Conventional notebooks and corporate ecosystems often resemble walled gardens. Stay with us. Both are visually appealing, blooming spaces, but they’re fundamentally closed. We can look in and admire the view, but the high walls prevent us from easily leaving or, more importantly, from customising what’s inside. Try to bring in a heavy flower pot (a new component) from the outside: you’ll find the wall makes it impossible to integrate.
However, if computer hardware is mutually compatible, i.e. it’s possible to combine it freely with other components, there are many advantages. From an environmental point of view, old parts can be reused, producing less electronic waste. This, the world’s fastest-growing mountain of waste, is a problem we’re struggling to quell. Reuse also reduces the amount of resources produced and laboriously shipped across the world.
Open hardware licences, among other things, can guarantee such interoperability. We spoke to Lucie Hartmann from computer manufacturer MNT Research to find out more.
What is the MNT Reform Laptop?
Let’s start with an example. At first glance, the MNT Reform laptop looks a little old school. It is thick and comes with a trackball instead of a trackpad. Its RGB-illuminated keyboard could be described as a little nerdy. But, as the manufacturer explains on its website, it has been developed “as openly and transparently as possible from the outset”.
This means that all components, the circuit diagrams, the 3D models for the housing and much more are freely available online. And that’s not all; thanks to open hardware, interested parties can also modify them and use them for their own projects.
On request, the MNT Reform laptop can be supplied in individual parts and can then be assembled by the customer. “My main concern is that users retain control over a device, i.e. a computer, which has simply become a super-important tool for accessing and working with knowledge,” says Lucie Hartmann, describing the motivation behind the project.
Most computers and devices are no longer “bicycles for the mind”, as Steve Jobs once called them. Instead, they are now “secretive devices where only the manufacturers know exactly how to make them. Lucie Hartmann criticises the fact that “users can no longer simply go to any computer shop to repair their hardware.
This is quite clear with smartphones. I once tried to repair my iPhone myself and was able to get parts for it. But then the fingerprint sensor stopped working because it was only compatible ‘by design’ with the original part. In this case, repair shops must use spare parts authorised by the manufacturer.” Defects or problems would therefore either have to be repaired by certified shops or by the manufacturers themselves, or users would have to buy a new device. In any case, the manufacturer retains control over the products.
Open hardware is different. Although the devices are not repairable per se, they are, above all, reproducible. If a manufacturer stops producing a device and no longer supplies spare parts, products designed according to open hardware can still be kept alive. Lucie Hartmann and the MNT team disclose every detail of the notebooks they have developed themselves and assembled in a Berlin workshop. This allows users to carry out repairs themselves and replace components at will. This in itself is a unique selling point in times when most computer components are glued or soldered together, as sustainable hardware cooperative Commown explained to RESET in a recent interview.
Not all open hardware is the same
“Open hardware is often freely interpreted,” answers Lucie Hartmann when we ask what standards currently exist. “There are a few institutions that are trying to define this more clearly. For example, the Open Hardware Alliance or the Open Source Hardware Association, OSHWA for short.” There is also a DIN-SPEC standard, but this is currently still under review.
According to Lucie Hartmann, the main difference to computers with closed hardware lies in the licences. “As with open source, there are licences that specify what rights users have when they receive the sources. For example, we use CERN-OHL, a licence from the research institute in Switzerland.” As with open source software, these licences stipulate the possibilities and obligations for the further use and modification of the sources. While the sources for programmes are lines of code, the sources for hardware are circuit diagrams, 3D models for CNC milling machines or 3D printers. Lucie Hartmann even provides the source files of the electronics project for the MNT products.
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MNT Research doesn’t place commercial restrictions on its licenses. In theory, a company could clone the blueprints of an MNT Reform laptop and attempt to monetise it. “The only thing we protect is our trademark. That means you can’t just freely use the MNT logo,” Lucie clarifies.
The main goal of this open approach to hardware is to give users greater control and more possibilities. Similar to open-source software, interested parties can develop forks if, for instance, they disagree with a design change or a company decision made by MNT Reform. Looking at the software world provides a good way to explain this benefit.
Due to the AI boom, software manufacturers are increasingly incorporating AI functions into their programmes. However, these do not always produce the results that users want and are also extremely resource-intensive. While users have to tolerate this with closed software, they can modify open-source programmes accordingly and remove the AI functions.
The decision-making power remains with the users, and with open hardware, this also has advantages for their sustainability.
A new circularity thanks to the second life principle
Lucie Hartmann expressly points out that the MNT Reform Laptop was not developed specifically as a sustainable laptop. However, open hardware creates possibilities that we do not have with closed and non-modular computers.
Lucie Hartmann describes a “second life principle” that all MNT products follow: “The keyboard [ … of the MNT Reform laptop … ] is a high-quality mechanical keyboard. And you can take it out and put it in a case and use it as an external keyboard. Users can also remove the motherboard and use it in a desktop case.” The trackball, which is used in the MNT Reform laptop instead of a trackpad, is also a simple USB device. It can therefore be used on another device with a simple cable.
Specifically, this means that if an MNT Reform laptop is defective or outdated, all still-functional components can be reused. They can be used in other MNT laptops, in other computers, or as external devices. This is often not possible even with many sustainably labelled notebooks, leading to their complete disposal even when not all components are broken.
While Lucie Hartmann and the MNT team can guarantee this interoperability, there are other limitations when it comes to sustainability. “Unfortunately, we can’t trace exactly where the materials for our components come from.” For this, MNT Research would need to purchase resources, but the manufacturer is too small, with production numbers under 1,000 notebooks per year. Nevertheless, MNT Research relies on aluminium casings, which is a comparatively recyclable metal. Furthermore, in the Reform Notebook and Reform Next models, the manufacturer uses lithium iron phosphate batteries that do not contain problematic cobalt.
Lucie also notes that the Open Hardware approach offers solutions here as well. With this approach, “every person, every organisation, or even universities […] can take our plans, 3D models, and schematics and implement them in a way that meets their own sustainability requirements.”
Keep products alive for as long as possible
Assembling a laptop yourself is certainly too complicated for most computer users. With its 80s design and pre-installed Debian Linux distribution, Lucie Hartmann describes the target audience of the MNT Reform laptop as more like enthusiasts or computer experts. And even they might have to consider, given prices over 1,000 Euros, whether their focus can be 100 percent on open-source hardware.
However, the MNT Research team didn’t design the Reform laptop as a mass-market product. Instead, the notebook is meant to show the advantages a maximally transparent and open computer can offer. As we’ve seen, customers can maintain control over their digital tools. This approach also allows older products, no longer officially supported by manufacturers, to remain operational.
A similar approach is taken by the Berlin association Topio, which extends the usability of smartphones by using Google-free operating systems. They told us in an interview that this is becoming increasingly difficult with many phones. Open hardware would therefore be a valuable addition to other technologies as well.
