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This is a much less expensive mATX variant of the TALOS 2 from the same |
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people. |
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|
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It runs both little and big endian so both ppc64 and ppc64le. |
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https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Blackbird-POWER9-Pre-Orders |
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https://raptorcs.com/content/BK1B01/intro.html |
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The only binary blob is the NIC firmware[1], otherwise it is fully open |
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source and has no hardware code signing enforcement so it is entirely |
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yours unlike modern x86 stuff which can't ever be free[2] and has the |
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impossible to disable ME/PSP doing god knows what. |
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|
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OpenPOWER9 CPU's are Made in USA and the board is Made in the USA from |
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US and foreign components so it is much more trustworthy. |
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In terms of speed POWER9 is superior to the offerings from intel/amd or |
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equivilant without x86's spectre/meltdown protections enabled which |
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intel usually dishonestly performs in their benchmarks. |
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|
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[1]It was the best alternative to using an intel nic as there is a large |
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amount of documentation available, people are working on freeing it and |
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the first one to do so gets a free TALOS 2 workstation. |
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[2]New x86 hardware has none of the documentation published that is |
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required to write firmware and it has a variety of black boxes like |
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ME/PSP, boot guard etc designed to prevent you from owning and |
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controlling your hardware. |