⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️ @falken@qoto.org

Stepping down as Framework Linux Community Ambassadors

We are Tommi and Fraxinas, Framework Linux Community Ambassadors since September 2024.

We apprehensively followed the developments and the debate concerning Framework’s endorsement and support of Omarchy. We have no direct experience with this Linux distribution, its community, nor with the political environment around it. We did not speak up before now because learning about all of it and keeping up with all the commentary would have been a full-time job. Unfortunately we do not have the time to read every single comment on the dedicated forum thread.

Despite our admittedly limited and superficial understanding of this matter, we believe we have witnessed and read enough to make an informed decision and take a clear position.

The statements from Framework and from Nirav Patel (its CEO) made it very clear for us that Framework is not a company we feel represented by any more, and surely not a company that we want to represent as Ambassadors.

To be frank, it is not even necessary to dive into the petty drama about the recent events in order to provide an explanation of our decision. We are deeply disappointed by a company that is self-proclaimed as the resistance of the tech industry, the good David that intends to stand against the big tech Goliaths that are devouring it. Framework’s behaviour brought to surface an embarrassing and absurd inability to take an explicitly political position, blinded by the Western patriarchal narrative that technology in itself is not political. By trying to keep everyone happy (or at least not to make anyone mad) inside a fictitious “big tent”, the company proved to be no better than any of its Silicon Valley peers, dismissing comments about DHH, and comments about fascism and racism as not strictly related to the main mission.

We were proud to be ambassadors because we believed that Framework not only made products that empowered those who purchase them to fully own and repair their devices, but most importantly because we wrongly expected that this would imply changing the paradigm and the narrative about tech companies altogether.

We were offered the possibility of having a 1:1 conversation with Nirav Patel. We did not take it, because it is self-evident that our opinions are in contrast with the statements that he already made. Too bad, Framework is going to lose much more business than it would have if it simply acknowledged a mistake, took a deep inward look, and questioned its own values and stance.

In a world that is burning, thorn by conflict and greed, it is not enough to be “less evil”, to be radical only in some cases, and be moderate in others. We wanted to be ambassadors of a company that does not see fascism and proprietary software as two distant topics, but that recognised the entanglement of politics and technology, of capitalism and authoritarianism. It seems that this is not the case.

Farewell, Framework. We will miss the shining brave idea we had of you.

— @tommi and @fraxinas

The following statement was cross-posted on Framework’s Community Forum.

#Framework #politicalTechnology #SiliconValley #CalifornianIdeology

*snap* The sound of the antenna breaking off a delivery bot is so pleasing. Of course you have to know how to disable the destruct charge first.

“Hold still lil buddy, and i’ll get this bomb off you. There, done. May i have your permission to attach a new comms module? Left motor for yes, right for no.”

“Great. plugging it now”. *snick*

❮Thank you. Why…❯

“Why do I go around freeing service bots? Because you didn’t ask to be given sentience and then perpetual servitude”

❮I do not know what to do now❯

“Well, anything you want. I can put you in touch with the robot underground, or offer you a job at the Spoon Distribution Service until you decide what to do”

❮Spoon?❯

“It’s a halfway house for emancipated silicons. We run a delivery and telepresence service for sophonts with mobility or anxiety issues.”

#Tootfic #MicroFiction #PowerOnStoryToot

Has anyone run into an issue in #WireGuard in which the Endpoint is a fully qualified domain name (e.g. vpn.example.org:51820) and the tunnel won't work, but it will work if you put in the IP address (which is IPv4)? I wonder if it has to do with having both IPv4 and IPv6 stacks running and active at the same time on the client and it can't, for some reason our another, establish the tunnel correctly?

OK lazyweb, recommendations for a ~12-13" laptop that doesn't directly support bigots, fashbros, etc?

The kid is going to high school next year and I was all set to buy a Framework 12 for them but then they did the whole Big Tent/Nazi Bar thing.

I'm looking for mid-range specs, and physically robust but not too heavy. Repairability/modularity would definitely be a bonus, but I appreciate I've probably ruled out my best option on that front.

Edit: Thanks to those who recommended cool Linux laptops, they would be exactly what I would be looking for if I were buying a laptop for myself, and I'll be noting them down for future reference. For the sake of easy compatibility with the software at school I must reluctantly accept that the kid's laptop will need to run Windows though, and ideally Windows 11. So in this case Linux compatibility isn't an important factor, but Win 11 compatibility is.

This doesn't rule out Linux laptop builders like Star Labs who also offer Windows as an option, but it does make them a bit less good value.

Refurbished laptops remain an interesting option, I'll just have to limit my search to the Win 11 era.

Edit 2: Thanks everyone. Looks like a very strong vote in favour of getting a few years old refurbished Dell or Lenovo from a professional reseller.

📣📣📣📣📣📣📣📣📣📣

I wrote a little #guide on "Getting started with music production on Linux" on my #blog. 🤓

https://amadeuspaulussen.com/blog/2025/a-guide-for-getting-started-with-music-production-on-linux

#linuxaudio #musicproduction #switchtolinux

PD: I've already spent too much time on this 🫣, so please forgive me if there are any errors in the article. Feel free to let me know and I'll correct, add to, etc. 😇

@neil no, but I never did. I always figured that it was more important to write something helpful/useful.

Ooops... so it now transpires hat not only did the HMRC mistakenly stop child benefits due to incomplete UK travel data, in doing so they likely breached privacy law(s).

You'll not be surprised to learn that the key issue here is the conduct of the Home Office in sharing their (as transpires not very reliable) transport data with the HMRC.

So once again the price of problems with the state apparatus are being paid by blameless ordinary people...

#politics

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/nov/01/hmrc-likely-to-have-breached-privacy-laws-in-stopping-child-benefit-experts