Basically I want to have a computer to experiment with that is 100% free and open source and that doesn't break the bank. My current idea is to use a RISCV board like the mango pi and use FreeBSD on it. I only use terminal applications expect for the browser so I'm not too worried about performance. But also I have never done anything like this before, this is really just to mess around and learn. But I'm looking for some advice what are the best RISCV boards and is it even worth it? Plus is it even possible to build a 100% free and open source computer with a RISCV board? I am currently doing research into this and this is part of my research lol, thank you.

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[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

So I think it's worth clarifying your scope in terms of what must be open source and what can be proprietary, especially on the hardware side. On one end you can get any random prebuilt off the street and run LinuxFromScratch, FreeBSD or what have you.

On the other extreme, do you need a CPU, GPU chip, camera module etc. to have released their full specifications and code, do the exact manufacturing blend of the solder you use need to be released?🤣

One site that might be of interest to you is pine64.org, they make open source ARM based phones, boards, laptops and tablets.

[–] africavoid@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

I don't know if this will really clarify things but i'm looking for as much freedom as a librebooted x200 thinkpad with parabola or something as the OS, and thanks for the site I forgot about pine64 I was looking at their phones a couple of years ago