Re: [gentoo-user] Re: A new AMD CPU weakness?

On 03/21/2018 11:55 AM, R0b0t1 wrote:

> On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 4:40 PM, Taiidan@×××.com <Taiidan@×××.com> wrote:
>> On 03/18/2018 05:33 PM, R0b0t1 wrote:
>>
>>> On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 4:24 PM, Taiidan@×××.com <Taiidan@×××.com> wrote:
>>>> Everyone please remember this is simply an exploit to obtain data off of
>>>> AMD's version of ME which is a DRM mechanism added for hollywood and it
>>>> requires physical access to reprogram the firmware thus this exploit has
>>>> zero impact on anyone who doesn't profit off of DRM.
>>>>
>>> Except if it's anything like the Intel ME exploit, physical access can
>>> be faked using a compromized USB device.
>> You mean the skylake debug port?
>>>> ME/PSP are evil - don't buy computers that have them - you have choices!
>>> No we don't.
>> Yes we do.
>> TALOS 2? g505s laptop? kgpe-d16? novena?
>>
>> I play new games at max settings on a pre-PSP AMD system KGPE-D16 where I
>> have installed a libre firmware for the board and the BMC via the recent
>> OpenBMC port (the facebook version of OpenBMC....less features than the IBM
>> version but still quite nice)
>>
>> The TALOS 2 costs less than a brand new xeon system with similar performance
>> and it has better features such as IBM's OpenBMC, PCI-e 4.0, SMT4 etc.
>> The stars have aligned and given us a libre firmware server/workstation that
>> is brand new and very very fast.
>>
> The x86 parts are slowly going out of stock to the point where they
> are expensive *when* I have found them.
There are still a few sites selling the KGPE-D16 brand new for the
original MSRP of $415, and you can obtain a used CPU from ebay for a
reasonable price that is capable of having two people maxing out the
latest games on a dual gaming VM setup.
> The TALOS 2 is the cheapest POWER system available, but is still many thousands of dollars more
> than a consumer computer (though much higher performance).
Trying to sell libre computers that compete with grandmas $499 dell is
an impossible proposition - competing in the professional workstation
market is however practical and attainable.
> ARM based computers are not comparable in performance to common consumer
> systems. Self hosting on a performant ARM processor is not a
> reasonable proposition. High dollar ARM servers have closed
> motherboard firmware.
>
> Sure, if you devote all of a good salary's disposable income to a
> mostly open hardware computer you can buy one. Most people don't make
> that much.
The idea behind the TALOS 2 is that you spend $2.5K (plus case, ram,
etc) on a computer every 5-10 years rather than $500-$1K on a computer
every year or two.
High performance costs real money, otherwise you can buy one of the
older libre laptops, a kgpe-d16 with a cheap $10 CPU etc.

The Talos 2 is entirely owner controlled, it has libre firmware for the
board and BMC plus various documentation is available even if you aren't
a member of the OpenPOWER foundation.
The only firmware required is for the broadcom nic but there is a
project to remove that and it is behind the IOMMU - this was viewed as
better than supporting intel by purchasing their NIC ASICs.
https://git.raptorcs.com/git/ in case you want to examine some code
https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/Category:Documentation the currently
available public documentation
> The bigger issue than that is all main manufacturers do not
> want to remove their backdoors, and so ever so slowly, there will come
> to be absolutely no choice at all, even for inordinate amounts of
> money.
Yeah, but IBM is luckily becoming more open rather than less open and
they also accept input from the smaller members of the OpenPOWER foundation.
POWER is the way forward for the high performance sector and IBM's only
real way of differentiating themselves is being owner controlled, sure
POWER is faster than x86 for the same price and it has more threads per
core and more cores per CPU but a compelling reason is needed for the
average business to take the time to port their software.