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+all: document_min.pdf document.html
+
+document.html: document.Rmd
+	R -e "rmarkdown::render('document.Rmd', output_format='bookdown::tufte_html2')"
+
+document.pdf: document.Rmd
+	R -e "rmarkdown::render('document.Rmd', output_format='tufte::tufte_handout')"
+
+document_min.pdf: document.pdf
+	ghostscript -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/printer -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=document_min.pdf document.pdf

document.Rmd

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+---
+title: "Funding application to improve Debian support of the MNT Reform open hardware laptop"
+author: "Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues"
+date: "2024-07-28"
+output:
+  tufte::tufte_handout:
+    keep_tex: true
+    extra_dependencies:
+      babel: english
+---
+
+```{r reform-single-2023, echo=FALSE, fig.margin=TRUE, out.width='100%', fig.cap='MNT Reform open hardware laptop. Copyright MNT Research GmbH CC BY-SA 2.0'}
+knitr::include_graphics("reform-single-2023.jpg")
+```
+
+# Preface
+
+In this document I'd like to apply for Debian funds to be spent on an MNT
+Reform laptop.  My goal is to be able to efficiently perform maintenance and
+development tasks targeting that laptop with the end-goal of being able to
+install and run vanilla Debian on the device and have it be supported by me
+during the life-time of future Debian stable releases.
+
+The initial trigger for this funding request was a private conversation with
+Andreas Tille, originating from his mail to `debian-project` about a potential
+RISC-V module for the Framework laptop in June
+2024^[https://lists.debian.org/ZnGtiJAU2jP_Go1x@an3as.eu]. Andreas suggested I
+create a more formal write-up which is what you are now seeing in front of you.
+Thank you Andreas, for this opportunity.
+
+# Why is the MNT Reform relevant for Debian?
+
+I believe that free software needs free hardware. I have been trying to run
+Debian on free hardware since my first baby steps with Debian during the times
+of the Openmoko GTA01 Neo 1973 for which I was maintaining custom Debian images
+(with our own user interface called PyNeo) between 2007 and 2010. This is also
+what ultimately got me into Debian via emdebian (the bootstrapping and
+cross-building team back then), into a Google Summer of Code with them in 2012,
+a master thesis on Debian dependencies in 2013, made me rewrite `multistrap` in
+2017 and create `mmdebstrap` the year after. All the while I was accumulating
+what became a growing graveyard of hardware which was more or less able to run
+Debian GNU/Linux. It is not hard to find enthusiastic communities of people out
+there who create their own devices under an open hardware license and with the
+spirit of development in the open just as we practice it in Debian. What is
+hard to find is a device which is more than something to tinker with during
+weekends. What I was seeking was a device which I could use as my main
+computing platform without looking back. There are manufacturers who produce
+hardware which is usable as a daily driver but their idea of an open platform
+is comparable to the open-ness of Android. Yes, you may get CAD files or even
+schematics and they may even be distributed under an open license but you are
+still 100% reliant on the manufacturer to produce the hardware for you because
+its design requires industrial production methods that are not attainable for
+independent makers.
+
+```{r jacqueline, echo=FALSE, fig.margin=TRUE, out.width='100%', fig.cap='Hand-soldered MNT Reform with custom purple PCBs and USB-C charging. Copyright @jacqueline@chaos.social CC0'}
+knitr::include_graphics("jacqueline.jpg")
+```
+
+```{r PC020009, echo=FALSE, fig.margin=TRUE, out.width='100%', fig.cap='My own 3D print of the MNT Reform main box on an Ultimaker S3'}
+knitr::include_graphics("PC020009.JPG")
+```
+
+The MNT Reform is what I think is the only open hardware laptop right now which
+is both usable as a daily driver and which implements the spirit of open-ness
+as we are all used to from free software projects: development in the open and
+the ability to reproduce everything "at home". The latter has for example been
+shown by jacqueline who re-created the Reform innards and hand-soldered them on
+her own custom purple PCBs as can be seen in Figure \@ref(fig:jacqueline). If
+you like, you can also 3D print the main body of the laptop on your 3D printer
+at home (see Figure \@ref(fig:PC020009)). The former can be seen from how the
+device is developed by MNT. The 3D models and KiCAD files of all components (in
+case of the LS1028A or Kintex-7 module) are stored in git. If you like, you can
+download the altium files and get the CPU module manufactured yourself. All the
+changes that are made by MNT are immediately visible as git commits. This also
+holds for hardware that MNT didn't even release yet. If you are curious about
+the "Reform Next", a slimmer version of the MNT Reform, you can download 3D stl
+models of the current version of its case as well as kicad files of the current
+revision of its PCBs right now^[https://source.mnt.re/reform/reform-next]. If I
+want to submit fixes to their hardware or their software or their
+documentation, then I can do so by submitting a merge request on their gitlab.
+This is how I started my journey with MNT: I had a lot to criticize about how
+they were building their Debian packages and system images and filed merge
+requests with my improvements.
