3 ms·

This sounds similar to basebands on cellular devices: Subsystems controlled by the vendor, not accessible from the 'user' system, remotely updatable and with ac

This sounds similar to basebands on cellular devices: Subsystems controlled by the vendor, not accessible from the 'user' system, remotely updatable and with access to everything.

vox_mollis 11y ago
Except modern baseband processors usually don't have direct access to main memory or peripherals - they are usually linked to the rest of the phone via a serial bus. ME is very, very different - it transparently has access to everything.
- hackuser 11y ago
  > Except modern baseband processors usually don't have direct access to main memory or peripherals - they are usually linked to the rest of the phone via a serial bus. Do you know where I can read more about that? A good, technical, authoritative resource? In my little bit of research, details are sparse and authoritative technical details even more sparse.
  - vox_mollis 11y ago
    Yes, it's tough to find web resources on this. Here is a google books search result: https://books.google.com/books?id=TEa0yDByYmQC&pg=PT232&lpg=PT232&source=bl&ots=AUuEXAvjwL&sig=F8suew3vBzQR--fPh5pmHmSFaGs&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=TEa0yDByYmQC&pg=PT232&lpg=... I'm mostly taking this on good authority from a friend who works in mobile engineering. So, caveat there.
  - 5ilv3r 11y ago
    Paranoid android used to have a nice breakdown on which phones had isolated memory for the baseband and which used shared memory. I cannot find it now, and their site seems to have taken a very wrong turn in the design department.
    - hackuser 11y ago
      fyi: As far as I know, Paranoid Android development stopped last summer, after OnePlus hired away key developers in February 2015. Here's an article with much more detail, including its prospects going forward: http://www.androidauthority.com/paranoid-android-calling-it-quits-648429/ http://www.androidauthority.com/paranoid-android-calling-it-...
- ashitlerferad 11y ago
  serial attached basebands are much rarer than basebands with full or partial control of the CPU or RAM.
  - hackuser 11y ago
    Do you know any good sources for this information? I can seem to find any (see my post above).
    - ashitlerferad 11y ago
      The Replicant wiki is a good place for devices that have evaluated, click the links on here: https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/ReplicantStatus https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/Replica...
      - ashitlerferad 11y ago
        Hmm, actually it isn't as good as I thought. I guess I was remembering IRC discussions. IIRC, the Replicant folks found Qualcomm based devices pretty commonly have this issue.

This sounds similar to basebands on cellular devices: Subsystems controlled by the vendor, not accessible from the 'user' system, remotely updatable and with access to everything.

vox_mollis 11y ago

Except modern baseband processors usually don't have direct access to main memory or peripherals - they are usually linked to the rest of the phone via a serial bus. ME is very, very different - it transparently has access to everything.

hackuser 11y ago
> Except modern baseband processors usually don't have direct access to main memory or peripherals - they are usually linked to the rest of the phone via a serial bus. Do you know where I can read more about that? A good, technical, authoritative resource? In my little bit of research, details are sparse and authoritative technical details even more sparse.
- vox_mollis 11y ago
  Yes, it's tough to find web resources on this. Here is a google books search result: https://books.google.com/books?id=TEa0yDByYmQC&pg=PT232&lpg=PT232&source=bl&ots=AUuEXAvjwL&sig=F8suew3vBzQR--fPh5pmHmSFaGs&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=TEa0yDByYmQC&pg=PT232&lpg=... I'm mostly taking this on good authority from a friend who works in mobile engineering. So, caveat there.
- 5ilv3r 11y ago
  Paranoid android used to have a nice breakdown on which phones had isolated memory for the baseband and which used shared memory. I cannot find it now, and their site seems to have taken a very wrong turn in the design department.
  - hackuser 11y ago
    fyi: As far as I know, Paranoid Android development stopped last summer, after OnePlus hired away key developers in February 2015. Here's an article with much more detail, including its prospects going forward: http://www.androidauthority.com/paranoid-android-calling-it-quits-648429/ http://www.androidauthority.com/paranoid-android-calling-it-...
ashitlerferad 11y ago
serial attached basebands are much rarer than basebands with full or partial control of the CPU or RAM.
- hackuser 11y ago
  Do you know any good sources for this information? I can seem to find any (see my post above).
  - ashitlerferad 11y ago
    The Replicant wiki is a good place for devices that have evaluated, click the links on here: https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/ReplicantStatus https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/Replica...
    - ashitlerferad 11y ago
      Hmm, actually it isn't as good as I thought. I guess I was remembering IRC discussions. IIRC, the Replicant folks found Qualcomm based devices pretty commonly have this issue.