Working around dragons with the Lemote Yeeloong laptop and OpenBSD

An author acquires a Lemote Yeeloong laptop—a MIPS64 netbook used by Richard Stallman for its fully libre design—to run OpenBSD. The article extensively chronicles the history of China's Loongson (Godson) processor: from the 863 Program and Godson-1 to the 64-bit Godson-2 series and Lemote's Fuloong desktop.

Background

- The **Lemote Yeeloong** is a 2008 Chinese netbook powered by the **Loongson-2F**, a homegrown MIPS-compatible CPU developed under the state-funded **863 Program** to reduce dependence on foreign chip designs. - **Richard Stallman** (founder of GNU & the Free Software Foundation) used a Yeeloong as his daily laptop because it could run entirely on free/libre software — no proprietary firmware or "binary blobs" — embodying his philosophy of user freedom. - **OpenBSD** is a security-focused open-source Unix; its **loongson** port supports the Yeeloong, making it a rare fully libre hardware/OS stack on an exotic non-x86 platform. - The Loongson project began as "Godson" at the Chinese Academy of Sciences; early chips lacked a MIPS license (using a patent-avoiding modified ISA) until STMicroelectronics bought an official license for the 2F.