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Comment by temptemptemp111 | Hacker News Reader

If every Linux user would boycott AMD to release their source, then we could have libreboot: https://libreboot.org/amd-libre.html

ME vs PSP isn't much of a choice. Of course POWER might be an option eventually, but isn't for most of us currently.

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Or, instead of boycotting, work towards sensible laws for obliging software/hardware providers to provide sources.

Boycott AMD, and obviously Intel [0]. Doesn’t really leave a lot of options.

[0] https://libreboot.org/faq.html#intel

Well there is POWER[0], not that it's a very affordable choice, the cheapest motherboard + cpu costing $1,732.07

[0]https://www.raptorcs.com/content/BK1B01/intro.html

Is ARM an option? I know in practice many ARM systems rely on blobs, but it's not clear to me that that's universal.

There is nothing like "ARM" in the market.

There is CPU/SoC X by Y, built on top of a license from ARM.

So you would have to boycott N companies instead of just AMD & Intel :( And even more so, since all their customers are EOM that are happy to sign NDAs.

Decent blob scarce arm option: https://libre.computer/

There are ARM systems that don't need blobs. Whether they are useful to you is a different question. An example is the iMX line from NXP.

But if they release everything libreboot want's wouldn't that potentially undermine DRM (e.g. webdrm pluging as used by netflix)?

I mean I'm not a fan of DRM but then undermining it might cause browsers on Ryzen to no longer be able to run Netflix and similar.

While I guess many people on this site wouldn't care too much it's not profitable for AMD.

But then there should be a way to have both. The case which don't need/want DRM and can have a complete libre system and the case which needs DRM for whatever reason and sadly can't go libre.

POWER has Ultravisor.

It looks like that stuff was hot 3 years ago. Is there a newer (more likely to pay off) push? I'd happily tell AMD that I'm in the market for an expensive new system and I'd instantly go with Ryzen if it were open. As it stands now I'm leaning Intel because it's the devil I know.

I don't understand. Intel has ME, AMD has PSP, neither makes any particular effort to support libreboot (although I'm pretty sure coreboot can work with both if the manufacturer wants, because Chromebooks do that). Unless you believe that Intel is more open, why would you prefer it? It appears to me that they're equally security-unfriendly, but with AMD at least winning on price and performance.

> It appears to me that they're equally security-unfriendly, but with AMD at least winning on price and performance.

I agree (although I'm not sure price and performance is significant enough to matter to me), the only reason I would go with Intel is that it's what I've been using for the last 20 years, and it's what I know. I had an AMD one time (late 90s/early 00s) and had a lot of problems with it. I know AMD today is much different than in the past, but I'm still wary whe the investment is one I will need to use for 5 to 10 years.

But if AMD went libre, I'd jump ship.

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