Notices by Leah Rowe is not a Rowebot (libreleah@mas.to)

Be more like me. When you cancel a service/subcription, and it gives you a list of reasons to choose as to why you are canceling:

At the end, there is always "Other", and then a textbox where you can explain yourself.

Click "Other", and write nothing at all in the textbox.

@mntn a jury of your bgp peers

Of course, it's possible that they might just see my diagnosis on the Autistic Spectrum and shrug me off as some bumbling nerd who does computer things.

But I have a message for them:

Human beings who commit no crimes are unworthy of such contempt by the state.

People deserve the right to privacy, the right to be forgotten. Investigating people for crimes is all well and good, if evidence exists, but let the evidence speak for itself.

Otherwise, decent people everywhere should be left alone.

In other news, the UK is becoming increasingly Orwellian as of late.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/08/uk-creating-prediction-tool-to-identify-people-most-likely-to-kill

I wonder if I qualify to be on this list?

I've committed no crime, but I:

* Am mostly a loner
* Have had anger issues in the past
* Have very idiosyncratic emotional responses to things
* Often appear to have no empathy at all
* Often am the last person to laugh at jokes
* Often do impulsive things for thrill seeking
* Am able to charm to get what I want
* Occasional delusions of grandeur

Lock me up

Silly Americans

https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/04/02/no-vat-isnt-a-tariff-but-the-us-would-benefit-from-adopting-it/

I could explain, or you could read this article.

America has the right to raise revenue on imports, but they should scrap all sales taxes and tariffs, and replace it with a federal VAT system that includes import VAT.

It would make international trade easier since most countries also use VAT schemes. Thus boosting exports - and raising revenue. While avoiding alienating the other countries.

Say, 8% federal VAT?

Someone should show Trump this article.

and if i ever start selling libreboot-powered cars in the future, i guess that'll complicate matters, but until then, i wouldn't worry. 10% is peanuts

I've written a preliminary statement regarding US trade tariffs on Minifree's website:

https://minifree.org/shipping.html#us-trade-tariffs

Minifree sells Libreboot computers.

Since 2 April 2025, Trump's government has imposed higher trade tariffs on imports from around the world.

The tariff for imports from the UK is currently 10% with most goods; cars are 25%.

US customers need not worry. It's likely that the courier will tax you during shipping, and send you an invoice. Like how import VAT works in the EU countries.

@rubinjoni @slothrop @passenger I sell Libreboot, and Libreboot accessories.; https://minifree.org/

@djnavarro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uS6xPYnVe8

@ezaquarii At last report, yes. I tested it myself a few months ago.

If you're a foreign company wanting to do business with any country in Europe, you have to set up VAT infrastructure in that country.

It's been made easier in the EU in recent years, for example with the introduction of the IOSS scheme, but it's still complicated.

Having to collect VAT and pay it to the relevant body is ridiculous, if your company isn't located in Europe. You should be responsible only for paying your own government's taxes. You as the importer should deal with your own taxes.

The resulting weaking of the US dollar also makes US exports cheaper. Everything else Trump is doing is ludicrous but I acctually think the tariffs stuff is completley sensible, and something the US should have done years ago - lest we remove our VAT barriers throughout Europe.

I've spoken to countless Americans who have a nightmare trying to do business in Europe. European VAT systems are incredibly complicated for foreign companies to deal with, especially if they don't trade much in Europe.

Very amusing:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/apr/02/trump-hits-uk-with-10-tariffs-as-he-ignites-global-trade-war

I don't like Trump at all, especially since he's making trans people out to be pariahs within the United States. His attack on the very checks and balances of government is downright despotic.

But on tariffs, I would say that for years, the US has had large trading deficits with much of the world.

These import tariffs are essentially similar to our import VAT in the UK; the need for US firms to set up VAT infrastructure in Europe is also a trade barrier.

I've decided during April, I will run a price reduction on the Libreboot T480 and Libreboot 3050 Micro on https://minifree.org/ -

https://minifree.org/product/libreboot-t480.html

https://minifree.org/product/libreboot-3050-micro.html

£398 base price for T480 (was 598), and 398 for 3050 (was 498).

And: 2TB SSD upgrade now £60 (was £100) on 3050.

On T480 the 2TB upgrade combines 64GB RAM; it's now £160 (was £200).

Libreboot replaces proprietary BIOS/UEFI, offering greater security and freedoms. Your choice of Debian Linux, other distro or BSD.

Thanks go to Can Kurttekin for recently translating several Libreboot pages into the Turkish language:

https://libreboot.org/index.tr.html

https://libreboot.org/contact.tr.html

https://libreboot.org/docs/install/x200.tr.html

https://libreboot.org/faq.tr.html

https://libreboot.org/freedom-status.tr.html

https://libreboot.org/git.tr.html

Thanks also to arielenter for Trisquel U-Boot installation instructions on Libreboot RK3399 devices:

https://libreboot.org/docs/uboot/uboot-trisquel-aramo.html

This latter change will also be useful the next time I sync up Canoeboot with the latest Libreboot changes.

Minifree is back!

https://minifree.org/

And it sells Libreboot.

and Libreboot accessories

@neil Perhaps I should, yes. I'll add it to my notes.

New Minifree website will be available soon. Here's a WIP.

I concluded that I was over-thinking it entirely. What you see is intended at first to be a temporary site - but it may in fact become permanent.

Static HTML. No databases, no bloat. Just a list of products, my company info and an email address to contact.

I'm still looking into using Stripe to process card payments. Wire transfer for now, Invoices by email.

*I'm already taking orders*. Contact info@minifree.org if you want to order.

@milvus_migrans_govinda CPUs about the same, in terms of FLOPS (floating point operations per second); it *is* slightly higher. GPU performance is much higher.

Power efficiency is higher, and the T480 can take more RAM (*64GB* max, versus 16GB on the T440p).

T480 also have an NVMe SSD slot, enabling higher data throughput.

It is theoretically possible to add a 2nd NVMe SSD on T480, by designing a modboard to piggyback off of the PCI-E x4 lane (unused dGPU slot). T440p also has that dGPU slot.

gonna bring up a temporary static html site today, with products and contact info, so that people know how to email me and enquire about new orders - i regularly process orders manually via email anyway

the actual new shop site will be available as soon as i have my stripe account fully set up, as the new site will take payments via card.
stay tunude for further update.

it'd be so easy to just set up shopify or something, but i never outsource minifree hosting. i run all my own infrastructure.