Found my new favorite Linux laptop manufacturer/j (thelibre.news)
from LlamaByte@lemmings.world to linux@lemmy.ml on 02 Mar 2025 23:24
https://lemmings.world/post/21867882

Wish all the companies I bought from called me a zombie from the abyss 🄰

#linux

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enemenemu@lemm.ee on 02 Mar 2025 23:36 next collapse

It makes me sad that you had to spend so much time with this topic. But thank you for publishing it ā¤ļø

LlamaByte@lemmings.world on 02 Mar 2025 23:48 collapse

Oh no I’m not the person who runs the blog. I just saw it posted on the Tumblr Linux community and wanted to repost it here. Happy to share it ofc! šŸ˜„

solardirus@slrpnk.net on 03 Mar 2025 00:48 next collapse

What in the fuck?

It just kept going. Calling customers ā€œzombiesā€ā€¦ bannung people from using chrome to access website, banning ā€œregular reddit usersā€ā€¦ banning particular countries for pettt grudges with like, a few individuals???

devilish666@lemmy.world on 03 Mar 2025 01:14 next collapse

Probably just shitty ass company. honestly their act like ass to everyone tell me is bis red flag company

M137@lemmy.world on 03 Mar 2025 10:57 collapse

This hurts to read because of how badly written it is. Do you not read what you’ve written?

huskypenguin@sh.itjust.works on 03 Mar 2025 02:38 collapse

I thought the article would end there. It just kept goooooooooinnnnggggggg

axum@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 03 Mar 2025 00:52 next collapse

This is not the first time Malibal made an appearance.

Last time I heard about them, they shafted the CoreBoot people then also banned the several countries from doing business with them.

Malibal is legitimately insane.

[deleted] on 03 Mar 2025 17:46 collapse

.

extremeboredom@lemmy.world on 03 Mar 2025 01:04 next collapse

Well that was a crazy read. Never seen a company act this way before. Sounds like a very small operation. Unfortunately their products don’t appeal to me at all, I’d much rather buy a Framework.

BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world on 03 Mar 2025 11:38 collapse

Fortunately

gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works on 03 Mar 2025 02:37 next collapse

Lmao theres gotta be a timeline in which Malibal ships to the DPRK and ONLY the DPRK

SinningStromgald@lemmy.world on 03 Mar 2025 03:20 next collapse

I kind of like the utter insanity that seems to be their norm. Not going to buy anything from them but still.

signofzeta@lemmygrad.ml on 03 Mar 2025 03:26 next collapse

It’s clear that MALIBAL sucks. Whoops, just got all Lemmy users and their mothers banned. My bad.

Mwa@lemm.ee on 03 Mar 2025 04:38 next collapse

Wait Nicco Loves Linux isn’t it that KDE dev?

PlantPowerPhysicist@discuss.tchncs.de on 03 Mar 2025 10:31 collapse

Yeah he’s a KDE dev and has an actually quite good YouTube channel that really should have more subscribers than it does

Mwa@lemm.ee on 03 Mar 2025 15:17 collapse

Agreed

Elgenzay@lemmy.ml on 03 Mar 2025 04:57 next collapse

www.malibal.com/legal/terms/

This is so hilariously unhinged. Fun starts at ā€œGeographical Restrictionsā€

SeekPie@lemm.ee on 03 Mar 2025 07:09 next collapse

Lmao, they prohibit anyone using any Google device or service, any Apple device or service and any (active) Reddit user.

ExFed@lemm.ee on 03 Mar 2025 07:53 next collapse

Hey, at least they promote Lemmy!

Irelephant@lemm.ee on 03 Mar 2025 11:23 next collapse

Use of Google Products and Services

Users are prohibited from accessing this website using any Google products or services. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  1. Gmail: Users may not use Gmail to register, login, or otherwise interact with this site.
  2. Google Chrome: Users may not use the Google Chrome web browser to access this site. – Exception: De-Googled forks of Chrome are allowed.
  3. Google Pixel Phones: Users may not use Google Pixel phones or any other Google-branded hardware to access this site.
  4. Android: Users may not use the Android operating system in its standard, Google-integrated form. – Exception: De-Googled versions of Android.
  5. Other Google Services: Any other services or products provided by Google, including but not limited to Google Search, Google Drive, Google Meet, and Google Workspace, are also prohibited from accessing this site.

