3 ms·

Sounds like the author's concern is that as more devices move towards becoming locked-down consumer appliances in the future that they will eventually lose cont

Sounds like the author's concern is that as more devices move towards becoming locked-down consumer appliances in the future that they will eventually lose control, making the DIY-desktop the only "safe" choice. I agree with the premise in the large, but the success of the Framework laptop tells me the market will always support a reasonably open, linux-friendly device. Also, I don't know a ton about UEFI but I remember the anxiety around it, has that materialized at all? I haven't had a problem installing linux on recent model Lenovo and Dell laptops which I believe had UEFI, so is it really a problem?

zekica 5y ago
Yes it has materialized somewhat. The UEFI and Secure Boot are not the issue here - neither is uBoot/fastboot on phones. The issue is who holds the keys - if it is the owner of the device, then great! But most laptops and phones don't allow you to set your own keys, just Microsoft's or OEM's, and that is what the issue is. Linux distributions work around this by either explicitly requiring disabling Secure Boot / Unlocking the bootloader, or having Microsoft sign a shim that they can use and using that allow the user to add additional trusted keys.
jsmith45 5y ago
I've not seen much issue from UEFI beyond mobo manufacturers occasionally releasing really buggy firmware. UEFI also permits rather advanced features. For example, if a mobo manufacvtorer wanted to, they could theoretically code in support for using a USB monitor for the bootup display, enabling firmware access without any video adapter on board at all. One can quite easily add new boot-loaders to the EFI system partition, and add the entries to NVRAM, making it possible to add add custom pre-boot diagnostics programs, or a small direct-boot emergency recovery kernel, or other fancy features.

3 ms·

Sounds like the author's concern is that as more devices move towards becoming locked-down consumer appliances in the future that they will eventually lose cont

by headcanon 5y ago

zekica 5y ago
Yes it has materialized somewhat. The UEFI and Secure Boot are not the issue here - neither is uBoot/fastboot on phones. The issue is who holds the keys - if it is the owner of the device, then great! But most laptops and phones don't allow you to set your own keys, just Microsoft's or OEM's, and that is what the issue is. Linux distributions work around this by either explicitly requiring disabling Secure Boot / Unlocking the bootloader, or having Microsoft sign a shim that they can use and using that allow the user to add additional trusted keys.
jsmith45 5y ago
I've not seen much issue from UEFI beyond mobo manufacturers occasionally releasing really buggy firmware. UEFI also permits rather advanced features. For example, if a mobo manufacvtorer wanted to, they could theoretically code in support for using a USB monitor for the bootup display, enabling firmware access without any video adapter on board at all. One can quite easily add new boot-loaders to the EFI system partition, and add the entries to NVRAM, making it possible to add add custom pre-boot diagnostics programs, or a small direct-boot emergency recovery kernel, or other fancy features.