system76 has produced laptops for years that support Linux, but they have always been rebrands of Clevo. Now that they will be designing their own in-house laptop, Principal Engineer Jeremy Soller has announced that it will be completely open, and licensed under the GPLv3.
Soller:
This will be the most open, modern x86 motherboard design I know of.
And they’re using KiCad.
I’m impressed that they’ve convinced the CPU vendors to let them publish footprints. Even the Raspberry Pi Foundation has had to edit out the Broadcom pages from their published schematics.
As awesome as system76 is, the fact they’re based in the US practically makes them a no-go for someone not from that continent. Shipping and electrical standards make for too much headache.
Maybe someday they’ll get a bit more global.