Enforcement: If it is determined that any user has accessed this website using any of the aforementioned Google products or services, > we reserve the right to terminate the user’s access to the site immediately without notice.

jagged_circle@feddit.nl on 03 Mar 2025 15:22 next collapse

That’s cool

zalgotext@sh.itjust.works on 04 Mar 2025 15:23 next collapse

If they have the ability to accurately detect/enforce any of that, I’d be way more impressed with their fingerprinting techniques than any of the hardware they’re selling

ray1992xd@lemmy.world on 04 Mar 2025 22:48 collapse

Google apple and reddit must have really pissed them off to include this in their terms.

merthyr1831@lemmy.ml on 03 Mar 2025 17:45 collapse

Most of this is because of some drama where they tried to port coreboot by lowballing some coreboot agencies who eventually told him to fuck off

PushButton@lemmy.world on 03 Mar 2025 05:26 next collapse

That company is probably owned by This guy.

BaumGeist@lemmy.ml on 03 Mar 2025 10:50 collapse

Yet another micro-celebrity whose 3 section wikipedia page has one third of it dedicated to ā€œSexual misconduct allegationsā€

Lemjukes@lemm.ee on 03 Mar 2025 13:39 collapse

For the record Veitch is just a comedian alleged rapist with absolutely no affiliation with MALIBAL. MALIBAL is run by Matthew Plott as listed here on their site.

Cysioland@lemmygrad.ml on 03 Mar 2025 06:07 next collapse

Ah, so another Terry Davis except without slurs (yet)

MonkeMischief@lemmy.today on 03 Mar 2025 21:40 collapse

Well, like all the attitude of Terry without the genius to back it up. The ā€œaboutā€ pages and stuff just read like your typical ā€œOne superior genius started this companyā€ grift myth.

teawrecks@sopuli.xyz on 03 Mar 2025 06:18 next collapse

As i understand it, the OEM business has razor thin margins as it is. This seems like an aggressively unsustainable business practice, to the point that it’s making me wonder what their game is…

FauxLiving@lemmy.world on 04 Mar 2025 06:27 collapse

I was under the impression, from reading one of the developers write of his interaction with the owner, that they’re just selling dropped shipped white label laptops.

They’re simply add branding and a disk image which the white label manufacturer applies before shipping.

So it doesn’t even seem to be an OEM… Just some guy trying to make an easy buck with some slick marketing and white label laptops… he just couldn’t get the image setup and failed spectacularly in collaboration with the people who could help him.

teawrecks@sopuli.xyz on 04 Mar 2025 15:39 collapse

In the modern parlance, i believe that counts as an OEM but the more accurate term that no one uses is probably a VAR

Macaroni_ninja@lemmy.world on 03 Mar 2025 06:55 next collapse

First I thougt its just a prank by a bored social media intern, but it looks like the whole company is built on this insane absurd communication. It was a hilarious read :D

morrowind@lemmy.ml on 03 Mar 2025 07:53 next collapse

how the hell are they still in business lmao

jol@discuss.tchncs.de on 04 Mar 2025 11:57 collapse

No publicity is bad publicity I guess?

flubba86@lemmy.world on 04 Mar 2025 12:51 collapse

The whole company is just the one guy. He obviously has mental health issues.

chwilson@lemmy.world on 03 Mar 2025 11:01 next collapse

finally, the official laptop of schizophrenia

steal_your_face@lemmy.ml on 03 Mar 2025 17:40 collapse

Need to install templeOS on it

MyNameIsRichard@lemmy.ml on 03 Mar 2025 11:26 next collapse

Yeah, they’re batshit

marcuslee@pawb.social on 03 Mar 2025 11:36 next collapse

That’s the wildest company that I’ve ever seen

CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml on 03 Mar 2025 15:01 collapse

As a KDE person, the random potshot at KDE for absolutely no reason is what got me lol.

marcuslee@pawb.social on 07 May 2025 17:15 collapse

KDE catching strays 😭

Lemjukes@lemm.ee on 03 Mar 2025 13:42 next collapse

Now, I would love to know more about who’s behind MALIBAL, and what’s happening within the - probably, single-person - company. However, I have not found any information about that; if you have any, please feel free to contact me.

sorry did the author not come across the companies own about page?

www.malibal.com/features/about-us/

lol thats neat, malibal is based directly across the street from the palms casino in vegas.

