New Peripherals & Community Gatherings
We hope that everyone is having a cozy winter. 2023 is here, so we decided it was time to share the latest and greatest from the world of MNT Reform. Here's what's been going on... Read the full update.
Pre-orders Shipping Update
Happy new year! Thank you for your patience. We're getting ready to ship the first batch of post-campaign MNT Reform laptops to Crowd Supply, after which they'll be sent to you. We currently expect the majority of open orders to ship by the end of February, with the remaining orders shipping by the end of April, at the latest. Read the full update.
Post-Campaign Orders
On August 31st, 2021, I personally handed the last laptop from the crowdfunded first batch of MNT Reforms to its owner in Berlin. This concluded an almost half year marathon of assembling laptops in our studio. My coworkers Greta and Magda did incredible work putting all the parts together, printing components, sewing sleeves, and packaging everything for shipping. We had only a very short break before going into the next phase, which is shipping all the devices ordered after June 18, 2020. We call this the "post-crowdfunding" phase. The orders from this phase will be fulfilled by Crowd Supply/Mouser through their US warehouse, so the process is a bit different for us and we have to solve a different set of formalities before we can ship out the first batch. This is now mostly completed and the first batch of ~40 devices is scheduled to leave our premises in the next couple of weeks. We go into further detail about the shipping schedule, talk about the new firmware update, show off a smoother trackball and more in the rest of this update. Read the full update.
May 2021 Shipping Update
There has been a change of plans regarding crowdfunding order fulfillment. We will handle all fulfillment of crowdfunded units, even non-EU units, by ourselves. Read this update for more details. Also, we've received positive feedback from the first MNT Reform backers who already got their devices! Read the full update.
March 2021 Production & Shipping!
We have assembled and shipped the first 25 MNT Reforms! This included completing the Operator Handbook, System Image, and packaging. Also, we used the delay to upgrade the keycaps. Read the full update.
Check Your Shipping Addresses
Please take this time to check your Crowd Supply account and make sure that your shipping address is up-to-date. Read the full update.
November Production Update
Shortly after the conclusion of the crowdfunding campaign, we shipped 8 hand-built beta devices and collected some last minute feedback. Based on the feedback and our own learnings during this last test assembly phase, we further refined some aspects of the MNT Reform design. Read the full update.
Ending Soon & Building Beta Units
As the campaign draws to an exciting close (less than 48 hours left!), I wanted to share with you some pictures of something we've been doing in the last few weeks: putting together eight beta versions of MNT Reform. Read the full update.
Graphics Improvements - 4K HDMI, and Proper KiCAD Support
Reform now runs KiCAD with "Accelerated Graphics", which took a good bit of work, including some etnaviv reverse-engineering. And 4K HDMI 2.0a video output now appears to be working with the i.MX8 module. Read the full update.
Boot Image Build, Blob-free H.264, a Podcast, and an AMA
This update walks through the boot image build process (including a demo video), brushes on hardware-level, blobless H.264 decoding, points to a Libre Lounge podcast we were recently featured in, and announces an AMA on June 3rd at 1pm Pacific. Read the full update.
Thanks and Interactive Diagrams
MNT Reform has reached its funding goal and will go into production, all thanks to you, the backers! We've started releasing some project documentation, including an interactive system diagram and a set of interactive PCB explorers. Read the full update.
The Campaign is Live
Today we're launching the crowdfunding of a laptop that doesn't have glued-in batteries, soldered-in storage or "security" chips that prevent you from exercising your right to repair. MNT Reform is a daring design that is as open and repairable as we could make it. It's chunky, robust (black anodized, milled aluminum), has a mechanical keyboard, and an optical trackball (or a multitouch trackpad if you want). Read the MNT Reform story and support open source hardware. Read the full update.
Re-Introducing Reform
During the last few months, based on feedback from beta customers and our own dog-fooding experiences, Ana and I redesigned almost all parts of MNT Reform, our libre laptop. Changes have been made to the default SoC, case design, screen, battery, keyboard, trackball, etc... Read the full update.
Assembling Beta Units, Feedback, 35c3, etc.
A few days before Christmas 2018, we assembled the last one of the Reform Beta units. 13 Reform laptops exist in total; 10 went out to the adventurous people who pre-ordered them, two are for ourselves and one went to Crowd Supply in Portland as the demo unit for the upcoming campaign. Read the full update.
Prototype Unboxing Videos
The most recent MNT Reform prototype was shipped right to Crowd Supply headquarters. Here's Josh opening the package on camera to share his initial reactions. Read the full update.