@lxo >I'd have thought the freedombox hardware wouldn't trigger the code added to debian to install blobs, because I figured it didn't require blobs. does it, really?
The Debian installer contains proprietary software and if you run that installer, the proprietary software installation script is getting run (with the only exception being if you pass a certain flag) - while it is true that no proprietary peripheral software will get installed if the script can't find any hardware that can use what's available, such script will install proprietary microcode if you run it in a VM that has an Intel or AMD CPU host for example.

The installation instructions for generic hardware contains instructions to install Debian, but does not tell the user how to avoid such script; https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Hardware/Debian

For the hardware for sale, that appears to be the A20 OLinuXino Lime 2 and pre-compiled images are included/offered; https://freedombox.org/download/a20-olinuxino-lime2/

Reviewing freedombox-testing_latest_a20-olinuxino-lime2-armhf.img, the image actually appears to be free of proprietary software, but I'm not sure about this file;
/lib/firmware/skl_hda_dsp_generic-tplg.bin

It appears to be a configuration file that seems to be generated from a .conf file, but I'm not sure what it's for.


Unfortunately, there is no dedication to freedom, as it does include images with proprietary software in them; https://freedombox.org/download/raspberrypi4b/ (at least they write "non-free-firmware", but "nonfree-software" should be written there).


Thankfully it is possible to use freedombox in freedom, but the future of freedombox is unfortunately uncertain as Debian has gone proprietary and who knows what they'll do next (A lot of the supported hardware can run blobs, for example the Beaglebone Black and Debian could decide to include such proprietary 3D software (as it gives the convenience of adding accelerated 3D rendering))?