[libreplanet-discuss] x86 Binary Blobs

[Mike Gerwitz]

I just came across this mail that I'd like to share:

  http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/discussion/2016-April/010912.html

  It has recently come to my attention that many in the free software
  movement are unaware of a relatively new development on x86 platforms
  that permanently removes the ability to use these platforms without
  also continually executing signed, proprietary code at the highest
  possible privilege level.  All post-2013 (AMD) and virtually all
  post-2009 (Intel) systems contain this mandatory technology, and
  therefore, by design, can never be converted to run using pure
  FOSS.  Prior to these changes projects such as coreboot could be used
  to replace the boot firmware with a FOSS alternative.

HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11422531

I was unaware of this.  Restricted boot I was aware of.

-- 
Mike Gerwitz
Free Software Hacker | GNU Maintainer & Volunteer
https://mikegerwitz.com
FSF Member #5804 | GPG Key ID: 0x8EE30EAB

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