[coreboot] Does the 62xx Series Opteron work *securely* without microcode?

[Taiidan at gmx.com]

On 01/27/2017 03:18 PM, Timothy Pearson wrote:

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> On 01/27/2017 01:41 PM, Merlin Büge wrote:
>> On Fri, 27 Jan 2017 12:26:56 -0600
>> Timothy Pearson <tpearson at raptorengineering.com> wrote:
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>>> Core 2 duo is more than a decade old and I think that it should be
>>>> good enough for a lot of tasks.
>>>>
>>>> Andrés
>>>>
>>> Something to think about: have you tried developing modern software on
>>> that Core 2 Duo?  Are you OK with only having hardware that can
>>> consume software (libre or not) that was created (compiled) on more
>>> powerful, non-free systems?
>> I think the need for libre hardware platforms in the range of a Core 2
>> Duo is as strong as the need for libre platforms capable of compiling
>> big software projects.
> Fair enough.  I wouldn't even be bringing this up except for the fact
> that we're in the final stages of losing access to development-class
> libre systems for "normal people" (non-corporate entities), and this has
> introduced an interesting philosophical dilemma on the nature of libre
> software.
>
> As always, I appreciate the insight from this list!
>
> - -- 
> Timothy Pearson
> Raptor Engineering
> +1 (415) 727-8645 (direct line)
> +1 (512) 690-0200 (switchboard)
> https://www.raptorengineering.com
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I don't understand why a C2DM is mentioned here, everyone seems to 
forget about the late gen C2QM's which are good enough for compiling 
free software on the go - they have IOMMU as well (although it lacks 
interrupt remapping). The lenovo G505S from 2013 is also an option for a 
libre laptop, it has a legit IOMMU with IR.

It isn't so much that you can't find user-ownable devices it is just 
that either they are very underpowered (novena) or they cost a large 
amount of money (POWER) - it is the hollowing out of the middle that is 
happening in every market segment where you only have low end and high 
end absolutely no middle.
When I get a job again I will fund the development of a reasonably 
priced POWER device such as the S812LC, I hope I will not be the only 
one. (4.5K is reasonable for what you get, KGPE-D16 brand new in 2012 
plus processors/ram/etc would be actually cost more money)

The free software community is like a frog in boiling water, they don't 
notice and or care until one day they can't install linux at all on an 
x86-64 computer and by then it will be too late - there are so many 
linux sysadmins and companies that benefit from it, yet so little money 
put towards free hardware

However in the future as always I am sure there will be useful idiots 
like Red Hat that will make a sweetheart deal with MS for an "approved" 
"open source" (but tivo'ized) distro where you can only install 
pre-compiled software from official repos, that is unless you get a 
developer account from wintel for the small very reasonable fee of $500. 
Secure Boot 2.0 doesn't have the owner controllable mandate like 1.0, 
but of course red-hat has a special pre-compiled signed version of grub 
to "help" us.