6 ms·

A hardware switch would do nicely.

by iaml 9y ago

TeMPOraL 9y ago
How is hardware switch going to let me (and software I write) do whatever I want with the machine while preventing software from the Internet from doing the same?
- fredley 9y ago
  The switch alternates between "Do anything && disconnect power to network interfaces" and "Lock state && enable power to network interfaces"
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    You're suggesting a hardware switch capable of turning a general-purpose computer into a completely locked down computer, with a trusted chain all the way from physical switch to the code doing "computing mode" transition? Sounds interesting, though I fear that at that point, companies won't even bother providing the "general-purpose" mode anymore.
    - mygo 9y ago
      What’s so weird about that? This is nothing new. Before wireless that hardware switch was the Ethernet cable.
      - TeMPOraL 9y ago
        It is weird, because we're not talking about a switch to turn networking off, we're talking about switch to turn general-purpose computation off, making your computer a completely locked down sandbox. This is unprecedented (aside Chromebooks, it would seem).
    - digi_owl 9y ago
      Effectively what a Chromebook already is. the first ones were released with a physical switch behind the removable (shock horror) battery. Later ones have a magic key press that do the same thing (though one variant that Google sold directly had a flaw where the state was stored in volatile memory). This is how people install things like Crouton and whole Linux distros. Note btw that by default a Chromebook updates silently in the background (in a fashion that Android gained with 8.0). It has two partitions, one is active one is dormant. when a update is released, it gets applied to the dormant one. And on the next boot, the two a flipped. If the newly updated partition fails to boot, the system will switch them back on next reboot. And if it succeeds, it will become the active one while the older version goes dormant until another update is released. Keep in mind that little if any state is stored locally. And frankly, if Mozilla wants to get back in the game they should consider producing a similar system that also offer a set of backend services (or collaboration with others that can offers said services) and the means of bootstrapping such services independently. Because right now while Chromebooks are being adopted rapidly in USA and Canada, European nations a weary thanks to the question of where the data is stored and who can potentially access them.

A hardware switch would do nicely.

by iaml 9y ago

A hardware switch would do nicely.

How is hardware switch going to let me (and software I write) do whatever I want with the machine while preventing software from the Internet from doing the same?

fredley 9y ago
The switch alternates between "Do anything && disconnect power to network interfaces" and "Lock state && enable power to network interfaces"
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  You're suggesting a hardware switch capable of turning a general-purpose computer into a completely locked down computer, with a trusted chain all the way from physical switch to the code doing "computing mode" transition? Sounds interesting, though I fear that at that point, companies won't even bother providing the "general-purpose" mode anymore.
  - mygo 9y ago
    What’s so weird about that? This is nothing new. Before wireless that hardware switch was the Ethernet cable.
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      It is weird, because we're not talking about a switch to turn networking off, we're talking about switch to turn general-purpose computation off, making your computer a completely locked down sandbox. This is unprecedented (aside Chromebooks, it would seem).
  - digi_owl 9y ago
    Effectively what a Chromebook already is. the first ones were released with a physical switch behind the removable (shock horror) battery. Later ones have a magic key press that do the same thing (though one variant that Google sold directly had a flaw where the state was stored in volatile memory). This is how people install things like Crouton and whole Linux distros. Note btw that by default a Chromebook updates silently in the background (in a fashion that Android gained with 8.0). It has two partitions, one is active one is dormant. when a update is released, it gets applied to the dormant one. And on the next boot, the two a flipped. If the newly updated partition fails to boot, the system will switch them back on next reboot. And if it succeeds, it will become the active one while the older version goes dormant until another update is released. Keep in mind that little if any state is stored locally. And frankly, if Mozilla wants to get back in the game they should consider producing a similar system that also offer a set of backend services (or collaboration with others that can offers said services) and the means of bootstrapping such services independently. Because right now while Chromebooks are being adopted rapidly in USA and Canada, European nations a weary thanks to the question of where the data is stored and who can potentially access them.