> You may control _more_ but not certainly everything

I control some important details, like having 128G of RAM and a dual 4Tb NVMe setup.

You’re being needlessly pendantic: of course I don’t control the stuff in the cpu or the firmware blobs in the Wifi … but I control my OS and have freedom to choose a different distro or even a BSD one if I like — I love that I’m part of a community of hackers of fellow Linux nerds (and thinkpad enthusiasts) instead of being beholden to a giant company to dictate the direction the OS will take. It has its pros and it has its cons but on the whole I like it a ton more.

It is interesting: I clarify and point out the limits of your (own) control, which you agree with, but you still call me pedantic.

You didn't have to write "everything". You could have said "more".

It is so easy for open source proponents (which I am, but not to an unlimited degree) to fall into these illusions that are entangled with imprecise language.

If I was being too harsh I am sorry. I mean I am open to moving from the traditional AMI bios to CoreBoot but I am not a FOSS zealot. I mean I have to get work done. So I make compromises.

I think we're very much on the same page.

No problem at all. I just learned about CoreBoot, BTW, thanks for mentioning firmware.

You're welcome! There's a really cool hacker that's been refurbishing old Thinkpads with the coreboot bioses -- https://minifree.org/ and the sales help fund the development!