4 ms·

Wouldn't it just take a motherboard maker or two to find an alternative to the PCH, like Nvidia nforce or a VIA chipset. adopt something like openbmc and sell i

by ece 9y ago

Wouldn't it just take a motherboard maker or two to find an alternative to the PCH, like Nvidia nforce or a VIA chipset. adopt something like openbmc and sell it as an open feature? No intel PCH, no Intel ME. Seems like the Linux kernel is eager to support it: https://lwn.net/Articles/683320/ https://lwn.net/Articles/683320/ What happened to 3rd parties making chipsets? Another case of Intel abusing it's monopoly?

forapurpose 9y ago
I'd love it. But it probably would increase the manufacturer's costs for the motherboard (including engineering, component costs, etc.), distract the organization (managers, engineers, purchasing personnel, etc. spending time on this novel tech instead of just buying Intel/AMD chipsets), reduce quality (can they really compete with Intel's engineering resources?), which increases support costs, etc. ... all for a market that unfortunately is too small to measure.
- ece 9y ago
  The consumer market might be small, but the enterprise market would be what it is. I can't imagine openbmc being more expensive than a builtin wifi card with an external antenna connector for basic features. Features like RDP would be more off course. I imagine they could take a similar embedded processor and slap openbmc on it and market it as open just fine. The fact is, no alternatives to Intel PCH exist, so doing this isn't even an option. If Nvidia nForce or a VIA chipset existed for the newest Xeon with similar capabilities as the PCH minus the Intel ME, would you really doubt that there wouldn't be some motherboard maker that would go this route? VIA used to make dual socket server class chipsets, for the pentium 3, which ever age was in.
  - forapurpose 9y ago
    > I can't imagine openbmc being more expensive than a builtin wifi card with an external antenna connector for basic features The cost of IoT devices supports what you are saying.
Tom4hawk 9y ago
Short answer: yes https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2009/02/intel-sues-nvidia-over-chipset-license-agreement/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2009/02/intel-sues-nvidia-ov... https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/57766-update-intel-sues-via-over-p4x266-chipset https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/57766-update-intel-sues-...
- ece 9y ago
  Thank you for the links. Here is FTC's ruling against Intel from 2010: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2010/08/ftc-settles-charges-anticompetitive-conduct-against-intel https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2010/08/ftc-s... Seems like they mention chipsets, but didn't go far enough given what happened to Nvidia chipsets vis-a-vis GPUs. They could do a little bit better as a regulator. http://www.mercurynews.com/2010/02/13/nvidia-gains-ally-against-intel-with-ftc-lawsuit/ http://www.mercurynews.com/2010/02/13/nvidia-gains-ally-agai...

by ece 9y ago

forapurpose 9y ago

I'd love it. But it probably would increase the manufacturer's costs for the motherboard (including engineering, component costs, etc.), distract the organization (managers, engineers, purchasing personnel, etc. spending time on this novel tech instead of just buying Intel/AMD chipsets), reduce quality (can they really compete with Intel's engineering resources?), which increases support costs, etc. ... all for a market that unfortunately is too small to measure.

ece 9y ago
The consumer market might be small, but the enterprise market would be what it is. I can't imagine openbmc being more expensive than a builtin wifi card with an external antenna connector for basic features. Features like RDP would be more off course. I imagine they could take a similar embedded processor and slap openbmc on it and market it as open just fine. The fact is, no alternatives to Intel PCH exist, so doing this isn't even an option. If Nvidia nForce or a VIA chipset existed for the newest Xeon with similar capabilities as the PCH minus the Intel ME, would you really doubt that there wouldn't be some motherboard maker that would go this route? VIA used to make dual socket server class chipsets, for the pentium 3, which ever age was in.
- forapurpose 9y ago
  > I can't imagine openbmc being more expensive than a builtin wifi card with an external antenna connector for basic features The cost of IoT devices supports what you are saying.

Tom4hawk 9y ago

Short answer: yes https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2009/02/intel-sues-nvidia-over-chipset-license-agreement/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2009/02/intel-sues-nvidia-ov... https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/57766-update-intel-sues-via-over-p4x266-chipset https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/57766-update-intel-sues-...

ece 9y ago
Thank you for the links. Here is FTC's ruling against Intel from 2010: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2010/08/ftc-settles-charges-anticompetitive-conduct-against-intel https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2010/08/ftc-s... Seems like they mention chipsets, but didn't go far enough given what happened to Nvidia chipsets vis-a-vis GPUs. They could do a little bit better as a regulator. http://www.mercurynews.com/2010/02/13/nvidia-gains-ally-against-intel-with-ftc-lawsuit/ http://www.mercurynews.com/2010/02/13/nvidia-gains-ally-agai...