5 ms·

Tons of stuff like NUC's used as digital displays, kiosks, etc, everywhere. I'd be surprised if even half of that was on a proper update path. Embedded isn't j

Tons of stuff like NUC's used as digital displays, kiosks, etc, everywhere. I'd be surprised if even half of that was on a proper update path. Embedded isn't just like, microcontrollers. Think about all the times you've seen a BSOD on a billboard.

clarry 7y ago
I don't really consider NUCs or other off-the-shelf commodity x86/amd64 mini PCs to be "embedded." Especially if they're running an off-the-shelf commodity OS that can throw a BSOD. That's not some custom distro that cannot be updated; whether they actually care enough to update it is a different matter altogether. You totally can pick a supported distro with LTS kernels, and keep it up to date. I'm writing this as someone who's used Shuttle's fanless mini PCs (designed for PoS/kiosk use) as desktop & server hardware, all with proper updates. And I work for a company that does actual, custom embedded hardware. I've made a billboard too. None of the actual embedded hardware (almost exclusively ARM) I've used is SMT-capable. Even among off-the-shelf amd64 solutions, it's common for people to stretch the penny and buy a celeron/pentium without hyperthreading. And, fwiw, I've never witnessed a BSOD on a billboard in person.
jacquesm 7y ago
If it doesn't have a jtag connector it isn't embedded.
- zamadatix 7y ago
  This comment is extremely ironic considering it was an Intel processor that spurred the widespread use of JTAG and all the way up to Skylake Intel products had traditional JTAG connectors. These days they do JTAG over a physical USB port but I'm not sure how the shape of the port is supposed to matter. JTAG on the NUCs actually led to a CVE as well IIRC.
  - jacquesm 7y ago
    JTAG has nothing to do with Intel per-se but everything with BGAs which made it super hard to get to certain signals.
    - zamadatix 7y ago
      It was (relatively) uncommon until Intel released the 80486, then it became very popular and was found on basically every chip. Not that there weren't devices before and after that used JTAG but none nearly as influential in it's growth.

clarry 7y ago

I don't really consider NUCs or other off-the-shelf commodity x86/amd64 mini PCs to be "embedded." Especially if they're running an off-the-shelf commodity OS that can throw a BSOD. That's not some custom distro that cannot be updated; whether they actually care enough to update it is a different matter altogether. You totally can pick a supported distro with LTS kernels, and keep it up to date. I'm writing this as someone who's used Shuttle's fanless mini PCs (designed for PoS/kiosk use) as desktop & server hardware, all with proper updates. And I work for a company that does actual, custom embedded hardware. I've made a billboard too. None of the actual embedded hardware (almost exclusively ARM) I've used is SMT-capable. Even among off-the-shelf amd64 solutions, it's common for people to stretch the penny and buy a celeron/pentium without hyperthreading. And, fwiw, I've never witnessed a BSOD on a billboard in person.

jacquesm 7y ago

If it doesn't have a jtag connector it isn't embedded.

zamadatix 7y ago
This comment is extremely ironic considering it was an Intel processor that spurred the widespread use of JTAG and all the way up to Skylake Intel products had traditional JTAG connectors. These days they do JTAG over a physical USB port but I'm not sure how the shape of the port is supposed to matter. JTAG on the NUCs actually led to a CVE as well IIRC.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  JTAG has nothing to do with Intel per-se but everything with BGAs which made it super hard to get to certain signals.
  - zamadatix 7y ago
    It was (relatively) uncommon until Intel released the 80486, then it became very popular and was found on basically every chip. Not that there weren't devices before and after that used JTAG but none nearly as influential in it's growth.