever seen that explanation work on someone who is misinformed, but if I am proven wrong then the world will be a better place.
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This isn't purity testing, this is not giving money to fascist fucks who actually want to see me and my family dead.
Your analogy is bogus because this is the Fediverse and we can defederate from tankies without giving them money. The entire topic revolves around how Framework spends money. Whataboutism in this context is a classic defense of fascism, for what it's worth.
So you won't buy the most user maintainable and repairable laptop, that also comes with Linux and probably worth open source firmware in the not too distant future because you don't like the politics of the owner of an open source project the company supports?
That really feels like cutting off your nose to spite your face
I mean, when the political stance of the supported company is "I would literally murder you of I could" the politics become kinda relevant 🥲
Is that some hyperbole? Or is there a source to that? I'm out of the loop*, so apologies for my ignorance.
Yes, it's hyperbole.
Framework gave money or laptops to a bunch of different Linux projects and has generally been very active in the Linux community.
One of the laptops they gave out went to DDH, who in addition to having a project that in reality is little more than an Arch script, also posts a lot of alt-right drivel online.
Most famously him moaning about London being too full of immigrants - something made even more ironic given that he himself is an immigrant to the UK. Clearly he meant non-white immigrants.
It's unknown how much Framework knew about his unsavoury opinions, and plenty of other projects they've supported have been very progressive, so it doesn't seem like they're choosing to support only people who align with a specific political stance.
A lot of people are frustrated with their response to the criticism - that they're a small team that don't want to wade into the politics of each project they donate a laptop to. Which I kind of understand, but I also understand being miffed at them for sending a laptop to a super hateful person then shrugging their shoulders and saying "look, we don't want to be political or have to research the personal opinions of people in the community".
Personally I think it's more of a fuckup and PR misstep rather than endorsing any particular world-view.
Yes... But sadly no? First example that comes to mind, you can check "dhh blog" on the internet (🤮) and if you read enough you will get to see the kind of person he is... You can also check this about Hyprland: https://drewdevault.com/2023/09/17/Hyprland-toxicity.html
So what are you buying instead?
Honestly, when my current laptop dies, I will just get a used cheap thinkpad just like anybody else or even SSD any trash-going relic. If you want some alternative, someone commented this that looked interesting: https://mntre.com/reform.html
Although it comes with obvious limitations: https://forum.fairphone.com/t/is-the-mnt-reform-the-best-repairable-laptop-available/113321
Unless I am mistaken Lenovo has at least all of the ethical issues of Framework if not more. What would make a used Lenovo better than a used Framework?
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What why? What happened??
They openly support fashtech like Hyperland and the "distro" Omarchy. In response to the well-justified backlash against this, founder Nirav Patel tried to hand wave the issue away by talking about how they want "a big tent" for open source", completely ignoring the nazi cunts behind the projects they support.
If you want to know more details here a two articles:
Why do you use Lemmy, given the politics of its own source creator? Bit hypocritical.
Not to speak for them but bare minimum one is supporting them monetarily, one is free
You're not directly paying them, but by being here and contributing to the community, you're providing value to others who would then go on to donate to the devs.
I'm sure I can also find some fascists who work on the linux kernel. As long as I don't support them directly I am just fine with using linux. But go on, keep moving the goal posts.
There is no "one community" in the traditional sense, in fact many of us are boycotting contributions to their actual community/instance .ml
By contributing activity to comms on other instances and advocating growth on other instances and even advocating alternatives like PieFed, actually dilutes their influence
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