+
+I do not want to throw shade on companies like Framework. Them releasing PCB
+schematics and 3D CAD models to the public under an open license is a huge
+step up compared to the status-quo in the laptop market. I just consider what
+MNT does yet another step up in terms of open and reproducible development
+of hardware:
+
+> "What works for me is to say, you can clone this thing.
+> If we go out of business, you can still make one."
+>
+> `r tufte::quote_footer('--- Lukas F. Hartmann^[https://mntre.com/reform-irc-logs/2024-06-18.log.html#t19:34:19]')`
+
+The fact that the publicly available git repositories of MNT do not only
+contain everything required to re-create the laptop but are also at the same
+time the exclusive development repositories by MNT itself reflects the way we
+are used to develop software in Debian. Instead of irregular dumps of our
+source code without a real way to contribute and interact as it is done for
+"open source" projects like Android, we want our main repositories be publicly
+available and interactable and share all progress we make with the public. To
+my knowledge, the MNT Reform is the only readily available open hardware laptop
+which is mature enough such that it can be used as a daily driver and which
+implements this idea of open-ness and hardware freedom. It thus, in my eyes,
+deserves the attention of the Debian project as the free hardware we want our
+free operating system to run on perfectly.
+
+# What work will be enabled by granting this request?
+
+```{r P1050059, echo=FALSE, fig.margin=TRUE, out.width='100%', fig.cap='Playing Blizzard\'s StarCraft: Terran mission 3: "Desperate Alliance" on the MNT Reform using box64'}
+knitr::include_graphics("P1050059.JPG")
+```
+
+My work with the MNT Reform lead to a few new packages in Debian, like for
+example the video player `clapper` which allows hardware accelerated video
+decoding or the `box64` emulator which allows one to run x86 binaries on ARM.
+Even on comparatively slow ARM processors, this allows playback of 1080p@60
+h264 video or playing Starcraft (see Figure \@ref(fig:P1050059)) and Stardew
+Valley (40 hours in networked multiplayer with my partner on a Thinkpad),
+respectively.  But maintaining these packages does not require the actual
+hardware for 99% of their maintenance tasks. On the other hand there are some
+areas where access to an MNT Reform is not only required, but which require
+destructive access to it.
+
+```{r d-i, echo=FALSE, fig.margin=TRUE, out.width='100%', fig.cap='The partition setup of the Debian installar running on the MNT Reform with imx8mq'}
+knitr::include_graphics("d-i.jpg")
+```
+
+For example, Figure \@ref(fig:d-i) shows debian-installer running on my MNT
+Reform. This works in principle but I'd like to improve on the current
+experience, support other CPU modules and make sure that there are no
+regressions over time. For example, users reported to me, that d-i works fine
+with the kernel from Debian bookworm but with the kernel from
+bookworm-backports, the screen does not work with the imx8mq. This is
+something that I have to investigate on the actual hardware (this is not
+something that QEMU can emulate).
+
+Furthermore, there was a recent change in debian-installer which broke
+`flash-kernel` from configuring the correct device tree which means that the
+installed system fails to boot. To test and fix this, I need to actually finish
+the installation on the device but that would destroy my existing installation,
+making creating a fix for this very tricky.
+
+```{r P2060098, echo=FALSE, fig.margin=TRUE, out.width='100%', fig.cap='LS1028A powered by ATX PSU and a full-size PCI-E connector to test external graphics cards'}
+knitr::include_graphics("P2060098.JPG")
+```
+
+To make some of these maintenance tasks more manageable, I created what I call
+the "MNT Board Reform" in Figure \@ref(fig:P2060098). This is my old motherboard
+(which has a broken audio chip) with the LS1028A CPU module on it. It is
+powered by an ATX power supply and is switched on by a Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040
+which is sending the appropriate commands to the motherboard firmware (this
+would otherwise be the task of the keyboard). I can use this setup to test
+installing Debian using d-i via a serial connection over UART. But this system
+does not have a display (so I cannot test the problem with the screen not
+coming on), it does not have keyboard or trackball attached to it (so I cannot
+test their interaction with it or test new firmware versions), it does not have
+the battery boards attached (so I cannot for example test the recent
+regressions of the battery plugin in
+waybar^[https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar/issues/3482]) and since its audio
+chip is broken, I cannot do tests involving audio playback either (some custom
+alsa and pulseaudio configurations are required for sound to work).
+
+The current functionality was mostly created when I still had my old Thinkpad
+as my main machine and the MNT Reform as a disposable second machine that I
+could use to tinker with as it contained no relevant data. Now that the Reform
+became my main laptop, more and more bugs start appearing which I have a hard
+time fixing as I rely on other users gathering all the data for me. I can no
+longer reproduce their issues as that would often mean that I have to
+re-install my machine or perform steps which would risk breaking my
+installation by accident.
