5 ms·

I get the feeling you could be tempted to say more about that. Please elaborate?

judge2020 6y ago
I guess they mean the freedom (or lack thereof) of the software license that comes with your OS, ie. 'you should be able to hit the software with a metaphorical hammer', which technically isn't possible with the Windows 10 license.
- autoexec 6y ago
  I also think selecting parts is limited by the fact that there are so few manufacturers. Processors these days mostly come down to AMD or Intel and nothing there is transparent or audit-able. "trusted computing" and backdoors make even your hardware suspect.
  - fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago
    There are capable desktop computers with open hardware, down to the silicon: you just have to pay for it. For example, for $4k, you can get this with specs roughly equivalent to a normal developer machine: https://www.raptorcs.com/content/BK1SD1/intro.html https://www.raptorcs.com/content/BK1SD1/intro.html
    - autoexec 6y ago
      Not too shabby looking! Thanks for the link
    - anw 6y ago
      And the cool thing – it looks like there has been some interest[0] in supporting Power for WINE. [0] https://www.winehq.org/pipermail/wine-devel/2019-February/140231.html https://www.winehq.org/pipermail/wine-devel/2019-February/14...
    - mixmastamyk 6y ago
      Neat, should be on the front page.
    - rubin55 6y ago
      Actually, for about 1700 you have the Blackbird BK1B01 mainboard + cpu from Raptor, with 4 cores, 16 threads: https://www.raptorcs.com/content/BK1B01/intro.html https://www.raptorcs.com/content/BK1B01/intro.html I bought two of these last year and they're great, stuff your own memory in there, add some storage and off you go. Edit: clarified that this would be a mainboard + CPU.
marcodiego 6y ago
Mainly not depending on closed source binary blobs or drivers.
m-p-3 6y ago
Your average desktop/laptop CPU runs a blackbox like Intel AMT or AMD PSP which is basically an always active mini-CPU that runs in the background and is OS-agnostic. If you consider your OS max privilege level as ring 0, this is ring -1. If/when someone manage to conpromise those, they can basically take over your computer, and Intel/AMD doesn't provide any sort of killswitch or physical way of disabling it.
- marshmallow_12 6y ago
  Tell me more about this. What does this system do, and why can't we do anything about it?
  - silly-silly 6y ago
    > What does this system do, It can be used for 'out of band' management of your system, including firmware/bios rollouts and updates. Allows remote hijacking of attached hardware devices. Basically can puppeteer your entire system. > why can't we do anything about it? Because there is no ability to update or modify this code. It is only updatable by the hardware vendor as it is encrypted, signed and checked during update.
  - legends2k 6y ago
    The first section of [1] explains that with references [1]: https://legends2k.github.io/note/clean_me https://legends2k.github.io/note/clean_me
    - marshmallow_12 6y ago
      oh my. I don't see why bloomberg got all busy with hidden Chinese chips. It looks like intel already have it covered.
      - ekianjo 6y ago
        Not just Intel. amd too.
      - 6y ago

judge2020 6y ago

I guess they mean the freedom (or lack thereof) of the software license that comes with your OS, ie. 'you should be able to hit the software with a metaphorical hammer', which technically isn't possible with the Windows 10 license.

autoexec 6y ago
I also think selecting parts is limited by the fact that there are so few manufacturers. Processors these days mostly come down to AMD or Intel and nothing there is transparent or audit-able. "trusted computing" and backdoors make even your hardware suspect.
- fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago
  There are capable desktop computers with open hardware, down to the silicon: you just have to pay for it. For example, for $4k, you can get this with specs roughly equivalent to a normal developer machine: https://www.raptorcs.com/content/BK1SD1/intro.html https://www.raptorcs.com/content/BK1SD1/intro.html
  - autoexec 6y ago
    Not too shabby looking! Thanks for the link
  - anw 6y ago
    And the cool thing – it looks like there has been some interest[0] in supporting Power for WINE. [0] https://www.winehq.org/pipermail/wine-devel/2019-February/140231.html https://www.winehq.org/pipermail/wine-devel/2019-February/14...
  - mixmastamyk 6y ago
    Neat, should be on the front page.
  - rubin55 6y ago
    Actually, for about 1700 you have the Blackbird BK1B01 mainboard + cpu from Raptor, with 4 cores, 16 threads: https://www.raptorcs.com/content/BK1B01/intro.html https://www.raptorcs.com/content/BK1B01/intro.html I bought two of these last year and they're great, stuff your own memory in there, add some storage and off you go. Edit: clarified that this would be a mainboard + CPU.

marcodiego 6y ago

Mainly not depending on closed source binary blobs or drivers.

m-p-3 6y ago

Your average desktop/laptop CPU runs a blackbox like Intel AMT or AMD PSP which is basically an always active mini-CPU that runs in the background and is OS-agnostic. If you consider your OS max privilege level as ring 0, this is ring -1. If/when someone manage to conpromise those, they can basically take over your computer, and Intel/AMD doesn't provide any sort of killswitch or physical way of disabling it.

marshmallow_12 6y ago
Tell me more about this. What does this system do, and why can't we do anything about it?
- silly-silly 6y ago
  > What does this system do, It can be used for 'out of band' management of your system, including firmware/bios rollouts and updates. Allows remote hijacking of attached hardware devices. Basically can puppeteer your entire system. > why can't we do anything about it? Because there is no ability to update or modify this code. It is only updatable by the hardware vendor as it is encrypted, signed and checked during update.
- legends2k 6y ago
  The first section of [1] explains that with references [1]: https://legends2k.github.io/note/clean_me https://legends2k.github.io/note/clean_me
  - marshmallow_12 6y ago
    oh my. I don't see why bloomberg got all busy with hidden Chinese chips. It looks like intel already have it covered.
    - ekianjo 6y ago
      Not just Intel. amd too.
    - 6y ago