<img alt="" src="https://lemm.ee/pictrs/image/511ef790-0b7e-4ce5-9fe8-4b112b858df1.png"> šŸ˜‚

watch me get all of DC banned for that emoji

Crozekiel@lemmy.zip on 03 Mar 2025 18:29 next collapse

That ā€œaboutā€ page is fucking wild. They spend like half the page sucking themselves off over how great of a job they did designing their own logo, and then the other half telling the user the proper way to reference the company and its products. I really want to spend some time on the live chat breaking all the rules, like not capitalizing every letter of their name…

CaptainBasculin@lemmy.bascul.in on 03 Mar 2025 22:22 collapse

www.malibal.com/legal/terms/

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.bascul.in/pictrs/image/2a8ef2e3-f0ff-43e3-aa68-513282016845.png">

lmao I’m copying this part to my instance’s legal section

jagged_circle@feddit.nl on 03 Mar 2025 15:28 next collapse

Site doesn’t load

Edit: after several attempts, it did load. But its fucking dark grey font on a black background. Can’t read this shit. Here’s the actual website

www.malibal.com

Patch@feddit.uk on 03 Mar 2025 21:54 collapse

Perfectly readable white text on a black background on my devices. The problem must be on your end.

bitwolf@sh.itjust.works on 03 Mar 2025 17:05 next collapse

Accessed the website using Chrome, on a Google Pixel, routed through a VPN exiting from Colorado.

Was looking for specifically an AMD laptop. WHAT NOW MALIBAL

djehuti@programming.dev on 03 Mar 2025 22:51 next collapse

No soup for you!

Cyber@feddit.uk on 04 Mar 2025 06:51 collapse

But I notice that they don’t say they’ll ban everyone from Feddit…?

So, maybe there’s some hope for them yet…

commander@lemmings.world on 03 Mar 2025 17:10 next collapse

Another scam company like framework trying to charge exorbitant fees for computers without dedicated GPUs.

Don’t be fooled by the viral marketing/useful idiots, guys. Just go with the product that’s the best deal for you.

SpatchyIsOnline@lemmy.world on 04 Mar 2025 00:24 next collapse

Framework 16 does have a dedicated GPU option, and it’s upgradable.

nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org on 04 Mar 2025 19:57 collapse

…FW16 is a great Linux machine. It also had CAD drawings available that have been allowing me to sketch out possible physical modifications. It also has a PCIe 4.0 x4 available for either the GPU they sell or any other device that I decide to make.

What specifically about Framework do you think is a scam? I’d genuinely like to know since that’s been the opposite of my experience.

commander@lemmings.world on 04 Mar 2025 20:03 collapse

You can buy better hardware for cheaper prices.

Framework exists to take advantage of naive people who are just trying to fit in with strangers on the internet.

nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org on 04 Mar 2025 22:22 collapse

You can indeed buy better hardware for many purposes for cheaper.

Want a gaming laptop? Or a runs Linux out of the box laptop? FW is not even close to the best value there.

Want a laptop with well-documented physical specs, including CAD drawings to make readily modifiable and upgradeable, potentially being the last laptop chassis that one needs to buy? Nothing else comes close to touching FW.

I avoid ads, so, maybe they’re inappropriately marketing as gaming laptops. I’d not call that a scam but would say that it’s ethically questionable, at best. FW is a laptop for people prioritizing long-term repairability and tinkering over everything else.

bastion@feddit.nl on 05 Mar 2025 01:19 collapse

but, he doesn’t like it, so it’s a scam. it’s not enough just to not buy it, he has to bitch about it and save the world from this evil, malignant company selling extremely customizable Linux laptops with versatile expansion options.

iAvicenna@lemmy.world on 03 Mar 2025 20:11 next collapse

wow havent seen anything this moody in a long while

alcasa@lemmy.sdf.org on 04 Mar 2025 08:29 next collapse

Just as a info, they are a Clevo reseller: linustechtips.com/…/802163-clevo-custom-laptops-a…

That probably also applies to a lot of other small size linux laptop companies that are not doing a lot of custom stuff in their laptops.

electric_nan@lemmy.ml on 04 Mar 2025 15:06 next collapse

I like how they take a moral stance against Apple and Google, but then proudly display Boeing and the US Air Force as customers.

ray1992xd@lemmy.world on 04 Mar 2025 22:41 collapse

Skikk is a clevo reseller too. Those laptops are very nice. They do however sound like a jet engine when the game starts. But I just turn the volume up higher and then I don’t hear it anymore.