We wrote previously about why you should support the Talos II from Raptor Engineering. The pre-order period for the Talos II is almost over. Making a pre-order will help them to launch this much-needed system. The goal for the folks at Raptor Engineering has always been to gain Respects Your Freedom certification. We certified a lot of new devices this year, and if we want to keep seeing those numbers increase, then it is critical that we support projects like this. As we said in our last post:

The unfortunate reality is that x86 computers come encumbered with built-in low-level backdoors like the Intel Management Engine, as well as proprietary boot firmware. This means that users can't gain full control over their computers, even if they install a free operating system.

While people are currently working to overcome the Intel Management Engine problem, each new generation of Intel CPUs is a new problem. Even if the community succeeds fully with one generation, it has to start over with the next one. This is precisely why the Talos II is important. As we said previously:

For the future of free computing, we need to build and support systems that do not come with such malware pre-installed, and the Power9-based Talos II promises to be a great example of just such a system. Devices like this are the future of computing that Respects Your Freedom.

You should help make the Talos II a success by making a pre-order by September 15th. The FSF Licensing & Compliance Lab will have to do another evaluation once it is actually produced to be sure it meets our certification standards, but we have high hopes. Here is what you can do to help: