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

[Andrés Domínguez]

2017-01-27 19:26 GMT+01:00 Timothy Pearson <tpearson at raptorengineering.com>:
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> On 01/27/2017 12:20 PM, Andrés Domínguez wrote:
>> 2017-01-26 16:12 GMT+01:00 ron minnich <rminnich at gmail.com>:
>>>
>>> A decade later? You should buy a new computer.
>>
>> 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?

I used to build "modern" software in 2008 with a fast core 2 quad core
and it was a pain, I'm sure that it's also a pain now. I really
appreciate what you are doing trying to promote more open and powerful
power8/9 systems, but computers have life beyong building software,
their main goal is to run it. I don't build android on my phone, the
linux kernel on my router and neither in my chromebook. I don't like
most of the modern software, but some of it is pleasant to build even
in older computers.

What I understand was the question is if upgrading the cpu microcode
it is not a risk, and even if I agree that it was a risk trusting the
hardware/firmware in the first place, every time you upgrade the
microcode it's a new possible vector. It's better not to need to
upgrade any microcode and if needed, at least something easily
auditable.

Andrés

P.S. I'm not saying that people should not upgrade the microcode, just
that the risk exists.