Re: [gentoo-user] Re: CPU upgrade and LVM questions.

[Dale]

J. Roeleveld wrote:
> On December 9, 2018 6:23:07 PM UTC, "Taiidan@×××.com"
> <Taiidan@×××.com> wrote:
>
>     On 12/07/2018 06:47 PM, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
>
>         On 07/12/2018 09:30, Dale wrote:
>
>             Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
>
>                 If you want to see all of the installed packages that
>                 are affected, you need to set CPU_FLAGS_X86 to an
>                 empty string:    CPU_FLAGS_X86="" and then do "emerge
>                 -puDN --with-bdeps=y @world". This is because
>                 CPU_FLAGS_X86 is not empty by default. It contains sse
>                 and sse2 by default, because these are supported by
>                 all 64-bit CPUs.
>
>             What I did, I commented out the whole line and ran it that
>             way.
>
>         If you comment it out, it will have default values. If you set
>         it to an empty string, you should be able to see which
>         packages make use of the default flags (like sse and sse2.)
>         Note it's a pretend emerge (-p). Just to check which packages
>         you have installed that make use of these flags.
>
>             One last question for anyone who has done this recently. 
>             When finished, I'll have a FX-8350 CPU with 8 cores at
>             4.0/4.2GHz, 32GBs of memory all on a Gigabyte 970 series
>             mobo.  Would there be any point in upgrading to a whole
>             new rig or is what I have about as fast is reasonable to
>             build? I don't do gaming or anything.  Even the GTX 650
>             video card is likely overkill for what I do here.  The
>             older 200 series card is working just fine.  On one hand,
>             my current build is several years old.  On the other,
>             computers seem to have reached their peak.  I'm sure there
>             is more powerful systems out there but would I be any
>             better off with one?
>
>
>     Since the AM3+ and its C32/G34 Opteron counterparts are the last and
>     best x86 cpus without ME/PSP I would say you are better off with what
>     you have - the best piledriver cpus like the FX-8350+ are still able to
>     play the latest games and in a VM via IOMMU-GFX if you want.
>
>     In any case I would consider a OpenPOWER (ppc64/ppc64le) arch system
>     (like the blackbird or talos 2) as an upgrade path instead of any futher
>     x86 stuff as there aren't any black boxes, there is
>     documentation+firmware sources and the cpus are made in usa.
>
>
> Made in USA isn't necessarily a good thing when talking about not
> wanting any hidden back doors.
> Not sure which country would be a reliable location though, I wouldn't
> trust Western European countries either.
>
> --
> Joost
> --
> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.


I have to say, this is something I thought about.  While some newer CPUs
have even been talked about on this list, I don't recall this one being
included, or the one I currently use.  Given its age, I would think it
would be exposed if it was hackable or had a backdoor, but one never
knows.  As to country it was made in, I don't trust any of them really. 
The NSA is just as bad at snooping as any other country.  Well, some
such as China may be worse but if it has a backdoor, it has a backdoor. 
If one Govt or group knows about it, they all will at some point and
will exploit it for their own means. 

I might add, this is why I'd love to see encryption done by a group that
is not infiltrated by a Govt agency, education system etc and is open
source the the point that a backdoor is impossible.  That would be a
very tall order tho.  Sometimes people with bad intentions get in
despite all the effort to exclude them. 

This is one reason I'm considering splitting off certain directories
that are encrypted.  Thing is, is there one that isn't already hackable
by groups such as the NSA or folks in China etc??  Would we really ever
know if they could or not?? 

Dale

:-)  :-)