+
+Having a dedicated machine to tinker with would again allow me to improve my
+work on Debian installer, resume maintaining it long-term, fix the scripts
+contained in the `reform-tools` package involving flashing firmware or disk
+images to eMMC or NVMe and create and test new scripts. My concrete TODO list
+is:
+
+ - upload `reform-tools` package to Debian main
+ - create and upload a `reform-firmware` package to Debian main
+ - `debian-installer` support in main
+ - fix the `reform-setup-wizard` package so that it can transition to testing
+ - integration into `openqa.debian.net` (Phil Hands already helped me with that)
+ - create a firmware flashing tool using rescue media (Chris Hofstaedtler already assisted me with that)
+
+All of these components above involve destructive low-level operations on the
+hardware. I would feel much more confident in being able to maintain all of
+these components long-term and develop new utilities, had I access to a
+dedicated machine to test all of this on.
+
+# Why should I be the recipient of this funding?
+
+```{r PA302061, echo=FALSE, fig.margin=TRUE, out.width='100%', fig.cap='My MNT Reform with customizations'}
+knitr::include_graphics("PA302061.JPG")
+```
+
+As may be apparent by now, I'm a massive fan of the Reform and how MNT, the
+company behind it, is approaching the subject of open hardware, open
+development and interaction with the community. Figure \@ref(fig:PA302061) shows
+my MNT Reform with the imx8mq and several modifications like an integrated USB
+UART adapter, a radio transceiver, a UMTS modem and an additional TRRS jack.
+After looking for an open hardware device which can run Debian and which can be
+my daily driver instead of just a device to tinker on for over 17 years, the
+MNT Reform is what I have been dreaming of and more.  According to my NVMe
+drive, my MNT Reform has been in operation for a total of 13171 hours or 549
+days. I cannot imagine to loose interest in this platform for the years to
+come.
+
+```{r gitlab, echo=FALSE, out.width='100%', fig.cap='My activity on the https://source.mnt.re gitlab instance of MNT over the past year'}
+knitr::include_graphics("gitlab.png")
+```
+
+I have essentially taken over the Debian integration and development of related
+tools for the MNT Reform which is also reflected in the credit section of the
+latest version of the MNT Reform
+handbook^[https://mntre.com/reform2/handbook/credits.html]. Since I started
+using the Reform at the end of 2021 I am the main contributor for the
+`reform-tools` repository (62% of all commits), the `reform-debian-packages`
+repository (71% of all commits) and the `reform-system-image` repository (44%
+of all commits). I have direct commit access to the MNT repositories and can
+only think of positive interaction with MNT regarding my contributions. My
+regular tasks include bug fixes, rebasing of the Linux kernel patch stack each
+time a new version gets uploaded to unstable by the Debian kernel team, adding
+support for new platforms to the tooling and (as all the software is built
+against Debian unstable) file bugs in the Debian bts once they affect us. One
+major example for this was a `binutils` bug which made the Linux kernel
+unbootable but only on `arm64`. This bug was first found by the MNT
+community^[https://bugs.debian.org/1074112].
+
+I am the sole maintainer of [reform.debian.net](https://reform.debian.net)
+(hosting is kindly provided by the provided by the debian.net
+team^[https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/DebianNet]) which provides a Debian package
+repository, bootable disk images and debian-installer images for the MNT Reform
+but (in contrast to the content provided by MNT) built against Debian stable
+(and backports) and signed with my GPG key. All my work is bit-by-bit
+reproducible, all scripts producing the content can be run locally without
+requiring superuser privileges (making use of my packages `mmdebstrap` and
+`sbuild`) and are cross-buildable from `amd64`.  My work thus directly benefits
+other Debian teams like the cross-building and reproducible-builds team. For
+example as part of my work for reform.d.n I found a bug which violates the
+principle that the package name/version/architecture triplet uniquely
+identifies a package in Debian^[https://bugs.debian.org/1072205].
+
+I am also deeply involved with the community on the
+forums^[https://community.mnt.re/] where I have so far read over three thousand
+posts and created over 470 posts of my own (compared to about 500 posts from
+Lukas), receiving over 500 "likes" for my content. Same goes for IRC where,
+according to the logs^[https://mntre.com/reform-irc-logs/] I have contributed
+22% of all messages (compared to 23% posts from Lukas). At Mini DebConf Berlin
+2024 I gave a lightning talk^[https://mister-muffin.de/p/JlVD.pdf] about my
+software work for the MNT Reform and met other Debian Reform owners (Martin
+Borgert) as well as plenty Reform-curious folks.
+
+# Remaining Challenges
+
+Some of the CPU modules available for the Reform (like the imx8mq) require
+proprietary firmware. Unfortunately, the license of these firmware files makes
+them even non-distributable by nonfree^[https://bugs.debian.org/1035055]. I
+have contacted the Linux NXP team about this issue and hope that NXP can grant
+a license exception to
+Debian^[https://lore.kernel.org/r/all/172079266731.2928366.7031846226118749814@localhost/].
+
+# Funding Application
+
+I hereby ask for funding of an MNT Reform laptop with a Rockchip RK3588 module
+in it with the purpose of carrying out above outlined development tasks over
+the course of the next Debian stable release and hopefully beyond. The cost for
+that is 1,400.00 EUR^[https://shop.mntre.com/products/mnt-reform].