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Hello Everyone,
I'm an old lurker who recently signed up, and I would like to know if anyone has sources and info on this topic, and is willing to share it with me.
The topic being, Computers that don't require binary blobs, specially on their boot sequence or parts of the system that can read from ram. Or as I call it Libre Hardware.
I'm a couple of months into this rabbit hole, I understood that almost all hardware has a co-procesor that can access your data and network and executes code unknown to us. On x86 these are mainly the Intel Management Engine and the AMD Procesor Security Platform. While there is no real information proving they are malign, there is also no data proving they are not backdoors.
The issue for me with this is, there seems to be no real alternatives. Libre hardware is mostly composed of pre 2008-2012 devices which were hacked by enthusiasts, it's slow, hot, consumes lots of power, and doesn't properly support modern use cases.
Many people recommended me System76 and Purism, but they all run Binary Blobs at boot, their coreboot code is just basic init that side-loads a huge blob provided by intel. Yes they DO try to mitigate and neutralize the ME, but they fail to do so, they still execute most of the binaries provided by Intel. I don't think Ssytem76/Purism are bad guys, they just haven't found a way to get rid of the propietary code, hopefully one day they will.
Arm does feature this same practices, but there are several ways to mitigate them, sometimes entirely. I've been taking a close look at the RK3399 SBCs, some which can be run without the blobs, if you build the OS right and use things like Panfrost for the GPU drivers. These systems are decent and sometimes feature 4GB DDR4, NVMe Drives, and usb type-C, you can also play 4k video on them. My doubt here is if I can actually get it working without the blobs. I already ordered a Pine 64 SBC with the RK3399 to try this out, it should arrive to my country the first days of december.
If you have any input or sources, or comments, I would like to know. I started to feel lonely on this side of the tech spectrum, and I can't get proper information TBH. Thanks!
I'm an old lurker who recently signed up, and I would like to know if anyone has sources and info on this topic, and is willing to share it with me.
The topic being, Computers that don't require binary blobs, specially on their boot sequence or parts of the system that can read from ram. Or as I call it Libre Hardware.
I'm a couple of months into this rabbit hole, I understood that almost all hardware has a co-procesor that can access your data and network and executes code unknown to us. On x86 these are mainly the Intel Management Engine and the AMD Procesor Security Platform. While there is no real information proving they are malign, there is also no data proving they are not backdoors.
The issue for me with this is, there seems to be no real alternatives. Libre hardware is mostly composed of pre 2008-2012 devices which were hacked by enthusiasts, it's slow, hot, consumes lots of power, and doesn't properly support modern use cases.
Many people recommended me System76 and Purism, but they all run Binary Blobs at boot, their coreboot code is just basic init that side-loads a huge blob provided by intel. Yes they DO try to mitigate and neutralize the ME, but they fail to do so, they still execute most of the binaries provided by Intel. I don't think Ssytem76/Purism are bad guys, they just haven't found a way to get rid of the propietary code, hopefully one day they will.
Arm does feature this same practices, but there are several ways to mitigate them, sometimes entirely. I've been taking a close look at the RK3399 SBCs, some which can be run without the blobs, if you build the OS right and use things like Panfrost for the GPU drivers. These systems are decent and sometimes feature 4GB DDR4, NVMe Drives, and usb type-C, you can also play 4k video on them. My doubt here is if I can actually get it working without the blobs. I already ordered a Pine 64 SBC with the RK3399 to try this out, it should arrive to my country the first days of december.
If you have any input or sources, or comments, I would like to know. I started to feel lonely on this side of the tech spectrum, and I can't get proper information TBH. Thanks!