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I wish we could even purchase machines without SMM, Intel Management Engine, and similar features. On any machine I own, I want the CPU and the software running
by quotemstr 10y ago
I wish we could even purchase machines without SMM, Intel Management Engine, and similar features. On any machine I own, I want the CPU and the software running in ring zero to be the last word on what happens. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for a system that meets this requirement.
- jMyles 10y agoSeriously. We need a group to examine and certify on this basis. This is getting out of hand.
- dandelion_lover 10y ago> a group to examine and certify Like FSF [0]? [0] https://fsf.org/ryf https://fsf.org/ryf
- dandelion_lover 10y agoAs I commented elsewhere, we can, see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12037410 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12037410
- quotemstr 10y agoThat's good to hear. Thanks!
- yuhong 10y agoNote that I mentioned how it does not do any microcode updates though. I blogged http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2015/06/why-your-core-2-processor-appear-to-not.html http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2015/06/why-your-core-2-process... about a problem that can prevent 64-bit Win8.1 from installing. I think you were there back then too, right?
- voltagex_ 10y agoHah. Thought this sounded vaguely familiar. Turns out VirtualBox had an issue with the "new" instructions needed for Windows 8.1, too. https://blogs.oracle.com/fatbloke/entry/using_virtualbox_to_test_drive https://blogs.oracle.com/fatbloke/entry/using_virtualbox_to_...
- yuhong 10y agoYes. I wish that VirtualBox would enable CMPXCHG16B unconditionally.
- driverdan 10y agoOld, outdated, expensive hardware with low specs? Nope. I have a lot of respect for what they do but it's not the solution we need.
- comex 10y agoAn alternative is to use ARM-based devices: they typically lack microcode updates, and while TrustZone hypervisors are often present and the situation varies by device, at least some devices should allow the user to gain full control of the CPU without having to exploit anything. (I don't know how common that is, because every device manufacturer has their own boot process, and from some quick Google searching it seems like most of the time nobody bothers to figure out how the TrustZone stuff or the boot chain works, being satisfied with custom Android images...) ARM Chromebooks in particular I think are theoretically supposed to have fully open source firmware, though the documentation is a little sparse... probably mostly for the same reason, lack of interest.
- makomk 10y agoAs far as I know anything Allwinner-based lets you run whatever you like with full control of the CPU, probably the same with other Chinese ARM SoCs but there seems to be more of an open source community around Allwinner for some reason. (The other main alternative is Rockchip.)
- dandelion_lover 10y agoOld, outadated, with low specs only for those who need high performance. For 90% everyday tasks these laptops are more than enough. For me specifically and for many of my friends, they are 100% enough.
- yuhong 10y agoI think you were there during the Win8 period when UEFI secure boot and ACPI BGRT was introduced for example, right?