Linux x86/x86_64 Will Now Always Reserve The First 1MB Of RAM

[rabcor]

keep it simple, stupid!

[tildearrow]

Lol, boomer much? I admit I don't like RGB either, but the underlying hardware can still do the work.......

I do wish there was an easy way to turn off the RGB on components - only some like motherboards provide controls to turn off their own (and of course no Linux support).

Nope, actually I am not old...

Agree with you. The issue is that motherboard manufacturers often rush the RGB features and that means awkward ways to control it...
In some cases it is a USB device, but in some others it is writing directly to the motherboard port at low level, which has a lot of potential for bricking (and yes, sometimes bricking is possible even with the official software!).

[davidhendricks]

I haven't lost the point at all - you are asserting that mobo manufacturers should select an alternative option for the BIOS - I'm asking you what other option do they have? Sounds to me like the answer is none.

Whichever BIOS they use first and foremost has to meet the requirements and recommendations of Microsoft Windows OS or they won't use it. Period. Second, none of the FOSS implementations (coreboot) I've seen meet the requirements of the peecee gamer crowd, so that's not an option for these vendors either.

This argument makes no sense - Why would somebody buying a PC with a closed OS to run (likely) closed games care about having FOSS firmware?

coreboot definitely has its place in ecosystems where the people actually care to have control from the first instruction on up. Siemens uses it for some of their industrial machinery with 15+ year support obligations. Google uses it in Chromebooks for various reasons (security, boot time, and portability) and puts a significant amount of developer work into it. It's also been known to be used in military applications where determinism, long-term support, and auditability are important.

If you're looking for a flashy 3D UI with spinning fans, you have plenty of options. If you'd like that in a FOSS firmware solution, patches are welcome.

[sdack]

This argument makes no sense - Why would somebody buying a PC with a closed OS to run (likely) closed games care about having FOSS firmware?

If this is not just a rhetorical question then there is certainly an answer to it. A FOSS firmware means lower cost and better quality.

When you consider for a moment how many board makers there are, then multiply this with the number of boards they make and support, and then think about the time they have to spend in adjusting firmware, fixing issues and supporting their product for a few years, then you can understand that there are many people working on firmware with many of them doing almost the same thing.

When you can get them to work together on a free and open source firmware then this would directly affect the quality and longevity of the software, because right now does the support stop as soon as a board maker releases a new product and ends the support for their older ones. And with a free and open source firmware is there also no licensing fee involved and does not need to be passed to the customers.

There is still room for third parties to offer customisation, additional features such as user interfaces, art and graphics, for each maker to create a distinctive product. But just the amount of people working together, sharing their knowledge of issues and solving them together, is what gives free and open source software its quality.

Anyone who has ever had to deal with BIOS issues knows how fiddly and dangerous this can be. So why would somebody buying a PC not want better and longer lasting firmware apart from a lower cost? Unless of course your point was that buyers of PCs and games are dumb and uninterested in what they are buying, which is a trumpian myth.

[davidhendricks]

When you consider for a moment how many board makers there are, then multiply this with the number of boards they make and support, and then think about the time they have to spend in adjusting firmware, fixing issues and supporting their product for a few years, then you can understand that there are many people working on firmware with many of them doing almost the same thing.

Agree 100% - I'm very well aware of how much better it is from a development and maintenance standpoint :-) I used to work on ChromeOS and was always amazed at how a relatively small team could develop and support coreboot for dozens of products each year, using CPUs from all major x86 and ARM vendors, with all major ODMs. It really is a far better approach to developing firmware.

So why would somebody buying a PC not want better and longer lasting firmware apart from a lower cost? Unless of course your point was that buyers of PCs and games are dumb and uninterested in what they are buying, which is a trumpian myth.

Demand comes from customers. Some vendors, such as Purism and System76, get the whole FOSS thing and have sufficient customer demand for coreboot. Maybe some day major OEMs will catch on. Fortunately we don't need to hold our breath, we just need to award our business to FOSS-friendly vendors. (And before anyone asks, yes, Purism and System76 systems running coreboot can boot Windows)

[rabcor]

You can blame kids who get excited over colors. These RGB cases, fans and even memory modules make a computer look like a darn toy that can't even take serious work.

Ask a teenager. He will probably say "booooring" to a computer without RGB.

Dunno about actual teenagers, but I haven't met a single young man in their 20s who actually likes RGB shit. I haven't even met a single gamer who likes 'gamer' shit. it's all piss poor misfired marketing if you ask me, I'd be surprised if the teens actually like that shit; it was a cool novelty for like half a year at best then everyone got bored of it.

[RussianNeuroMancer]

I.e. a corporate entity who can develop, sell, and support the code base with commercial customers, while releasing the source code to the community.

Isn't Libre Computer doing exactly that? Le Potato and Renegade Elite is actually good.

[coder]

Dunno about actual teenagers, but I haven't met a single young man in their 20s who actually likes RGB shit.

The problem I have with it is that it's purely decorative. It'd be neat it it were like a HDD or network activity light, so you could readily see how hard a workload was hitting your RAM, how many Watts your PSU was cranking out, or how many RPMs your CPU fan is pulling. Contrary to that, I know a guy who had a DIMM go offline (as in, his PC booted without detecting it), yet the RGB LEDs on it continued to work as if nothing was wrong.

Combine that with the fact that windowed cases are more expensive, heavier, and less heat-conductive, and it's a no-brainer that I'll just avoid that mess completely. What a wasted opportunity, though. I mean, not even to have any diagnostic value? That's just sad.

I haven't even met a single gamer who likes 'gamer' shit. it's all piss poor misfired marketing if you ask me, I'd be surprised if the teens actually like that shit;

In any fashion trend, the bulk of the sales tend to be to the wannabes. One does imagine that if RGB and "gamer" products stopped selling, manufacturers would figure that out pretty quickly and go back to pushing more conventional designs.

[rabcor]

In any fashion trend, the bulk of the sales tend to be to the wannabes. One does imagine that if RGB and "gamer" products stopped selling, manufacturers would figure that out pretty quickly and go back to pushing more conventional designs.

Probably, but they won't stop selling because there are literally no other options besides the truly expensive professional or server targeted ones.